The Pope and Unequal Injustice

On Thursday Pope Benedict the XVI said that Christians suffered more persecution than any other group. He said: "At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith." He called upon authorities around the world, but particularly in Asia, Africa, and the middle East, to "act promptly to end every injustice."

I'm all for ending injustice, even if only a few of them. I'm not really into keeping people out of churches or killing priests. I don't even think it's a good idea to force Christians out of their homes, be it in the West Bank or anywhere else. That being said, I think the Pope is off base and being, dare I say, un-Christian. I also think he is, in the tradition of all Catholic leaders, being rather shortsighted.

I'm not sure that Christians are more persecuted than any other religious group, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter. I'm positive it shouldn't. I'm not the most observant of Christians, and I'm certainly not any kind of Catholic. While my Grandfather was raised Roman Catholic he married a Mormon, and all hell broke loose after that. All that being said, however, I always thought I had a pretty good grasp on what the core of being a Christian was. I thought it was about understanding. I thought it was about trying to help others. I thought it was about trying to end injustice everywhere.

Now I know the bible is full of the smoting of all varities of non-believer, as well as slavery and small minded bigotry. I also know the world has a few small minded bigots in it who call themselves Christian, but I always chalked that up to self delusion. In others I just chalked it up to not knowing any better. I knew the leaders of many Churches were as misguided as their followers, but I didn't really think they were being 'Christian' either. I still think I'm right, that the message that Jesus puts forward, whoever you think him to be, is one of understanding and love. But, I could be wrong.

I might be wrong. The Pope might be the most Christian person in the whole wide world. He may be really tapped into what it means to be Christian. He is, however, clearly shortsighted. You would think that a focus on ending injustice against everybody would be a better focus. The Church does speak out against injustice against non-Christians. So why even hint that injustice against Christians may be on a different level, or different in anyway. It would seem to be a good thing to be known as the Church that is concerned about all injustice equally. Of course, it would seem to be a good thing to be the Church that is unequivocally against child molestation.