As violent persecution against Christians around the world intensifies, Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, in a recent op-ed bluntly asks, "Why is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa?"
"In Europe and in the United States, we have witnessed demonstrations over the tragic deaths of Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza," wrote Lauder in his piece published in The New York Times. "The United Nations has held inquiries and focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against that same terrorist organization. But the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference."
Lauder leads the World Jewish Congress, which is an international organization that represents Jewish communities and organizations in 100 countries around the world.
In the op-ed, he notes that in the Middle East and in parts of central Africa, entire Christian communities are being lost in areas where peace had previously prevailed for centuries.
"The terrorist group Boko Haram has kidnapped and killed hundreds of Christians this year — ravaging the predominantly Christian town of Gwoza, in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, two weeks ago," he states. "Half a million Christian Arabs have been driven out of Syria during the three-plus years of civil war there. Christians have been persecuted and killed in countries from Lebanon to Sudan."
If the United States, and if especially Christians within the country, are supposed to lead the world in the fight against this sort of escalating oppression, then they may have to get educated on the matter first, observed a Christian persecution leader.
Open Doors USA president David Curry told The Christian Post as he took office last year, "The biggest challenge I think we are going to face is trying to get the American church to understand the scale and the magnitude of persecution around the world their brothers and sisters are facing today."