Two years. 731 days. Since October 7, 2023, suffering and violence have plagued the nation of Israel. There have been promises made and broken, each one perpetuating hatred and breaking peace.
But now that there’s hope for peace or at least a truce in the fighting, we can reflect on what the Hamas attack really was: A massive, religiously motivated massacre of civilians.
Most Americans are unaware that Hamas leaders have never disavowed their 1988 charter that called for the annihilation of Jews. And when Hamas acted on its professed hatred of Jews two years ago, it seized some 250 hostages and killed 1,195 Israelis, the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. It sparked an antisemitic wildfire that continues to smolder across the Middle East and beyond.
Just days ago on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish people, an attacker killed two Jews during a vehicle ramming and stabbing attack outside a synagogue in Manchester, U.K. Three others were injured.
Violence Worldwide Aimed at Believers
Christians in Nigeria, meanwhile, are being systematically slaughtered. The violence there has now claimed over 50,000 lives. Some say the actual death toll is many times that number.
The United States is no exception to the horrific trend. The litany of recent examples includes the August 27 mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minnesota that killed two children and wounded 21.
One month later, on September 28, an assailant attacked an LDS church in Michigan, ramming his pickup truck through the building, unloading his assault rifle, setting the building on fire, killing four and injuring eight. FBI Director Kash Patel said the killer “hated people of the Mormon faith.”
That was just the latest instance of the growing horror of religious intolerance, persecution, and violence. Many point to the brutal assassination of Christian activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University as yet another example. Open Doors International recently reported that a record number of Christians, over 380 million, now face high levels of persecution or discrimination somewhere in the world.
What Can One Person Do? A Lot
So here’s the bottom line: The U.S. Christian community can no longer afford to stand idly by and hope to escape evil’s crossfire – if indeed it ever could. If we don’t help other people of faith prevail over the evil they face, they may not be there to help us when we need it later.
What can one person do to fight the plague of religious persecution? A lot. You personally can:
- Demand action. Let your political representatives know loud and clear that you unequivocally support efforts by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local and state police to track down suspects and stop them before they can carry out their murderous plots.
- Be watchful. See something, say something. If you witness someone showing an inordinate interest in scoping out a church, synagogue, mosque, or any other religious-affiliated facility, let authorities know.
- Network locally. Ask your local faith leaders when the last time they conducted a careful vulnerability assessment of their premises. Pastors need to know that FEMA is issuing grants of up to $200,000 per location to help local churches and ministries beef up security, including better cameras, better lock mechanisms, and better personnel training.
- Pray. James 5:16 tells us the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Pray that God would protect us and send watchmen on the walls to spot evildoers long before they can inflict their terrible crimes.
- Be the Light. We know lighting a candle is the best way to extinguish the darkness. That sounds high-minded, but it truly is the only way each of us can shift the tide from hate to love, from bitterness to reason. Engage with people of faith wherever you find them. Listen to them, help meet their needs, and be a force for good in their world.
Compassion does not mean inaction. One only needs to look at our Savior for proof. Jesus went to the cross willingly for our sake. He put Himself in harm’s way for our good and the ultimate salvation of the world. That is our model for engaging with evil in this world. It isn’t loud or combative. It doesn’t disparage others or use being right as a justification for being hateful.
Rather, like Christ, we are to love through sacrifice, by tangibly giving up what’s been entrusted to us for the sake of those around us. This has always been the way of the gospel. It is what made Jesus so compelling and so counter-cultural, both then and now.
So, whatever your religion or denomination, please understand: An attack against any of us is an assault on the God-given right of all of us to worship God as our conscience dictates.
Ever since October 7, 2023, this much is now clear: In the global battle of good versus evil to stop religious violence, no one can afford to be a spectator.
Wendell Vinson is the co-founder of CityServe International, a church empowerment network that provides basic essentials and disaster relief to communities in need throughout the United States and around the world.
