Ignatius’ Letter to the Romans

Reading this really interesting letter by one of the early church fathers got me thinking; what does it mean to be persecuted in the modern day context? Do we even face persecution anymore?

Obviously in the time of the Romans when the letter was written what it meant to be persecuted was quite straightforward: Being killed. However in the modern day context where such displays are nowhere to be seen (at least in the context of Singapore) one has to wonder if there are any modern day parallels?

As I was writing this post there was a huge furore over Madonna performing in Singapore due to a segment in her performance that featured “female dancers as sexily-clad nuns performing with cross-shaped stripper poles”. We can say that she is not respectful of peoples religious beliefs but this got me wondering if others disrespect for our beliefs and their mockery of it is a form of persecution. We are being called out for our beliefs and shamed and joked about by many others who think that our objection to her performance is retarded. (I for one do not think that it is the church’s place to call for a boycott of public performances by her, but that is a post for another day).

But if it is a form of persecution, our modern day responses are markedly different from the responses of our church fathers (and indeed, the apostles). Instead of calling out for boycotts and rebellions against the Roman authorities, or urging churches to take drastic actions, they welcomed persecution and their deaths, even going so far as to ask the churches to pray that “Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God”. Interesting.

Tough questions. Even tougher decisions on how to respond.