With the recent understandable swelling of passionate outrage centering on citizens Sterling and Sam, can we handle a tough question? Are we willing to address whether or not our outrage is selective?
I note the following from last week, as reported by The Los Angeles Times:
“A pregnant Sudanese woman who refused to renounce her Christianity was sentenced to death by hanging Thursday in a Khartoum court, provoking outrage from human rights groups.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, who has a young son and is married to a Christian from South Sudan, violated Islamic sharia law, the court said. She insists she was raised Christian, not Muslim.
The court also ordered Ibrahim to be flogged for having sexual relations with her husband, since her marriage is not recognized by officials.”
Thankfully, outrage was expressed by Amnesty International:
“The fact that a woman has been sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is appalling and abhorrent.”
Note also that Ibrahim, currently jailed with her 20 month-old son, will be allowed to give birth to her second child and raise/nurse the child until the age of 2. She then faces execution.
Ibrahim’s husband in an American citizen.
Note, also, the following this week, as reported by the American Center for Law and Justice:
“After spending two months in an Iranian hospital, we learned today that Pastor Saeed Abedini was removed from the hospital and taken back to Rajai Shahr Prison.
The transfer came without any advance notice and family members in Iran confirmed that he was severely beaten at the hospital and then forcibly returned to prison.
The reason for the transfer is unclear and according to family members, one of the guards who was involved in the transfer mentioned the Iranian nuclear talks as a possible motive.”
Abedini is a former Muslim who converted to Christianity in 2000. He has been detained in Iran since 2012, incarcerated, and sentenced in January of 2013 to eight years in prison, reportedly on charges of undermining national security through his Christian faith and evangelical efforts. Abedini is an American citizen.
And so today the Intramuralist wonders…
We hear passionate, national and political outrage regarding the individual cases of Donald Sterling and Michael Sam. What they were involved in was significant, and some actions and reactions were outrageous. Racism… bigotry… Some aspects were so outrageous, pundits, politicians, and ordinary people passionately, publicly shared their disgust. But where is the passionate outpouring of disgust for Ibrahim and Abedini? … both of whom also have American ties? They are persons who are currently being persecuted solely because of their religion… because of their Christian faith.
Are we unable to talk passionately and compassionately about the Christian faith? Can we only talk racism and bigotry when Christianity is not the cause for the injustice? Hence, I ask: are we selective in our outrage? If so, why?
Respectfully…
AR