Prince Charles has hit out against religious persecution on the Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Reuters
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James Macintyre 22
December 2016
Prince
Charles has hit out against religious persecution around the world and spoken
about "Our Lord Jesus Christ" in an unprecedented appearance on the
Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The
Prince of Wales framed his passage around a meeting with a Jesuit priest from
Syria who gave him "a graphic account of what life is like for those
Christians he was forced to leave behind".
The
heir to the throne, who has frequently spoken out about persecution against
Christians in the Middle East and given undisclosed sums to the charity Aid to
the Church in Need, said: "Clearly for such people religious freedom is a
daily stark choice between life and death. The scale of religious persecution
around the world is not widely appreciated, nor is it limited to Christians in
the troubled regions of the Middle East. A recent report suggests that attacks
are increasing on Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha'is and many other minority
faiths, and in some countries even more insidious forms of religious extremism
have recently surfaced which aim to eliminate all types of religious
diversity."
Prince
Charles went on to compare the violent religious persecution of today with the
horrors of the Second World War. "We are now seeing the rise of many
populist groups across the world, that are increasingly aggressive towards
those who adhere to a minority faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes
of the dark days of the 1930s," he said. "I was born in 1948, just
after the end of World War II, in which my parents' generation had fought, and
died, in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and an inhuman
attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. That nearly 70 years
later we should still be seeing such evil persecution is to me beyond all
belief. We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the
horrors of the past."
The
prince, who has faced criticism from Christian traditionalists in the past for
describing himself as "defender of faith" rather than "defender
of the faith", pointedly referred in the context of the Holy Family
fleeing persecution to "Our Lord Jesus Christ" in what was his most
public declaration of his own Christian faith to date. He went on, however, to
talk about the Prophet Mohammed as well.
He
said: "Normally, at Christmas we think of the birth of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I wonder though if this year we might remember how the story of the
Nativity unfolds, with the fleeing of the Holy Family to escape violent
persecution. And we might also remember that when the Prophet Mohammed migrated
from Mecca to Medina, he did so because he too was seeking the freedom for himself
and his followers to worship. Whichever religious path we follow, the
destination is the same: to value and respect the other person, accepting their
right to live out the peaceful response to the Love of God."
The
full text of Prince Charles's Thought for the Day is below:
In
London recently I met a Jesuit priest from Syria. He gave me a graphic account
of what life is like for those Christians he was forced to leave behind. He
told me of mass kidnappings in parts of Syria and Iraq and how he feared that
Christians would be driven en masse out of lands described in the Bible. He
thought it quite possible there would be no Christians in Iraq within five
years. Clearly for such people religious freedom is a daily stark choice
between life and death. The scale of religious persecution around the world is
not widely appreciated, nor is it limited to Christians in the troubled regions
of the Middle East. A recent report suggests that attacks are increasing on
Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha'is and many other minority faiths, and in some
countries even more insidious forms of religious extremism have recently
surfaced which aim to eliminate all types of religious diversity. We are also
struggling to capture the immensity of the ripple effect of such persecution.
According to the United Nations, 5.8 million more people abandoned their homes
in 2015 than the year before, bringing the annual total to a staggering 65.3
million. That is almost equivalent to the entire population of the United
Kingdom. And the suffering doesn't end when they arrive seeking refuge in the
foreign land. We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the
world, that are increasingly aggressive towards those who adhere to a minority
faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s.
I was born in 1948, just after the end of World War II, in which my parents'
generation had fought, and died, in a battle against intolerance, monstrous
extremism and an inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of
Europe. That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such evil
persecution is to me beyond all belief. We owe it to those who suffered and
died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.
Normally,
at Christmas we think of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder though if
this year we might remember how the story of the Nativity unfolds, with the
fleeing of the Holy Family to escape violent persecution. And we might also
remember that when the Prophet Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina, he did
so because he too was seeking the freedom for himself and his followers to
worship. Whichever religious path we follow, the destination is the same: to
value and respect the other person, accepting their right to live out the
peaceful response to the Love of God. That's what I saw when attending the
consecration of a Syriac Orthodox Cathedral in London recently. Here were a
people persecuted for their religion in their own country, but finding refuge
in another land, and freedom to practise their faith according to their
conscience. It is an example to inspire us all this Christmas time.
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