Thursday, November 13, 2008

Secular media is doing a far better job than Christian media in covering peresecution

Christians are facing increasing amounts of persecution in India. Hundreds have been killed and thousands displaced in the most recent violence.

In Iraq, Christians have left the country because of the violence they're facing. The list goes on and on. Sadly, however, many Christians in the west aren't concerned about it, says Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs, Canada.

He's been pleased by the secular coverage. "Groups like BBC, CNN and Fox [have] been actually covering the persecution in Orissa very well. In fact, recently I wrote a blog on this subject as to who's really silent. I really think that in some regards, the secular media is doing a far better job than some of the Christian media."

"[For] many Christian radio stations and television stations, that's not a big part of their mandate. It's either playing music or sermons. Also, part of the problem is that, as a rule, Christian leaders in North America very rarely say very much about persecution."

More and more radio, television and newspapers are giving more attention to local events rather than world events. Penner thinks that's true of many churches, too. "We're very interested and preoccupied with reaching out in our own neighborhoods for Christ, which is laudable. But at the same time, we forget our obligations to the world."  more

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