A shared humanity

CHRISTIANS of all stripes come to the

holiest weekend of the year in a spirit of

renewal and joy. Despite the march of

secularism, faith in the resurrection of

Christ still sustains millions in this country and a

great many more beyond its shores.

Yet the elation of Easter will undoubtedly be

overshadowed by the knowledge that Christians

around the world face persecution for their beliefs.

They are not alone in that, of course. Brutal conflict

between Shia and Sunni Muslims across Syria and

Iraq is driven by religious ideology; Hindu minori-

ties from Pakistan to Yemen face harassment for

reasons of religion too. Anti-Semitism is on the rise

here and abroad.

Nevertheless, recent horrors have thrown the

threat to Christians into sharp relief. The appalling

slaughter of Christian students on a campus in

north-eastern Kenya by the Islamist al-Shabaab

militia is the latest attack by that group, which was

also responsible for the slaughter of dozens of peo-

ple in the Nairobi shopping centre outrage of 2013.

In Nigeria, massacres by the extremists of Boko

Haram have left Christians in the country’s north

afraid to worship in public.

The recent beheading of a group of Coptic Chris-

tians by Isis killers on a Libyan beach brought the

slaughter to Europe’s doorstep. Churches in Lahore

were bombed last month.

Mosul, a city where Christians had worshipped

continuously for 1 600 years, is one of several in

Iraq from which entire communities have been

driven out.

Turning the other cheek is not easy: religious

hate all too often begets more persecution in return.

But people of all faiths and none must ultimately

live on a single planet. Better to do so peaceably

than in a state of perpetual conflict.

This Easter, believers and non-believers alike

could do worse than reflect for a moment on that

hope. – The Independent