Brave New World

in•no•cent adjective  6. having or showing the simplicity or naiveté of an unworldly person; guileless; ingenuous. 7. uninformed or unaware; ignorant.

na•ive adjective  2. having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information;

Which of those two terms would you use to describe how American Christians deal with the issue of persecution?

Three of us had a conversation in the office the other day about how we think people approach persecution. One person described our general lack of knowledge about the injustices that happen every day to believers in other countries as ‘innocence.’  She felt that because we have so much available to us as Americans, we don’t realize other people don’t have the same freedoms.

I think most people are aware that people in North Korea suffer starvation because of choices made by their leader. They know that life in Baghdad is pretty unsafe. They know people in Israel risk their lives to a suicide bomber every time they set foot in the street. But do they realize that it’s a lot more wide spread than a few isolated cases of tyrannical leaders, ongoing war or political mistrust?

Another staff member thought ‘naïve’ was a better way to describe American sentiment; naïve in the sense that it is a choice not to know something. She is from a country ruled by a dictator. It has to be offensive when people around her in this country have no idea the people in her homeland are regularly deprived of food and shelter simply because of the selfish whims of one man. And that doesn’t even touch those who are deprived of life’s basic necessities because of their faith.

I think my opinion falls somewhere in the middle. I have traveled more than some. I realize the world is big, that culture often defines perceptions and that there are vast differences in the way people think about things. I used to think Americans were quite uninformed, unintelligent even. But then a British friend pointed out to me, “Your country is very big. There is a lot going on within the country and it takes a lot of effort to keep up with everything going on there. Europeans have to pay attention to what is going on in the rest of Europe, because it will directly affect them.”

So I’ll allow some grace for that. But, when I find that ‘stick your head in the sand’ mentality from people, it still rubs me the wrong way.

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