In an editorial story released today in the USA Today, Joseph Bottum pleaded the case of persecuted Middle-East Christians, saying, “Nearly every day since Christmas, Christians have been murderously attacked for the simple fact of being Christians … The single most dangerous thing in the world to be right now is a Christian in a Muslim country.” Bottum referred to the situation in Egypt under the leadership of Hosni Mubarak, whose country continues to allow the open persecution of Christians, including a January bombing of a Coptic Christian church that killed more than 20. He also said the believers in Egypt are joined by persecuted brothers and sisters in Turkey, Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan. Bottum insists that the U.S. government must intervene to help protect these persecuted minority Christians.
What do you think? What are the risks/rewards in focusing U.S. foreign policy on protecting minority Christians in Muslim countries? How has this situation changed the mission field?
