Marissa Black | Staff Writer

1 Peter 4:12-13

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy (NKJV).

This passage seems to be the go-to Scripture for Christians who have felt push-back for their faith, whether by the scientific community, in the workplace or online. Peter suggests these experiences are not so unusual, saying we should instead rejoice and consider it part of the lifestyle of following Christ. In Peter’s time, persecutions meant grotesque punishment and torture for not abiding by Roman law. But what does modern religious persecution look like? Does it have to be extreme life or death situations (macro persecution) like shootings targeting Christians on schools campuses or believers fleeing the attacks of ISIS? Can a lack of representation in the media (micro persecution) also be considered a persecution?

According to Open Doors USA, an organization that seeks to support persecuted Christians globally, persecution can encompass both the micro and the macro, as they provide their own definition.

“Christian persecution is any hostility experienced from the world as a result of one’s identification as a Christian,” a representative of Open Doors said.

We cannot separate American persecution as strictly micro and persecution experienced by those in other countries as macro. There are places of overlap, as American Christians might experience significant financial loss due to religious beliefs, or face jail time due to certain perspectives. Not all persecution looks like bombs dropping and churches hiding underground.

According to Matt Ellingson, Senior Director of International Operations at World Concern, “It really has to do with the context of the setting and something that is earth-shattering for me in my life-experience might be run of the mill for someone else’s life experience. So is it micro or macro? Well it’s macro to me, but micro in comparison to the world. And it might become micro to me when my worldview has changed and I understand that ‘yeah I lost my business because of my faith identity, but nobody killed my family’ type of definition.”

To be clear, this does not make one type of persecution more noble than the other. We would be mistaken to strap on a badge of honor when we think we’ve finally crossed that line from micro to macro. As Ellingson said, it’s relative. We all have different experiences in different contexts, and what might be disconcerting to one person could be devastating to another.

However, too often Christians seem to find a strange triumph when they experience even the slightest amount of push-back for their faith. When the Twitter-verse spits out 140 snarky characters toward us or when politicians express their distaste for religious beliefs, we take this as a personal vendetta and come running to 1 Peter for our next instructions. Fiery trials? Sufferings? Strange things? We rush to apply these strong phrases to our every-day persecutions. This is not to say that those experiences of micro persecution are not valid. It can be startling to find our beliefs jostled around or our understanding of God challenged.

A problem arises when we equate our offended pride and belittled beliefs to the extreme circumstances of macro, or large scale, persecutions.

The experiences of Christians in places such as North Korea, Iraq, and Eritrea—the countries The World Watch List ranks as undergoing the most severe persecution—are in a completely different realm from those of American Christians upset by a politician’s non-religious stance on a policy. These realms of micro and macro persecutions are two entirely different playing fields. They are both fully valid playing fields, but they are different places, separate from one another.

So how can we as Christians who have perhaps experienced micro persecutions empathize with those who are oppressed and targeted for their faith on a macro scale?

We can start by being careful with our own words, making certain that we do not persecute anyone else’s religion. A 2007 study published in American Psychologist describes the types of microaggressions that Christians are all-too-often guilty of perpetuating. The micro aggressions in the article are directed specifically toward issues of disability, gender and race, but could be applied to religious persecution as well. We can start by excluding phrases such as “everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough,” which implies that there is no system of privilege, or “America is a melting pot,” which serves to devalue the many vibrant cultures of different groups.

Ellingson suggests seeking out the opinions of those with whom you disagree, whether by expanding your acquaintances to include those who see the world differently or by reading articles by those whose experiences contrast your own. Through seeking to understand and listen to the unfamiliar, we can better start to connect with those who have had different experiences.

We have all experienced or will experience some form of disapproval or outright attack on who we are as people. However, regardless of how extreme or benign we perceive our own Christian persecution to be, it is essential to realize that this experience does shape our perspective on God and ourselves. When we feel trapped against a wall, our safety isn’t solely determined by the country we live in or its governmental laws.

As Ellingson remarked, “This is a faith journey that we’re in, and you have to really, truly believe that the safest place for us to be is in the palm of God Almighty.”