EASTER 2015

CHRISTIANS of whatever persuasion come to Easter in a spirit of renewal and joy – the holiest period in the Christian calendar. Despite the march of secularism throughout society, faith in the resurrection of Christ still sustains millions of people across the world.

It is worth noting, contrary to the received wisdom, that some Anglican dioceses have recently seen attendances rising – and not simply as a result of immigration, which is often used as being the key factor in preventing the Church in Britain from collapse.

But as we come to the celebration of Easter the elation has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the knowledge that Christians around the world face persecution for their beliefs. They are not alone in that, of course. The brutal and bloody conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims across Syria and Iraq is driven by fundamentalist religious ideology; Hindu minority groups ranging from Pakistan to Yemen face harassment for reasons of religion too. Anti-Semitism is also on the rise.

Nevertheless, recent atrocities 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 outrage by that group, which was also responsible for the slaughter of dozens of people in the Nairobi shopping centre massacre of 2013.

In Nigeria, brutal savagery by the extremist group Boko Haram left Christians in the country’s north afraid to worship in public. The recent beheading of a group of Coptic Christians by Islamic State on a Libyan beach brought these heinous acts to Europe’s doorstep. Last month, churches in Lahore were bombed. Mosul, a place of Christian worship for some 1,600 years, is one of several cities in Iraq from which entire communities have been driven out.

‘Turning the other cheek’ is not easy in the face of such brutal adversity. Religious hate all too often begets more persecution in return. But people of all faiths and none must ultimately live and co-exist on a single planet. Is it not better to do so peaceably than in a state of perpetual conflict?