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The Criminalization of ChristianityHow long will we be free?THE CRIMINALIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY The author of this book is president of the American lobbying organisation ‘Faith2Action’. She is described on the flyleaf as a ‘speaker, author, syndicated radio host and strategist working with the nation’s most effective organisations to win the cultural war for life, liberty and the family’. If that sounds American — it is. But, while the book is written by an American for Americans, in a style which can only be described as informal, there are perhaps only one or two references to US popular culture which fail to cross the Atlantic. There are odd times when the idiomatic, didactic tone becomes too jarring — but it is worth persevering to the end. The author is a controversial figure in America (if the internet is any sort of guide); one comment I found described her as a ‘hate-mongering homophobic Christian bigot’. Her language is uncompromising and tendentious, speaking, for example, of the year in which the ‘Ten Commandments were ripped from classrooms for fear that unsuspecting students might read them…and actually obey them. Wouldn’t want to discourage kids from lying and stealing after all’. (The habitual omission of personal pronouns must have driven her editor mad.) The author’s thesis is that Christianity is under attack from a sustained and co-ordinated threat promulgated by liberal society, the eventual effect of which (if unopposed) will be the ‘criminalisation of Christianity’. The book serves to bring this message to our attention, and to encourage us to take action — now. The writer develops her theme through the early chapters of the book and informs us that the biggest threat to religious freedom is that posed by the homosexual agenda. This may sound like another in a long line of American conspiracy theories but as the chapters unfold the reader is bombarded with a series of examples of the ways in which Christians in the US are prevented from voicing their religious beliefs and one is left with the unavoidable conclusion that the message of the book deserves careful thought and reflection. The book divides into 15 chapters, the first of which sets the scene for ‘the war going on for the future of our country’. The author makes a series of statements which, on the face of it (even in her own words), are unbelievable. For example: ‘If we remain silent in this battle, pastors will go to jail for speaking about homosexuality from their own pulpits in their own churches’. The subject matters of the statement are then revealed to be true, the author citing the sentencing of a Swedish Pentecostal minister to one month in prison for having offended homosexuals in a sermon. When the Prosecutor was questioned about his motive for appealing the sentence (for a lengthier term), he responded that, ‘when he [the pastor] started reading Bible verses about homosexuality, he crossed the line’. The examples cited are not restricted geographically to the US. In one, the author refers to an elderly Englishman who was assaulted for carrying a banner which read, ‘Stop immorality. Stop homosexuality.’ The police were called but arrested the man rather than his assailants; he was subsequently prosecuted and the banner ordered to be destroyed. The book goes on to highlight how and where Christianity is attacked and censored in our modern, secular society: in the workplace — two doctors vilified and prosecuted for refusing to carry out an abortion; in schools, where a five-year-old’s drawing of Jesus saving the world was deemed ‘unacceptable’ by his teacher; and on the internet, where one search engine refused to allow an advertisement by a Christian organisation on the grounds that its articles opposing homosexuality constituted ‘hate speech’. There are many, many more examples, the cumulative effect of which may exhaust the reader. Some relief from the bombardment comes in the later chapters, which are devoted to the author’s strategy for fighting back. These include ten lessons from the life of Ronald Reagan; 12 lessons from God; and encouragement to form local, activist cells to ‘regain control of the public debate and the battlefronts’. The author concludes with a frank wake-up call, reciting the well-known words in Ezekiel 33, and warning us that, ‘It’s later than you think’. Who should be encouraged to read this book? Despite the title, it is not a book only for lawyers; rather its appeal should be for Christians who are interested in the world outside church, who want to grapple with the complex issues of being a Christian in a secular, postmodern culture. It is not an easy book to read, either in terms of its style or its uncompromising message, but it is thought-provoking and worth persevering with to the end. R.C. Kershaw,
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