What does it feel like to be excluded from what everyone else is allowed to do? Christians can once again put themselves in the role of the persecuted.
I think that one of the most hurtful things in the world is when we are not accepted by other people. Sometimes it’s because of what we do, or how we say things, but more and more it seems to be because of who we are, what we look like or what we believe. Far from becoming a world which is increasingly tolerant, we are a fragmented society which is made of smaller, increasingly marginalised groups.
Take teenagers. So many of them feel they can’t connect with the rest of society. The elderly feel forgotten and pushed to the fringes of a world dominated by technological changes. And various different groups, from religious extremists to animal rights organisations, think that the only way to express themselves is by using force.
It’s not nice when we are made to feel unwanted, especially if we don’t feel that we’ve done anything to deserve it. A bit like all of those religious people who feel persecuted because of their beliefs. And this happens in the richer, developed countries in some ways, just as it happens in the poorer, undeveloped countries. It’s just that in the richer countries there are other people to make the headlines as well.
