By Tyson Thorne
"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media: The international assault on Christianity continues, with China closing churches, the UK prosecuting a reporter for her Catholic views and claiming Christianity is a religion of violence, and the European Union cracking down on people who insult Muhammad. There is good news for Israel, though.
As we reported last week, the world is becoming less friendly toward Christianity every day. Earlier this week China closed and changed the locks on a 1,000 member church, but unexpectedly it appears the UK is increasing more dramatically in its anti-Christian policies. Caroline Farrow, a journalist and devout Catholic, made a statement on Twitter that Susie Green, a trans-gender rights activist who took her son to Thailand when he was 16 for a sex change operation, "mutilated" her son "by having him castrated and rendered sterile while he was still a child." When Ms. Green reported the statement to police, they investigated Farrow for violating the Malicious Communications Act. The investigation is ongoing, and Farrow is prepared to go to jail if it helps defend freedom for her own daughter.
Need more evidence? The UK denied asylum to an Iranian because he said that he converted to Christianity because it is a "peaceful" religion. The UK's Home Office rejected the claim saying that many books of the Bible are "filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence." They further explained, "These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a ‘peaceful’ religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge."
The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that classifying Muhammad's proclivity for young girls (he married one as young as 6 and "consummated" the marriage when she turned 9) as pedophilia is "not protected free speech." The Austrian woman who made the comment in a public address was convicted and will pay a $574.00 fine because she "did not allow for a serious debate on the issue". As the laws of the UK and the EU crack down on Christianity they become more lenient toward the opponent of Western culture.
Where can one find good news in the world today? Pew Research found in a recent survey that Christianity in Eastern Europe is flourishing even as it is waning in Western Europe. The theory is that, since they endured the oppression of communism they are now holding fast to the faith that was once denied them. Which may be why Romania and the Czech Republic (along with Brazil and Honduras) are following the US and moving their embassy's in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a testament that Jerusalem is the rightful capital of Israel.