Best Way To Respond To Persecution Is To Engage With Communities, Not Seek Military Intervention, Says Pakistani Archbishop
A Roman Catholic archbishop in Pakistan says actions of a humanitarian nature, not military, are more effective in stopping the persecution of Christians.
Sebastian Francis Shaw, the archbishop of Lahore in Pakistan, suggests Christians respond to persecution by engaging with their communities rather than looking to military interventions for help, Fox News reported.
Shaw stresses that people on the ground experiencing the persecution are best placed to counter it compared to military forces from the outside.
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"[Such humanitarian efforts] should not be interpreted as helping Christians, but helping humanity," Shaw told Fox News. "Direct [military] intervention will create problems, but what I think can be done, if not directly, is more of a humanitarian base."
When Christians engage in humanitarian outreach in their communities, Shaw says, they will be more effective in changing the minds of those who persecute them.
"Then they [Muslims] will see that these Christians are helping them also, as well as their own community," he said.
In 2013, Muslims burned a hundred Christian homes located in a neighborhood known as "Joseph's Colony." The mob set the houses on fire on allegations that a Christian had committed blasphemy.
Shaw said the Christians were joined by Muslim scholars as they mourned for their homes.
"Muslim scholars came and supported those who lost their homes," Shaw said. "They went with us to console the victimized people. Together."
Shaw pointed out that because of this incident, the residents of Joseph's Colony realized that while there are some Muslims who persecute them, there are others who support them.
Common Responses
A recent report reveals that most Christians facing persecution choose to flee in order to survive.
The report, "In Response to Persecution, Findings of the Under Caesar's Sword Project," revealed that Christians normally respond in three ways to persecution: by adopting survival mechanisms such as fleeing or hiding; making connections to earn support and sympathy; or setting up a resistance and confronting the persecution head on.
