In fact, I’d almost “bet” (I don’t gamble, but you know what I mean) that a lot of the Catholic/Protestant strife is in Mexico and Central and South America.

Orthodox/Protestant problems are almost all Eastern Europe, with some happening in Eritrea (due to how Isaias Afwerkas’ government “recognizes” religious groups).

I wasn’t aware of the “witch” burning; that horrifies me.

Now, how do you change this?  I don’t know; I wish I did.  A lot of it arises from the fact that the “persecuting” church is entrenched in the government, so the government winds up acting as the harassing arm of the church, directly, or indirectly by condoning the behavior.

Some of it is culturally entrenched.  Protestantism is viewed as a “new” religion many places, and one that is doctrinally very different from the “older” faiths.  In some of the former Soviet Islamic countries, it’s pretty much treated as though it were a cult.

I think the comment that the best thing we can do is pray is a good one.  The change has to start at the heart, and that takes the Lord.

jma

Thus says the Lord God, “Woe shepherds of Nigeria who have been feeding themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flock?  Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.

Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I shall demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep.”

For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.  I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.  “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy.  I will feed them with judgment.”

All this time, I thought you were holding out on us with a brilliant solution. 

Here are a couple brainstorming ideas that I had.

1) Try to involve Evangelicals and Catholics Together.  They are an organization devoted to fostering unity that has connections among both Catholics and Protestants.

2) Start a letter writing campaign to US State department (don’t they document abuses of religious freedom?) and the governments of the countries where the abuses took place.

3) Start a letter writing campaign to the Vatican and copy the local Catholic bishops and the bishops where the abuses took place.

4) Inform the media about all letter writing campaigns.

5) Get together a couple pastors from your local area and try to set up a meeting with your local Catholic bishop to see if he has any ideas.

6) Try to involve various grassroots groups like homeschoolers, bloggers and local churches.

7) Try to involve radio DJs and people with pulpits to preach from.

Perhaps most important… Research and document the abuses very well, so that people can check on your references without relying on hearsay.  I’m not saying that word of mouth is necessarily wrong, but when starting a campaign, one needs to build credibility.  I’m still on the research part right now. 

Regarding the question, “Can Catholics in America flex, somehow, the muscle of their Church against Catholics killing evangelicals in South America?”

Honestly, the Catholic Church in America doesn’t have much “muscle” to flex down south.  The American bishops have no more say in how to run things in South and Central America than the bishops of California have in running the Catholic churches in Nebraska: basically none.  The only power they have is that of the influence of peers and prayer.  Even Rome’s influence is often limited to that of a moderator and pastor.  She can tell people not to use violence to solve problems (and has), but if people on the ground don’t listen, the recourse she can take is limited. 

MB

You (and probably others) have misunderstood me, yet I can’t point to any particular part of the comment that seems to be the cause, so I will assume that you misunderstood the whole thing.  Please, forgive the length of this comment. 

You said, “Are you really wanting to suggest that this is all the fault of Protestantism?”

No, of course not.  Such an idea is nonsensical.  There is no excuse for murder in the name of Jesus.  No murderer will inherit the kingdom of God.  Such people have rejected the rule of God in their life on earth and without sincere repentance have chosen an eternity in hell. Matthew 25:40-41 comes to my mind.

The presence of dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox and the relative lack between Protestants and the two groups is (in my mind) a matter of fact, but it does not imply that the blame is on Protestants.  There is a greater cultural gap to bridge and a lack of clarity sometimes on how to proceed with such a dialogue.  I mentioned the good relations Catholics and Orthodox have for a couple reasons.  1) It offers hope for the situations listed above.  If Catholics and Orthodox can dialogue and work through their differences without resorting to violence, then they should be able to do the same with Protestants.  2) There may be some lessons learned from the experiences of reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox that can be applied to the current tensions between those two branches of Christianity and Protestantism. 

The reason that I mentioned Richard Bennett was not to blame him for the violence that happened to his car or the threats he received.  In fact, I clearly stated that “there is no justification for violence.” However, he is the only example I have in my own experience of Christian on Christian violence.  He was somebody I met through a mutual friend doing door-to-door evangelism.  I at one time considered him to be an innocent virtual martyr for his faith, when it turned out that he was also a violent persecutor himself.  When pursuing mutual respect between factions of any sort, it is important to impartially recognize all violence on both sides, should it exist.  I offered my own past naivety merely as a caution to others.

Also, I brought it up to remind people that sometimes politics plays a greater role than religion in “religious” violence.  Personally, I don’t think the IRA is a religious organization anymore than I think the Basque separatists are a religious organization.  They are primarily a political organization, and the solution to IRA violence had to be a political one.  They weren’t going to listen to any religious leaders.  It is important to understand the true nature of a dispute so that the appropriate people can be approached regarding a solution.  Perhaps it is not only a religious solution that should be sought, but a political one as well.

I will try your search suggestions on the rise of Protestantism in Latin America.  The problem I foresee with such an approach is that it searches for what I’m not really interested in.  I don’t want to read 100 articles on the rise of Protestantism to find the one or two that document violence against them.  That said, I’ll still give it a try if that’s all people have to offer.

Sorry for the long comment.  I hope that cleared up the misperceptions.  It is not my intent to blame Protestants for violence against them.  My intent is to learn more about it and to find ways to stop it.

MB

I have none.  I was hoping you guys could help me help them.

I think Jared’s list offers some good suggestions.  I know a guy who might know some missionaries in the area.  It’s a long shot, but I’ll ask.  Other than supporting their work, I’m not sure what can be done from over here.

I was hoping there was some sort of way to get our denominational leaders here to exert pressure on the church leaders in Nigeria and elsewhere.  But I don’t know how that’s done or even if it can be done.  I’m deeply disturbed by what Christians are doing to each other in the name of CHrist but totally at a loss for what I (we) can do to stop it.  For now, I’ll just pray.

Are you really wanting to suggest that this is all the fault of Protestantism?

Do some research (not carefully selected Google phrases with strategic quote-marks) on the rise of evangelicalism in Latin America. Catholic persecution of Protestants is happening.

But that’s neither here nor there. This shouldn’t be about age old schism.

People are being hurt and killed. Children are being abused and abandoned.

I hesitate to answer the question at the top of your second comment, b/c it feels like a “who’s heart is bigger?” test, but as I’ve criticized you, I think I ought to answer it. I personally am doing the following:

a) providing exposure to these atrocities in Nigeria by blogging about it

b) asking people if they know personally of any missionaries or mission organizations in this area who are working to combat this tragedy, with the intention of supporting them financially and through prayer

c) researching Stepping Stones Nigeria to see what specifically they are doing to combat this tragedy, with the intention of supporting them financially

d) praying

e) continuing to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus in my relationships, my ministry, my support of foreign mission work, and my participation in local mission work.

2) Where can I find more information on Catholic on Protestant violence?  For instance, when I search google for

pastor “burned alive” ecuador catholics

I get your blog as the top link.  I get zero websites returned when googling

“Protestant pastor” “killed by catholics”

I tried searching Voice of the Martyrs and all I came up with was a story in Lebanon.

http://www.persecution.com/news/index.cfm?action=fullstory&newsid=461

As you can see, I’m not having much luck here.  Mostly what I’m getting are references to the Irish/English and intra-English battles, if anything.  Any one have an idea on improving my search efficiency?

MB