Today's Religious Persecution

            In the year 313 Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan.  It legalized Christian worship and effectively ended an era of  Christian persecution that had included, among other atrocities, circus entertainment featuring rather non-competitive contests  between Christians and lions.  

            Several centuries passed during which Christianity spread throughout Europe as well as parts of Asia and North Africa.  The movement suffered temporary setbacks caused by invasions from Norsemen, barbarians, and Muslims, but it flourished with the colonization of the Americas and Africa to become the world's dominant religion.  Persecutions were not unknown during this period, some, like the Inquisition, perpetrated by Christianity itself. 
            Now, one would expect that with the advent of modern civilization religious persecutions would cease altogether.  Yet, that is not the case.  To be sure, we have seen Christians slaughtered in Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, and Eritrea by radical Islamists, but that doesn't explain, for instance, the ferocity of the eradication campaign against Christians in North Korea.  Nor does it explain the attacks against Christianity in this country.
            With few exceptions, like church burnings, the assault against Christians in America has not resulted in fatalities.  But it is real nonetheless, only in a different guise.  The barbarians of today take the form of atheists whose billboard in Times Square pronounces that we don't need Christ in Christmas,  the self-proclaimed champions of religious freedom who would prohibit Christmas carols in schools or Nativity scenes on the public square, and the secularists who would excise all expressions of Merry Christmas in favor of the inoffensive Happy Holidays.  They would in effect replace our constitutionally protected freedom of religion with freedom from religion.
            Christmas proclaims Joy to the World and Goodwill toward Men.  Perhaps there are some among us who need to be reminded that the reason for this proclamation is the message of universal love brought to us by the one whose birth we celebrate in this most joyful of all seasons.