Dear offenders of ours,
It pains us to note that your actions, your repulse, your words and sometimes even your false testimony have caused thousands upon thousands of Christians to be thrown into prison, deprived of their liberties, tortured or even put to death. Whilst we acknowledge our own sinfulness and balk in guilt and shame, we realise, and it pains it to find that you have not realised, that the limit to one's freedom is the freedom of another. Not only have you caused the mass persecution of Christians, you have also caused the mass persecution of minorities, who have been granted freedoms cited in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many of you campaign so strongly for your own freedom without even realising that their freedoms have been severely neglected.
We write from a place where, though we are facing verbal and emotional persecution, still provides us with liberties that many of us often take for granted. Some of us have had the opportunity of going to Knightsbridge on Thursday, 14 June 2012, three years after the wrongful condemnation of Asia Bibi to death under the blasphemy laws. We were few in number, but we stood, sang, chanted and testified outside the Pakistani Embassy in Lowndes Square. I would like to personally share with you my side of the story, in just two videos:
Asia Bibi's story is not the only one that needs to be told. There are thousands of stories that have been silenced by your actions, and these stories go unnoticed. They are from China, North Korea, India, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and even place we wouldn't expect — Russia, the Philippines, Venezuela, and many other nations. We, the people who walk the streets day by day picking the papers or reading the news online, can vouch that each of us desires what is good, right, true and just.
We are here to remind you, our offenders, that you'd best not be lambasting others for discrimination when you yourselves discriminate. Much of the persecution that has taken place comes from blatant misunderstanding, or the holding of grudges. Can you not see that the person struggling in your clenched hands is as human as you are?
We, young and old alike, have come out to Knightsbridge in peace, and we are sure we are not alone in fighting this good fight. We who have been persecuted have been expected to take it all silently like doormats, while the truth is shut away in a corner. But you know what? We are the light of the world. No one lights lamps to put them under tubs. They put these lamps at high places in the house so that the light would spill on everyone to see. And so it is with us who seek the truth. We're tired of being silent.
We are free, yes, and while there is lots of work to be done in our beloved Britain, nothing is going to stop us from spreading the flames of love wherever we go. We have been urged to stand up in defence of our weaker brethren, to be with them in their time of suffering, to comfort those who mourn, to hunger and thirst for what is right. Nothing, no one, is going to stop us from doing that. For we are doing work of the highest order, work ordered by God Himself.
Before we end this letter, dear offenders of ours...
We love you, and want what is best for you, for us, and for the common good. And we, the people who languish in prisons while you take out your instruments of torture, the people who weep while you utter abuse against us..... we forgive you.
See also:
P.S. Special thanks to James Kelliher for recording the video footage of the first live performance of 'Indignation, and to John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, editor of the report 'Persecuted and Forgotten', for taking the time to participate in the interview.
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