Seven evangelical Christians are facing a different kind of
persecution—this time not by Islamic radicals but, surprisingly, by
fellow Christ-believing Catholics.
In a report carried by
Charisma News,
the International Christian Concern (ICC) said it has learned that the
seven evangelical Christians were sent to jail in Chiapas, Mexico, on
Dec. 15 after they refused to convert to Catholicism.
ICC said Mexican state and federal authorities had
been informed of threats to illegally expel or send to prison members of
the evangelical community in the area, but they refused to intervene.
The evangelicals earlier received an ultimatum to convert to
Catholicism or face expulsion and imprisonment by local officials of the
place where they reside—in Leyva Velazques, a municipality of Las
Margaritas, Chiapas.
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in Mexico where 82.7
percent of the people adhere to the faith, based on a census conducted
in 2010. However, Mexico's Constitution explicitly protects the right of
all citizens to profess and practice the religious belief of their
choice.
Reports said the Catholics' ultimatum forced eight families in the
village to sign documents indicating their willingness to convert to
Catholicism.
But seven of their fellow evangelicals refused to sign the document
and were sent to jail, according to Luis Herrera, Director of the
Coordination of Christian Council of Churches.
Other evangelical Christians in the community are continually being
pressured to renounce their faith by local officials of Leyva Velazques,
according to ICC.
The Christian group said this incident shows the growing trend of
religious persecution in rural areas of Mexico under the noses of state
and federal government officials who refuse to do anything to protect
religious minorities.
In June, ICC reported more than 70 cases of religious persecution
against minority Christian communities in the states of Chiapas,
Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero. Each case involved 20 to 100
victims.
Isaac Six, ICC's Advocacy Director, has appealed to the Mexican
government to stop the persecution of Christian minorities in the
country's rural areas.
It is simply unconscionable for the state and federal governments of
Mexico to repeatedly ignore the arbitrary arrest and expulsion of their
own citizens by local governments on the basis of religious belief," he
said.
"Today, hundreds of men, women, and children are homeless in Mexico
because they chose to follow their beliefs, and because their government
refused to act. We call on the federal government of Mexico to
immediately intervene and halt the unlawful detention of members of the
evangelical community in Leyva Velazques," Six said.
CT
