BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 38
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
STATUES OF THE
REFORMERS ARE
VANDALISED AGAIN
On July 15th last year, early visitors
to the historic Monument site in
Geneva were horrified to discover
that rainbow-coloured paint had been
deliberately thrown over the statue
heads, in order to deface the four
primary figures of the Protestant
reawakening and the main features of the Reformation Wall ... JOHN CALVIN, GUILLAUME
FAREL, THÉODORE DE BÈZE AND JOHN KNOX.
ABOVE: THE FAMOUS
Although no one has ever claimed
REFORMATION WALL IN GENEVA
responsibility for the damage, however with a
nearby parade the previous day, and the
This is often manifested for example in the
associated rainbow colouring of the paint persecution against Christians in countries
used by the grouping concerned, local throughout the Middle East, Nigeria, India,
authorities believe that sections of that mixed China and in North Korea.
gathering had been responsible for the
Writing in the Release International
desecration and vandalisation of the statues. Magazine a former FBI special agent, penned
Unfortunately this was not the first time that persecution against Christians is on the
the famous sculpture had been defaced. increase, at the same time forecasting that its
Four months earlier in March a feminist continuance will undoubtedly rise across the
group also sprayed graffiti right across the globe in the coming years.
same evangelistic monument.
Another research by the Pew Poll, found
Again these acts of wanton vandalisation that Christians face significant levels of
were/are not just isolated incidents but indeed persecution worldwide within almost one
further cases of Christian monuments being hundred and fifty countries, whereby
defaced in the rejection of Christianity within every month, up to three hundred and fifty
modern culture. This recent vandalisation of Christians are murdered for their faith and
the statues of the four Reformers was just over one hundred churches, monuments
another thermometer of the spiritual condition or apostolic buildings are also similarly
throughout our wider society and indeed part violated or desecrated.
of the bigger picture of the worldwide rejection
According to Ellen Fantini, (executive
of the Christian Faith.
director of a Vienna-based organisation that
pursues religious discrimination) attacks were
up twenty-per-cent in March over the same
time last year and while the motives and
identities were not always clear, France in
particular faced an upsurge of anti-Christian
violence by anarchist and feminist groups.
But ignorance and/or cynicism of the
past is a feature of the kind of secularism
dominating western culture right now or
as local Ulster-born writer C.S. Lewis
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 36 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING