Remember the persecuted Christians – like those who first came to America

They’re killing Christians in other countries, often with impunity. And many Christians in America seem either ignorant or apathetic about it. Perhaps many of us fail to act because we are not sure how we can help. But religious freedom is exceedingly important.

America began because of anti-Christian persecution. Many of the original colonies were peopled by Christians of one brand or another seeking the freedom to worship Jesus here without harassment from the government.

As they worded it in the New England Confederation of 1643: “We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace.”

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we are reminded of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth in 1621. Of course, the whole Pilgrim story began with persecution.

In fact, William Bradford, the long-time governor of the Pilgrims who voted him in about 30 times (they had annual terms of duty), said as much in the opening of his book, “Of Plymouth Plantation.”(Note: I have modernized the spelling here.)

“It is well known unto the godly and judicious, how ever since the first breaking out of the light of the gospel in our Honourable Nation of England what wars & oppositions ever since Satan hath raised, maintained, and continued against the Saints, from time to time, in one sort or other. Sometimes by bloody death and cruel torments; other whiles imprisonments, banishments, & other hard usages.”

All these terrible persecutions about 400 years ago ended up leading to a mass migration of people – Separatists (of which the Pilgrims were the most famous), Puritans, Quakers, Presbyterians and others – yearning to be free. Take away religious freedom and the other freedoms will also be curtailed.

As Thomas Jefferson once noted, the “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” This conviction of his was so strong that it has been chiseled in stone at his memorial in D.C.

But many Americans today seem to be unaware of our founding principles.

When I had the privilege to do a radio segment with Charlie Kirk about a year before he died, I asked him about that.

Jerry: “If you really boil down the essence of the Declaration of Independence, why we exist as a nation, it gets back to ‘the consent of the governed’ who have been endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. Wokeism is at war with those two premises, correct?”

Charlie Kirk: “Oh, that’s right. The idea of inalienable rights is totally at odds with the woke. You see, they don’t believe in a God. They don’t believe in the eternal and transcendent purpose now. Instead, they believe that there is no purpose. There is no meaning. And again, the Woke is just a filler term for what we have been fighting on the spiritual domain for the last couple thousand years. And the enemy comes to lie, steal, cheat, and destroy. But Jesus has come to give life and life more abundantly, as it says in John 10:10.”

Recently, I interviewed National Religious Broadcasters President Troy Miller for a radio segment about the anti-Christian persecution happening around the world in our time. Miller and some other Christian leaders had a conclave at the Museum of the Bible recently speaking out on behalf of Christians persecuted around the world today. It’s estimated that 380 million Christians worldwide are at risk.

Troy told me: “This is not only a religious persecution issue or a Christian persecution issue. This is a human rights issue that’s going on around the world, and we should care about that as Christians. Yes, we should expect the world to hate us, but that doesn’t mean we stand by and let people suffer because of it.”

Dr. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, wrote last week: “As 2025 comes to a close, it is sad to note that Christians are being persecuted in many countries, the extent of which is deeply troubling. There are two faces to this crisis: some of it is violent in nature; some of it is more invidious. All of it is being done by extremists: religious fanatics and secular fanatics.”

About 25 years ago, when Bill Maher had his show on ABC (without all the swearing), I was a panelist on four separate episodes. He’s no friend of the Christian faith. Yet even Bill Maher spoke out recently against the wholesale killing of Christians in Nigeria because it’s a humanitarian crisis. Good for him.

We should pray for the persecuted church and remind our elected leaders of their plight.