Written by Aaron M. Renn |
Friday, February 2, 2024
While Christians might experience persecution, just because you are in trouble doesn’t mean you are being persecuted for being a Christian. In the case of this church, it is willfully violating the city’s zoning code, which is religiously neutral – if anything, religious institutions are privileged in zoning – and not to single this church out or because of some anti-Christian animus. The city may be unwise or even heartless, but that doesn’t mean they are persecuting the pastor. 

I saw several articles posted about a pastor in Ohio who is being charged with several zoning code violations because he allowed homeless people to stay in his church during freezing weather. He’s apparently allowed homeless people in the church previously, had been warned against it, and is de facto using the church as an overflow facility for the homeless shelter next door.
Per the article, some people have called this persecution:
Ashton Pittman, editor of the Mississippi Free Press, said Avell’s story was a rare example in the U.S. of “actual religious persecution of a Christian by the state.”
I beg to differ. The city may be heartless here, but this is the sort of zoning dispute people of all stripes run into all the time in cities. It’s not unusual for even those who have followed all the rules to end up in kafkaesque situations. (Also, it’s not clear if his case, which is in a municipal court, is actually a criminal one).
As the guy who coined the term “Negative World” to describe the way post-2014 American culture now views Christianity negatively (or at least skeptically), you might think I would be aligned with people talking about persecution in America. But I’m not.
Christians are not actually being persecuted in America today. I’m sure there are individuals who have been attacked by a disturbed whack job or something because of where they go to church. But such cases are surely rare.
When I think of persecution, I think of places like China, where pastors get thrown in prison and churches get demolished by the state. Or India, where some Christians groups have been the target of sectarian violence. Or North Korea. Or perhaps some Muslim countries where Christians suffer various legal or cultural debilities.
This is not what is happening in the United States.
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Now, Kennedy is inviting all Americans to join him Sept. 1 and take a knee to celebrate a national night of prayer. Kennedy’s story of faith and determination captured the attention of the nation and compelled the football coach to write a book sharing his story and explaining why he chose to spend years in and out of courtrooms for the right to pray silently on the field after games. His book “Average Joe: The Coach Joe Kennedy Story” is due out Oct. 24.

After a seven-year legal battle that ended with a victory at the Supreme Court, Joe Kennedy will be back on the field Sept. 1 coaching football and taking a knee in prayer.
“I have been looking forward to this since the 2015 season,” Kennedy told The Daily Signal Tuesday. “I am praying for a fantastic fall for our Knights.”
In 2015, Kennedy lost his job as an assistant football coach in Bremerton, Washington, about 30 miles west of Seattle, for routinely taking a knee in prayer on the field after games.
From the time he began coaching at Bremerton High School in 2008, Kennedy said, he made a covenant with God to thank him in prayer at the 50-yard line at the end of each of the Knights’ games. Some team members joined the coach on the field, and no student or parent filed a formal complaint about the practice.
When the Bremerton School District learned of Kennedy’s routine, however, officials told him he no longer could pray silently after games, even by himself. But Kennedy kept the covenant he made with God, a decision that cost him his job.
The football coach, deciding to fight back, filed a lawsuit.
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Do you ever consider that sometimes the most selfless thing you can do on a Sunday morning is sing? Do you consider that sometimes singing is the most important way you will serve others during any given worship service? This is true whether you’re one of the musicians at the front or one of the members in the pews.

Some of my most memorable moments of public worship have been in settings where I did not speak the language. I have stood with a congregation in rural Zambia as they’ve clapped and moved and praised the Lord in Bemba, a language that is utterly unknown to me. I’ve sat with a congregation in the far reaches of Cambodia as they’ve sung in Tampuan accompanied by instruments scratched together with boxes and gourds and other bits and pieces. I’ve known neither the language nor the musical style. I’ve worshipped with megachurches in South Korea and house churches in North Africa, knowing not a word of Korean or of Arabic. Yet in every case, I have worshipped.
In every case, I have worshipped because even though I haven’t been able to sing, I’ve been sung to. Colossians 3:16 commands us to sing for the benefit of one another even as we sing ultimately to the Lord. Whenever we sing, we direct our hearts vertically toward our God, but we also direct our words horizontally toward our brothers and sisters. We sing from the gospel, for one another, to the Lord.
These are not the only occasions in which I’ve been unable to sing. I remember the early days after Nick’s death in which I found myself almost incapable of it. When I tried, I would often just break down and cry. The loss was too raw, the lyrics too poignant, the emotions too overwhelming. But though I couldn’t bring myself to sing, it was a tremendous blessing to be sung to. I would often just stand in silence with my arm around Aileen, tears spilling down our cheeks, as the church sang around us, as they sang for us. Their words became our words, their faith shored up our faith. Their words washed over us like God’s own.
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