Westminster Abbey and Cathedral to be Lit Red to Highlight Christian Persecution

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Aug 11, 2016

Westminster Abbey and Cathedral to be Lit Red to Highlight Christian Persecution

Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral will both be back-lit red in November to raise awareness for Christian persecution around the world.

According to ChristianToday.com, the effort is being spearheaded by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Lord Alton, an advocate of the effort, wrote: "In November, ACN is arranging for Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey to be floodlit in red to commemorate the persecuted. If every parish in the country did the same it might at last wake up our political classes to the scale of the suffering."

Lord Alton went on, telling of a gripping story of Christians who remained committed to their faith, despite torture.

"In more than 100 countries Christians are persecuted...In Parliament I hosted a meeting of the charity, Aid to the Church In Need (ACN). We heard of how a Christian pastor in a village of Aleppo was told to convert or die. He was forced to watch as his 12-year-old son was tortured: the boy's fingers cut from his hand. Neither the father or son renounced their faith, and both were executed.”

“Despite Resolutions being passed in the House of Commons, the American Congress, the European Parliament and the Australian House of Representatives,” Alton continued, “the British Government still fails to name these events for the genocide that they are – or to lay a Resolution before the Security Council."

Alton hopes that churches around the country will join in the effort to raise awareness of the plight of Christians around the world, but especially in countries like Iraq and Syria where persecution is severest.

 

Publication date: August 11, 2016



Westminster Abbey and Cathedral to be Lit Red to Highlight Christian Persecution