Those who were murdered at the "Mother Emanuel" AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, are to be called Christian martyrs. With Fox News seeing the persecution of Christians everywhere in America, this claim may easily play into the Fox News narrative of the persecution of Christians in America. However, the claim that those who were murdered in Charleston are Christian martyrs is far from endorsing that narrative because it is based on quite a different premise. First, I do not think that Christians are being persecuted in America. Second, the way the Charleston Nine are to be understood as martyrs goes against the grain of how the Christian faith has historically named its martyrs. Christians martyrs have historically been those who died directly, not tangentially, because of their faith. In other words, Christian martyrs have historically been those who died for no other reason but the fact that they were Christians. It is now widely reported that the Charleston Nine were murdered because they were black rather than because they were Christians. The attempt by Fox News to connect their death to the narrative of Christian persecution in America was rightly repudiated by no other but the African American comedian, Larry Wilmore. Thus, the fact that the Charleston Nine were murdered because they were black rather than Christian can hardly be gainsaid.
That is however not the end of the story because even though they were murdered because they were black, they were murdered in the sanctuary were they were engaged in what should be considered to be their Christian duty. They were at church studying the Bible, as Christians should do. They were not murdered at their homes but at church where they were forming their Christian identity. If they were at their homes, the murderer could hardly have gathered them in one place and murdered them. They were gathered in one place in the name of Christ and for that they were murdered. There is therefore a very good case to be made for the claim that the Charleston Nine are Christian martyrs because they were killed doing what they were supposed to be doing as Christians. Those who did not go to church that fateful night, saved their lives. In the end, the difference between who died and who lived was not race but rather who was present at church. There is a sense in which they were killed because they were Christians.
That is however not the end of the story because even though they were murdered because they were black, they were murdered in the sanctuary were they were engaged in what should be considered to be their Christian duty. They were at church studying the Bible, as Christians should do. They were not murdered at their homes but at church where they were forming their Christian identity. If they were at their homes, the murderer could hardly have gathered them in one place and murdered them. They were gathered in one place in the name of Christ and for that they were murdered. There is therefore a very good case to be made for the claim that the Charleston Nine are Christian martyrs because they were killed doing what they were supposed to be doing as Christians. Those who did not go to church that fateful night, saved their lives. In the end, the difference between who died and who lived was not race but rather who was present at church. There is a sense in which they were killed because they were Christians.
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