This is an excerpt from a piece by conference speaker Tony Campolo. Read the full article on Tony's blog Red Letter Christians.

As dictator after dictator was deposed in North Africa, people around the world began to talk about the “Arab Spring.” Many claim that what was happening in countries like Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt represented the emergence of participatory democracy. Those of us who were political activists during the 60s believed that the call “All power to the people!” was being heeded. The problem was that we never asked who the people were and what the people wanted.

We are inclined to believe that democracy is when the majority rules and free elections take place wherein every citizen has the right to vote. That, indeed, is a very superficial definition of democracy. At least we should add to that statement that democracy requires a political system wherein it is safe to be in the minority.

After American-led forces deposed Saddam Hussein (who, incidentally, provided protection for the Christian community, giving them freedom of worship and freedom to evangelize), a free election was held and the Shi’ites came to power. Immediately the Shi’ite government was in place, they established Iraq as an Islamic republic, which denied Christians many of the rights they had previously enjoyed. What is worse, Christians have experienced tremendous persecution at the hands of the democratically elected majority government. There were once 1,500,000 Christians in Iraq. Today, it is down to about 500,000. Churches are being burned down in Baghdad for the first time in 1500 years and massive numbers of Christians have become refugees in places like Jordan where they live on the verge of starvation.

In Egypt, where another dictator was deposed, the emerging majority rule has disintegrated into mob rule. Again, we see that churches are being torched and scores of Christians are being slain while the military stands idly by, watching the massacres. The Christians chose to stage a protest march of their own.  They were mowed down by Egyptian gunfire. All of a sudden, it wasn’t safe to be of a minority religion in Egypt.

Right now, pressure is being put on President Assad, the dictator who rules Syria. In spite of the tyranny he has exercised over the populace of his country, the Christians of Syria have been reluctant to join in the efforts to overthrow Assad because he guaranteed them freedom of religion and protected their churches and their people. It’s a terrible thing to choose between participatory democracy and the freedom to live out your faith without persecution, but that’s what the people of Syria are being asked to do.

Over and over again, in each of the revolutions in Northern Africa, we were told that the moderate Muslims would win out and create fair and just rule for all people, but in each and every case, we have witnessed the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood who are well organized and able to usurp power. This extremist group has no patience or tolerance for Christians.

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Continue reading the full article on Red Letter Christians.