Persecution as a battle for defining identity

Reflections from Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, there is a remarkable degree of prejudice against Christians. Opinion formers of the nationalistic and the Islamist ideologies use and deepen the existing prejudice to define Christian identity in a way that may lead to more violent forms of persecution and to a wrong self-image of the Christians themselves. Therefore, an important element of persecution in today’s Turkey is a battle for defining Christian identity. As a response to wrong definitions, Christians have to focus on the real Christian identity. The First Letter of Peter speaks into a similar situation of suffering through prejudice and ostracism. The letter focuses on the assurance of real Christian identity and on a warning of Christians to provoke wrong definitions by inconvenient behavior.