Cognitive negative space

From Christian Persecution on the Rise in Bali by Walter Russell Mead and Persecuted Christians by Peter Berger.

The numbers seem to support the claim of Christians as the most persecuted religion.

As Mead indicates:

One of the reasons Christianity remains the most persecuted religion is that it continues to grow throughout the world by means of conversions, upsetting old arrangements and creating pushback from members of other faiths. As missionaries and believers spread the word, communities of other faiths often see Christianity as a threat to the souls of their members and the stability of their societies.

All this is true, but what I find interesting is the relative absence of any real awareness or discussion at any sort of national level from media, academia, policy etc. 75% of Americans self-identify as Christian with approximately half of those participating in some Church related event on a weekly basis. Persecution of Christians is reasonably well reported within the religious press.

The issue is the absence in the mainstream press. I am guessing that the apparent absence of interest is a function of two things; cultural predisposition and ignorance.

Virtually every American is at heart a libertarian/classical liberal compared to the rest of the world when it comes to religion. Virtually everyone accepts and embraces the First Amendment of the constitution which includes the Establishment clause

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

A natural consequence is that the Federal Government always has to be alert and circumspect when dealing with any aspect of religion. I think that explains part of it. But this is a humanitarian issue, not solely a religious issue.

I think this is perhaps mostly a consequence of ignorance. People in our mainstream media in general have other attributes indicating they are among the least religiously observant. They are most likely not reporting on something major and critical simply because it is not on their radar screen; a classic example of not knowing what you don't know. Were one to point out that Coptic Christians, 10% of the Egyptian population, some 10 million people, are under threat and exposed to significant violence, perhaps more attention might be paid. When you notice that the Coptic population is more than twice that of Bosnia Herzegovina, and recall the sectarian violence there that exercised the world for half a decade, perhaps it comes into clearer focus. Perhaps we ought to be discussing what can be done to avoid a second Bosnia Herzegovina involving twice as many people.

What I am getting at is that what is chosen not to be reported (by conscious omission or by ignorance) is sometimes as important as what does get reported. It is a form of cognitive negative space, you don't necessarily notice it till you look for it.