{"id":31867,"date":"2020-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/magazines\/the-story-of-the-good-samaritan-4836\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T20:21:33","slug":"the-story-of-the-good-samaritan-4836","status":"publish","type":"magazines","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/magazines\/the-story-of-the-good-samaritan-4836\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of the Good Samaritan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A year ago, a landmark report was published. Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro, was asked by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to produce a review of the persecution of Christians worldwide and the FCO response. And while the review highlighted the widespread persecution of Christians, it also made an extremely important point: that we cannot confine ourselves to speaking up only for Christians. Where Christians suffer, it\u2019s very likely that other religious minorities are also suffering, and in the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus made it clear that our calling as Christians is to seek justice for them too.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year on from the Truro report, Mervyn Thomas, Founder President of CSW, spoke to Bishop Philip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told Mervyn, \u2018I was asked to do this review into the persecution of Christians \u2013 and I would absolutely defend that because I think Christians have been significantly overlooked in the global understanding of what religious persecution looks like \u2013 but I was absolutely clear that my recommendations needed to be framed in terms of guaranteeing the freedom of religion or belief of everybody. That includes the freedom not to believe, as well as the freedom to believe and to change your religious affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018There are many reasons for doing that \u2013 if you said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to privilege Christians in all of this,\u201d you actually can make Christians more vulnerable. And you were unlikely to have come up with a set of recommendations that would have been agreed by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018And even more fundamentally, it\u2019s not part of the Christian tradition to argue for special pleading for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Our understanding of the love of neighbour says we\u2019ve got to love everybody indiscriminately.\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A picture of radical love<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Bishop Philip\u2019s words underscore what CSW regards as one of our fundamental principles: that we are called to defend the rights of everyone, whether they are Christian or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 Mervyn wrote about how he is convinced that as Christians, we must speak up for people of all faiths and none \u2013 because that is what Jesus would do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parable of the Good Samaritan confronts us with a picture of radical love for those in need. There is not only a command to \u2018be nice\u2019 to those around us, or a religious and moral obligation to do good unto others, but also a compelling and Christ-like calling to show love to those who are not \u2018like us\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mervyn wrote: \u2018Our neighbour, as Jesus so clearly shows us, is the person who doesn\u2019t look or think like us, and may believe different things to us \u2013 and at times, someone with whom we may not agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In the parable, those sharing the victim\u2019s religious and ethnic background pass him by in his moment of greatest need. Instead he was helped by someone from a totally dissimilar background, a person whom the victim and his community would ordinarily actively avoid.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll see this principle throughout our work: that we will help anyone who needs assistance, regardless of their religious beliefs. It\u2019s what Jesus would do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch Mervyn\u2019s interview with Bishop Philip.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n