Thanks to Islamofascists, the word, “martyr,” has been much aligned. Like clockwork, every time a terrorist dies, in the name of Allah, while committing some diabolical feat of violence, radical mullahs compete with themselves to be the first to declare the dead terrorist a “martyr.” Many mullahs, of course, consider the murdering hijackers of 911 to be martyrs who are now, according to those same mullahs, basking in an afterlife paradise. In this newer definition of martyrdom, there seem to be three requirements: (1) a successful butchering of innocents, (2) committing the atrocities in the name of Allah, and (3) dying while committing those atrocities. Voila, a martyr, right?

Wrong. It’s high time, we took the word back.

Martyr is a very old word derivative of the Greek word, “martus,” which translates as a witness to some fact which the individual has personal knowledge. Hence, the apostles were witnesses (i.e. martus) to the life of Christ. Pretty quickly, the term was applied to those who witnessed the truth of Christianity with either great hardship or death, and by the fourth century, the term was almost used exclusively for those who died in the act of refusing to deny their Christian religion.

In the Catholic Church, martyrdom has very specific requirements that rely on a more detailed definition of “witnessing.” First off, all Christians have a duty to witness:

All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of their word, wherever they live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they have put on in Baptism and to reveal the power of the Holy Spirit by whom they were strengthened at Confirmation (CCC 2472).

And

This witness is a transmission of the faith in words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or makes it known (CCC 2472). [bolding and italicizing is mine]

Ahh, there’s the key word . . . justice. It’s specifically defined as:

Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor [Lev 19:15].” “Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven [Col 4:1].” (CCC 1807).

Justice, in a nutshell is giving your due to God and neighbor. It requires respecting the rights of your fellow man, which means not slaughtering them because they are “infidels” or apostates. As it relates to witnessing, the act of making known eternal truths is indeed giving one’s due to God and to his fellow man who we are obliged to guide, gently, to a salvation in Christ. Hence, witnessing is an act of justice.

Martyrdom, in the Christian tradition, is then defined as:

Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. “Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God [St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom. 4,1:SCh 10,110.].” (CCC 2473)

Now that we’ve gone through a little history of the word “martyr” and more concisely defined it, let’s examine a modern day example of it . . .

In Gojra, Pakistan, numerous Christians were killed by both guns and firebombs over the weekend (August 1 and 2, 2009). A report surfaced in the area that a Koran was defiled by some Christian youth. Local clerics, just upon hearing the allegations, sentenced the youths to death. Armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an Islamic group, then heeded the clerics call to violence and rioted in the Christian neighborhood. Christians were indiscriminately shot and families were burned alive in their homes. Pakistani police stood by and did nothing despite the anguished pleas of frightened Christians.

The Christians that died in Gojra, Pakistan are real, genuine, Christian-definition martyrs. The word, “martyr,” should not be associated with the blood curdling acts of a murderer. That, is quite frankly a grave disrespect to the genuine McCoy’s who gave their lives in witness to their love of God and fellow man.

In the world today, martyrdom is not exactly a difficult to come by form of ultimate witness. The website, persecution.com (aka “Voice of the Martyrs) is chock full of stories of Christian witness in the face of hardship and death. The persecution today is not coming from Roman legions, but from communist countries and Islamic ones too.

The word martyr should not be sullied by murderers. Again, it’s high time we took it back and crowned those who rightfully deserve the true title of martyr.

News source on Christians in Pakistan