Ways to bear witness

By B.C.

FOR people who practise religion in comfortable, well-ordered places, and face no greater physical danger than sore knees or feet, the idea of being a martyr (in the sense of dying for one's faith and receiving a heavenly reward) can seem rather remote. But in almost all the world's religions, martyrdom plays an important role.

What exactly does it mean? In the founding texts of Christianity and Islam (in Greek and Arabic respectively) the word for martyr is identical or nearly identical to that for witness, someone who gives testimony (not necessarily in dramatic circumstances) about something they believe to be true, or have seen for themselves.

But suicide attacks or "martyr operations" in some terror groups' parlance have given martyrdom a bad name. Since 9/11 and the spread of suicide bombing through Israel, Iraq and Pakistan, there has been a raft of Western commentary on Islam which sees in that faith a dangerous cult of self-destruction, spurred by heavenly prizes. It is often argued that the feeling for victimhood seems especially strong in Shia Islam, which lamentsthe murder 1,333 years ago of Imam Hussein. But martyrdom in Islam isn't usually linked with suicide bombing; it means self-sacrifice in a noble cause, not blowing up others, and not necessarily on the battle-field.

The Christian world remembers both the martyrs of the early church, killed by pagan Roman emperors, and people who have died for their faith in more modern times, at the hands of Nazi or Soviet executioners. In the lore of post-Ottoman countries, the term "new martyr" often refers to someone who fell foul of the Islamic ban on apostasy: in other words, a Christian who converted to Islam, then went back to Christianity in the knowledge that this would mean execution. An early Christian writer, Tertullian, thought martyrs were the only people who went straight to heaven.

Jews revere the Maccabees who sacrificed their lives in the uprising against the Seleucid empire, and Jewish law lays down that in certain circumstances (when ordered to commit a sexual crime, for example) a Jew must face death rather than break the commands of faith. But compared with other faiths, modern Judaism probably puts more stress on noble resistance and less on passive acceptance: think of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

In the wilder parts of a world where freedom of conscience faces ever-growing threats, from blasphemy laws to lynch mobs, it is not hard to find recent examples of martyrdom in the strictest definition. But for people in the prosperous West who can't make much sense of the word, it might help to broaden the meaning a little. Every natural disaster, forest fire, major accident or terrorist attack has its martyrs, insofar as rescuers knowingly incur mortal danger to help victims. I don't just mean people doing dangerous jobs, but people who knowingly face specific risks to save others. For many people, the martyrs of 9/11 were the fire-fighters who were killed in the Twin Towers, including their remarkable chaplain, Father Mychal Judge (above).

Our news-gathering business has its martyrs too, sung and unsung. When a reporter for a leading newspaper or network perishes in the line of duty, the world usually hears about it; but most news-reporters who die on the job, bearing witness to some awkward truth, are natives of the benighted countries where they work, often as freelancers, and they lack the insurance policies, flak jackets and diplomatic protection which make the life of a rich-world reporter a bit easier. Twenty years ago this week a famous war cameraman, Rory Peck, paid with his life while exposing some unpleasant truths about a micro-civil war that was raging in Moscow; a charity which helps freelancers in dangerous places (and their families if they die) was founded in his name.

As it happens Peck had a brush with martyrdom in a more classic sense. When he was travelling in Afghanistan with a group of mujahideen, they urged him to become Muslim and said it might be very bad for his health if he didn't. He retorted quietly that he was quite happy in the Church of Ireland. Luckily the threats died down. But whatever era and place you are living in, integrity can carry a price and you never quite know when you will be called on to pay it.