After a murder attempt that left the prime minister seriously injured, Christians share their reflections from the ground.
Pedestrians in Bratislava, Slovakia. / Photo: [link]Ja Kubislav[/link], Unsplash, CC0.
Slovakians are trying to recover from “shock” after the country’s prime minister was shot in a visit to a small mining town.
“Almost nobody expected that this could happen in Slovakia”, says Ján Szőllős, a Christian leader in the country.
“People are shocked, regardless of their feelings for the current prime minister”, adds Sheldon Armitage, who has lived in Slovakia for almost twenty years. “Slovaks are peaceful people, and they do value being part of a democracy. There was and still is widespread condemnation from all sides against this attack”.
After being hit four times, prime minister Robert Fico was brought urgently to a hospital. Doctors say his life is now no longer at risk. The gunman was arrested inmediataly.
After the attack, the President of the Republic spoke against violence in the strongest terms and regular opposition protests against the government were put on hold. Many influential people are calling Slovakians to “stay peaceful, to reflect on our attitudes towards those with different political opinion and stop attacks and hate”, says Ján Szőllős, who is a pastor and also works for Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio.
[photo_footer] Ján Szőllős and Sheldon Armitage. [/photo_footer] But a “politically motivated” assassination attempt, as the authorities defined it, does not come out of the blue. Slovakia has experienced other similar events in the last half-decade.
In 2019, a journalist investigating a high-profile corruption case and his fiancé were killed by a hitman, an event which caused the downfall of Robert Fico’s previous government. In 2022, two people were killed outside of a LGBTQ+ bar. Both episodes caused waves of protests and more social tension.
[destacate]“Politicians have exploited fears and stoked the fires of distrust”[/destacate]“Slovaks have been pulled in two opposite poles politically and socially”, laments Sheldon Armitage, who leads the European Freedom Network, a platform of Christian groups fighting human trafficking and commercial exploitation. “Politicians on both sides of the spectrum have exploited these fears and stoked the fires of distrust”, he says, “but I would say the populist parties and nationalist parties have especially exploited the fears of people in the smaller towns and villages”.
What is evident is that the nature of the political discourse has become “more and more ugly with insults, verbal attacks and threats of violence become more and more normal and accepted”.
Ján Szőllős also sees this worrying increase of “hatred, polarization and division”. Although division has been an issue in Slovakia since it became an independent state in 1993, now “personal attacks full of hate against political opponents have become the new norm both in the parliament and, partially as well in the media”.
How to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the hot debates in Slovakia now. “There is a higher sense of uncertainty and fear”, notes Armitage. There is also “a growing sentiment against supporting Ukraine, distrust in established media, and divisions over the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers”.
A bit earlier, Covid-19 and the government responses “exacerbated growing polarisation amongst people (disagreements over lockdowns, vaccinations, safety measures)”.
Another cause behind the reason “radicalisation in society”, says Ján Szőllős, who was a member of the Slovakian parliament between 2020 and 2023 and now a candidate in the upcoming European elections for the Christian Union party, is the “cultural war” around gender and LGBTQ+ issues.
How can Christians make a difference in this complex scenario?
Firstly, by admitting that “deep divisions” have also affected churches, says Sheldon Armitage. Especially in the Covid-19 years, church members split often “over following government laws and a desire to meet together to worship. Much of this has healed but it has still left a mark”.
“We need to live a better way”, he continues. “Unity must start in the church and work its way outward. We can’t reflect the polarisation of society but allow for differences while holding to the unity of the gospel”, he thinks.
[destacate]Christians can bring peace “through their daily conversations with family members, neighbours”[/destacate]In this sense, one option for committed believers, says pastor Szőllős, is to “be active in politics and trying to bring peace and reconciliation directly to the parliamentary field and to political discussion”. This is not easy, he admits since the “reality is, that calm, peaceful speech does not gain media attention”.But all Christians can bring peace “through their daily conversations with family members, neighbours”, modelling a “loving attitude”, understanding that disagreeing over certain issues, no matter how important these might be, is not a reason to see the other like an enemy. Understanding “that politics is not the most important thing in life” also helps, says Szőllős.
At the same time, Christians should “not be afraid to speak truthfully to governments on either side of the spectrum when they are acting unjustly or corruptly”, argues Armitage. “We need to help those who have no voice be able to speak for themselves in ways that they are heard and respected, speak ‘prophetically’ in the truest sense of the word”.
“We also need to act in Kingdom ways that are counter to the popular opinion or sentiment especially towards refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, members of the LGBTQ+ community”.
[destacate]“The chruch can be a mediator between people who are deeply divided”[/destacate]It is the church that can best foster “better conversations”, Armitage continues, places where people “seek to listen to others before we speak in return”. The body of Christian believers can be an “example of how friends and enemies dialogue with each other” and “a mediator between people who are deeply divided by the art true Christian hospitality”.“I know these are idealistic but we have to hold to and live out the way of Christ”, says the Christian worker. Jesus did “not align himself to a political party or religious tradition but defeated sin, evil, injustice and hatred through a ministry of reconciliation that led him to the cross”.
Ján Szőllős is encouraged by seeing in Slovakia “a wide prayer movement between Christians: they organise prayers either personally or online and encourage people to pray for politicians, for those in rule, for our country”.
What should Christians pray for? “Pray for those in authority (whether we agree with them or not), we need to pray that the people who fill those offices rule and govern with wisdom, justice and truth”, says Armitage.
“Pray for the peace of the city and the country we live in. Pray for unity amongst believers and within society. Pray that Robert Fico recovers, that justice is served, and that the situation is not politicised any further to stoke fear and hatred”.
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