What do the early Christian martyrs who were burned alive for refusing to apostatize have in common with the man shouting “free Palestine” who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Sunday?

Time magazine has a piece titled, “The History of Self-Immolation as Political Protest,” in which the authors imply that since both this and the Christian martyrs were instances of people with strong convictions being killed by burning, there’s also a moral equivalence:

Self-immolation was also seen as a sacrificial act committed by Christian devotees who chose to be burned alive when they were being persecuted for their religion by Roman emperor Diocletian ​​around 300 A.D.

First, the Christian martyrs did not choose “to be burned alive when they were being persecuted.” They chose not to renounce their faith, the punishment for which was burning alive.

Setting yourself on fire in political protest is an act of suicidal despair, which is gravely sinful according to Christianity. Refusing apostasy on pain of death, however, is an act of hope, a witness to the Christian belief that while everything can be taken from you — your freedom, your comfort, and even your life — the love of God cannot be.

The moral difference is that of hope and despair, good and evil, life and death. There is no comparison, and the attempt to make one is absurd.