Christians are called to imitate the highest Man of Principle, Jesus Christ. As a Christian lawyer, moreover, I find most instructive our Savior's personal confrontation at His trial before Pilate, as told in St. John's Gospel. Ultimately, Pilate had Christ crucified. When principle confronts power, something has to yield. Principle cannot bend the truth, nor refuse to proclaim it.
Persuasion is the means by which principle directs power toward the truth.
Power therefore must either submit to the truth or attempt to crush it. If it does not submit, power attempts to crush principle by the force of persecution. Accepting persecution is not a pleasant thought. That is why we dislike confrontation, even on behalf of principle. Christ's promise to us concerning this persecution makes it worth the price.