Christian Persecution 2019 a Scourge of ‘Mammoth Proportions’

June 2019 is an “especially menacing time” for Christians both on the domestic and international fronts, writes Christian persecution expert John L. Allen in a report Sunday.

The U.S. Catholic Church is facing “one of the most serious potential violations of religious freedom in its history in the form of SB 360 in California,” writes Allen, author of the 2013 bestseller The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution, since the bill would compel priests to reveal information learned while hearing confessions as evidence against possible sex offenders.

“The bill passed the California senate in late May by a 30-2 vote and is expected to be considered by the State Assembly in September,” Allen notes.

On the international scene, “the scope of anti-Christian hostility is staggering,” Allen continues, with the number of Christians facing “harassment, physical assault, arrest and imprisonment, torture, and even death” on a daily basis estimated at around 200 million.

Labor Dept deploys ‘strike team’ to California over $21B unemployment debt, fraud concerns

Mamdani Changes Mind on Homeless Policy After Multiple People Die

Trump approves DC emergency declaration over Potomac sewage spill, FEMA mobilizes

Pope Leo Lets Trump Know Whether He Will Join ‘Board of Peace’

Family of Ohio teacher ‘clinging to faith’ after ex-‘American Idol’ contestant husband charged with her murder

Ex-American Idol contestant charged in wife’s murder previously described as ‘very talented’ church leader

Gunasekara: How Trump EPA Upending Climate Scam Revives US Industry

Trump risks GOP midterm election prospects by vowing to stay the course on tariffs

Mel Gibson’s ‘Passion of the Christ’ Sequel Sets the Record Straight After Excommunicated Archbishop Spotted on Set: Report

Bureaucrats hide true price of Obama Presidential Center as taxpayers hit with infrastructure bill

Judge forces CA hospital to keep trans treatments for minors despite Trump funding threat

Anti-ICE church protesters insist case is not spreading conspiracy, requiring extensive evidence review

ICE arrests illegal immigrants convicted of child rape, sexual assault, drug trafficking

Former Connecticut police chief arrested for allegedly stealing $85K in public funds

CIA retracts, revises 19 past intelligence assessments deemed politically biased

Christians in North Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and a host of other countries live under a constant threat of active persecution, as documented by Open Doors, a Christian persecution watchdog group.

Even in Latin America, the world’s largest “Catholic” region, the number of Catholic clergy and personnel killed each year frequently tops the list of continents.

While the defense of religious freedom should apply equally to all creeds, Allen asserts, anti-Christian persecution deserves particular focus “given the wall of silence that still too often surrounds the subject.”

“Just as one didn’t have to be Jewish to sympathize with the plight of dissident Jews in the Soviet Union, and didn’t have to be black to be outraged by apartheid in South Africa, similarly today one shouldn’t have to be Christian to recognize anti-Christian persecution as a human rights scourge of mammoth proportions,” Allen writes.

Saturday marked the beginning of the U.S. bishops’ yearly “Religious Freedom Week,” which runs this year from June 22-29.