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.

NFL Coaching Legend Blasts Massive Issue He Saw While Watching Thanksgiving Games

Trump hit with setback as court rules Alina Habba unlawfully served as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey

Trump Admin Negotiators Make High-Stakes Visit to Russia After ‘Successful’ Ukraine Meeting

Reporter’s Notebook: Tennessee special election eyed as Trump referendum ahead of midterms

Trump invites families of two National Guard members shot in DC to White House, plans to honor soldiers

Trump offers to release his October MRI results, insists scan wasn’t of his brain

Foreign terror labels curb ISIS, but US radicals face fewer limits online, study finds

War Sec Pete Hegseth shares meme of children’s book character firing on narco terrorist drug boat

Slain National Guardsman Wanted to ‘Make a Difference’ During Trump Deployment, Felt the National Guard Should Do More

Trump Confirms US Stranglehold Over Venezuelan Airspace: ‘Closed in Its Entirety’

Trump says he would ‘absolutely’ revoke citizenship from naturalized criminals — if he has the authority

First lady Melania Trump decorates the White House for Christmas: ‘Home is Where the Heart Is’

Trump says he believes Hegseth ‘100%’ on Venezuelan drug boat strike denial amid allegations

Music City Miracle: A look at an unusually contentious election in the Volunteer State

Trump gave Maduro ultimatum to flee Venezuela as land operations loom: report

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.