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.
Trump grants pardons to ‘persecuted’ mechanics in right-to-repair crackdown: ‘I am setting them all free’
Police swarm Michigan shopping center after ‘significant’ shooting incident; at least 2 dead
US military deploys MTVRs, airlifts aid to Venezuela following deadly earthquakes
UPDATE: Strange Findings – DHS Investigators Release Report on Secret Service Failures at Butler Assassination Attempt
Op-Ed: Make Colombia Free Again, Bring Us Back to Our Judeo-Christian Roots
Mamdani blasts ICE agents, Elon Musk and ‘supremacy’ in America 250 speech ahead of July 4 weekend
Trump DOJ Sues Gavin Newsom’s California Over Glock Ban
Where key Democrats stand on divisive Michigan Senate primary
Is AI the Remedy for Rural Healthcare?
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce take over Madison Square Garden, shut down Midtown Manhattan
State Fair forced to close until 5pm as DC battles extreme heat
Mamdani lashes out at rich and powerful ‘turning us against one another’ during alternative America 250 speech
Trump calls out NATO ahead of summit, calling it ‘ridiculous’ for US to persist on ‘one sided path’
READ IN FULL: Zohran Mamdani’s America 250 address from George Washington’s desk at New York City Hall
‘Happy Somali Independence Day!’ Ohio Capital Account Deletes Post Declaring City Would Fly Foreign Flag Week of July Fourth
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.
Trump grants pardons to ‘persecuted’ mechanics in right-to-repair crackdown: ‘I am setting them all free’
Police swarm Michigan shopping center after ‘significant’ shooting incident; at least 2 dead
US military deploys MTVRs, airlifts aid to Venezuela following deadly earthquakes
UPDATE: Strange Findings – DHS Investigators Release Report on Secret Service Failures at Butler Assassination Attempt
Op-Ed: Make Colombia Free Again, Bring Us Back to Our Judeo-Christian Roots
Mamdani blasts ICE agents, Elon Musk and ‘supremacy’ in America 250 speech ahead of July 4 weekend
Trump DOJ Sues Gavin Newsom’s California Over Glock Ban
Where key Democrats stand on divisive Michigan Senate primary
Is AI the Remedy for Rural Healthcare?
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce take over Madison Square Garden, shut down Midtown Manhattan
State Fair forced to close until 5pm as DC battles extreme heat
Mamdani lashes out at rich and powerful ‘turning us against one another’ during alternative America 250 speech
Trump calls out NATO ahead of summit, calling it ‘ridiculous’ for US to persist on ‘one sided path’
READ IN FULL: Zohran Mamdani’s America 250 address from George Washington’s desk at New York City Hall
‘Happy Somali Independence Day!’ Ohio Capital Account Deletes Post Declaring City Would Fly Foreign Flag Week of July Fourth
The bishops have assigned a particular focus to each day of the campaign, urging the faithful to pray for their brothers and sisters who face persecution and to inform themselves as to the depth and breadth of the problem:
Saturday: Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, martyred under King Henry VIII
Sunday: Middle East Christians
Monday: Faithful Public Servants
Tuesday: Persecution of the Rohingya
Wednesday: Foster Care and Adoption
Thursday: Persecution of Christians in Nigeria
Friday: Religion: A Public Good
Saturday: Religious Freedom for Incarcerated Persons
Story cited here.
