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.

Beloved NC gas station clerk allegedly killed by registered sex offender after vanishing from home: deputies

Alarming missile report draws forceful response from Trump as Iran war tests America’s arsenal

Former soldier indicted on charges of ‘calculated’ arson attack on federal Manhattan building

Iranian experts estimate economic losses from Operation Epic Fury at $280 billion

Pirro throws drops charges in three more Reflecting Pool vandalism cases amid Trump outrage

Trump admin trucking crackdown lands 51 immigration detentions, 36 English language proficiency violations

Rosie O’Donnell Announces She’s Returning to ‘The View’ Despite ‘Tense Time with Whoopi’

Washington wildfire arson suspect previously charged with first-degree murder, records show

A Behind the Scenes ‘War’ Is Underway Between Bernie Sanders Insiders: Report

Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Investigation Hit With Eye-Watering 9-Figure Lawsuit Over Another Dept. Disaster

Todd Blanche’s Nomination Takes Major Step Forward After Clearing Senate Judiciary Committee Vote

Is this Trump’s last ‘last chance’? Ceaseless string of broken ceasefires fuels doubt over Iran deal

Reporter’s Notebook: Inside the Senate showdown over Trump’s push to scrap August recess

Arizona man allegedly paralyzed by Nancy Guthrie sheriff’s deputies after alleged swatting call demands $176M

Illegal immigrant suspect charged in crash that killed police officer and his girlfriend

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.