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.

Texas think tank accuses Houston parent coalition of using ‘socialist’ tactics to push radical agenda

‘SNL’ writer’s missing sister case leads homicide detectives to Joshua Tree months after family’s murder claim

Breaking: Trump Offers White House Press Secretary Job to Conservative Commentator and Former DHS Official Katie Zacharia

Watch: Walter Payton’s Son Gets Emotional as He Learns of Mike Ditka’s Death During Live Broadcast

Katie Zacharia offered role as White House Press Secretary

Marco Rubio announces sweeping financial sanctions against the International Criminal Court

Netanyahu leads outcry over ICC judge who declared genocide in Gaza being awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Denver, Boulder ignored ICE detainers for migrants with child abuse, assault arrests, House GOP report reveals

Radical anti-Trump language riddles California voter guide on high-stakes ballot measure

Breaking: Legendary NFL Coach Mike Ditka Dies at 86

Breaking: Turbulence Forces NYC-Bound Plane to Land, 8 Hospitalized

Kohberger prosecutors say no as Idaho killer tries to boot judge who called him a ‘faceless coward’

Op-Ed from Iranian Kurd: Handing Iraqi Kurdistan to Tehran Would Be a Big Mistake

Jim Jordan Sums Up Progressive Platform in Scathing Takedown: ‘The Left Hates 2 Countries – America and Israel’

Severe turbulence diverts New York City flight to Miami, 8 injured

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.