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.

FAA seeks permanent airspace restrictions near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as expert warns rules are ‘not good enough’

The primary is over; now come the primetime mistakes

Trump Clarifies Stakes of Texas Senate Battle: If Talarico Wins, ‘I Will Be the Last Republican President’

Breaking: Mass Shooting in Downtown Minneapolis, Civilian Killed, Officers Shot

‘A little pissed’: Jeffries ally turns his back to centrist who voted to condemn DSA

Putin swears there won’t be mass mobilization, accuses Ukraine of ‘state terrorism’

Grandmother, Fiancé Turned Semi-Truck into Rolling Dungeon, Imprisoned 4 Children for 6 Nightmarish Years: Cops

Trump says Iranians won’t rise up because ‘they’re being shot’ and refuses to say if CIA would aid protesters

Sheriff suing Maryland says sanctuary laws ignore lessons of 9/11: ‘Stupidity at its best’

Salena Zito’s Butler to begin filming this month, revisiting a day of trauma and loss

Republicans fail to ease one of Trump’s greatest fears as Supreme Court measure collapses

Breaking: Judge Sends Lindsay Clancy Jurors a ‘Dynamite Charge’ as They Report Second Deadlock

Spanberger’s ICE restrictions dealt major setback as judge warns other blue states

Coast Guard plane with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on board makes emergency landing after engine failure

What is a Tuey-Rodriguez charge? Judge gives instruction to deadlocked Lindsay Clancy jury

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.