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.

Trump’s Iran gamble divides GOP hawks and ‘America First’ conservatives over what victory looks like

College sports sees pivotal moment as Senate looks to move legislation on NIL, transfers across goal line

New Report Says Major School System Hid Admissions Data Defying Supreme Court

Perverted: Meal Kit Company Runs Gross Pride Month Ad, Offering Recipes to Aid Vile Sex Act

FAA investigates after incoming plane executes go-around due to aircraft leaving from intersecting runway

Responders put out explosive blaze at fireworks stand in Oklahoma

Obama Center visitors say project symbolic of ‘Black excellence,’ claim scandal-free legacy while Trump ripped

Trump administration probe could upend widely used transgender youth treatment guidelines

Chinese AI models raise ‘sleeper agent’ fears after report finds more vulnerable code for US users

Angel Dads face another Father’s Day without children killed by illegal immigrants: ‘She should be graduating’

Trump’s contracting controversies in the spotlight following no-bid Reflecting Pool deal

Can Ed Hale, a former Democrat, rebuild the Larry Hogan coalition in Maryland?

JD Vance arrives in Switzerland to join Kushner and Witkoff for new round of Iran negotiations

Trump says much of water in Reflecting Pool likely to be drained: ‘Necessary repairs’

Pope Leo sends unmistakable message on immigrants during visit honoring America’s first saint

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.