The persecution of Christians is the religious persecution that Christians have endured as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era. Christians are by far the most persecuted group, religious or otherwise, in human history. In the two thousand years of the Christian faith, about 70 million believers have been killed for their faith, of whom 45.5 million or 65% were in the twentieth century, according to "The New Persecuted" ("I Nuovi Perseguitati").
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Anti-clericalism · Censorship Genocide · Forced conversion War · Discrimination · Fascism Intolerance · Police · Terrorism Segregation · Violence · Abuse State atheism · State religion
Dechristianisation in the French Revolution Revolt in the Vendee · Cristero War Red Terror · Red Terror in Spain Cultural Revolution · Reign of Terror Inquisition · Wars of Religion St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre Khmer Rouge · Pontic tragedy · Kulturkampf Armenian Genocide · Assyrian Genocide
History of Communist Albania Persecution of early Christians by the Jews
Main article: Persecution of early Christians by the Romans Persecution of early Christians by Romans
According to the New Testament, Jesus' crucifixion was authorized by Roman authorities but demanded by the leading Jews and probably carried out by Sanhedrin soldiers, rather than Romans. The New Testament also records that Paul was imprisoned on several occasions by the Roman authorities. Once he was stoned and left for dead. Eventually he was taken as a prisoner to Rome. The New Testament account does not say what then became of Paul, but Christian tradition reports that he was executed in Rome by being beheaded.
The Foxes Book of Martyrs reports that, of the eleven remaining Apostles (since Judas Iscariot had already killed himself), only one- John, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the younger brother of James and the writer of the Book of Revelation- died of natural causes in exile. The other ten were reportedly martyred by various means including beheading, by sword and spear and, in the case of Saint Peter, crucifixion.
Persecutions narrated in the New Testament
Rise of persecution in the Roman Empire
The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (37-68). In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Nero, whose sanity had long been in question, Tacitus' Annals XV.44 record: "...a vast multitude, were convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race. And in their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights."
Persecution under Nero, 64-68 A.D.
By the mid 2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.7).
Further state persecutions were desultory until the third century, though Tertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors The "edict of Septimius Severus" familiar in Christian history is doubted by some secular historians to have existed outside Christian martyrology.
The first documentable Empire-wide persecution took place under Maximin, though only the clergy were sought out. It was not until Decius during the mid-century that a persecution of Christian laity across the Empire took place. Christian sources aver that a decree was issued requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance to the Emperor and the established order. Decius authorized roving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when they refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, called libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.
Persecution from the second century to Constantine
The persecutions culminated with Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth century. Their persecution, the Diocletian Persecution is considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all Christians in the empire were commandeded to sacrifice to the gods or face immediate execution. However, as Diocletian zealously persecuted Christians in the Eastern part of the empire, his co-emperors in the West did not follow the edicts and so Christians in Gaul, Spain, and Brittania were virtually unmolested.
This persecution was to be the last, as Constantine I soon came into power and in 313 legalized Christianity. It was not until Theodosius I in the latter fourth century that Christianity would become the official religion of the Empire.
Edward Gibbon, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, estimates that "the whole might consequently amount to about fifteen hundred ... an annual consumption of 150 martyrs." The Western provinces were little affected, and even in the East where Christianity was recognized as a growing threat, the persecutions were light and sporadic.
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds until they demanded their death."
Diocletian Persecution
In 337 a spate in the ongoing hostilities between Sassanid Persia and the Roman Empire led to anti-Christian persecutions by the Persians of Christians, see also Sassanid Church, who were perceived as potentially treacherous friends to a Christianized Rome, see also Christendom, under Constantine.
Early persecutions outside the Roman Empire
As with many religions, Christianity is not a homogenous group; there exist many sects of Christianity, which often find themselves at odds with each other, often because one group does not consider another Christian at all, as is the case with Mormons and mainstream Christians (see below).
The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions a Natalius, before Hippolytus, as first Antipope, who, according to Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History 5.28.8-12, quoting the Little Labyrinth of Hippolytus, after being "scourged all night by the holy angels", covered in ash, dressed in sackcloth, and "after some difficulty", tearfully submitted to Pope Zephyrinus.
Upon the establishment of official ties between the state and Christianity, the state and the Church turned their considerable negative attention to those deemed heretics, although who was and was not a heretic could alter with the winds of political change. The first nonconforming Christian executed was Priscillian. Many 4th century examples of such a situation involved Arianism, which held, against the orthodox tradition, that Jesus was not "one in unity with the Father", but instead was a created being, not on the same level with God, above humans but below God the Father.
When high-ranking officials agreed with orthodoxy, the state stopped at no ends to bring down the Arians. The converse was true when high-ranking officials, instead, adhered to Arianism, at which point the power of the state was used to promulgate that particular interpretation. The Germanic Goths and Vandals adhered to Arian Christianity, establishing Arian states in Italy and Spain. Orthodox Christians defended themselves vigorously against these foreign Arians. St. Augustine, for example, died while in a town besieged by the Arian Vandals.
An increasing number of scholars have claimed that Early Christianity had no single agreed-upon tradition, and various sects claimed no limit of things about Jesus, God, and the universe, but the extent of this "proto-Christian" diversity can be a matter of debate. Some scholarly opinion adheres to the picture of a continual line of theological orthodoxy, but the early sources, such as Celsus, Origen, Arius, Irenaeus, and Marcion, suggest a world of Christianity far more colorful than the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers painted. This must be contrasted against Irenaeus' claim in Against Heresies that the church had an overall orthodoxy.
In the medieval period the Roman Catholic church moved to suppress the Cathar heresy, the Pope having sanctioned a crusade against the Albigensians. The Crusades in the Middle East also spilled over into conquest of Eastern Orthodox Christians by Roman Catholics and attempted suppression of the Orthodox Church. The Waldenses were as well persecuted by the Catholic Church, but survive up to this day. The Reformation led to a long period of warfare and communal violence between Catholic and Protestant factions, leading to massacres and forced suppression of the alternative views by the dominant faction in many countries. In the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre the French king ordered the murder of Protestants in France.
In the modern period, such events include violence between Mormons and Protestants in the United States during the 19th century. That century also saw the martyrdom of St. Peter the Aleut at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy in San Francisco, California.
Persecution of Christians by Christians
According to the New Testament, Jesus' crucifixion was authorized by Roman authorities but demanded by the leading Jews and probably carried out by Sanhedrin soldiers, rather than Romans. The New Testament also records that Paul was imprisoned on several occasions by the Roman authorities. Once he was stoned and left for dead. Eventually he was taken as a prisoner to Rome. The New Testament account does not say what then became of Paul, but Christian tradition reports that he was executed in Rome by being beheaded.
The Foxes Book of Martyrs reports that, of the eleven remaining Apostles (since Judas Iscariot had already killed himself), only one- John, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the younger brother of James and the writer of the Book of Revelation- died of natural causes in exile. The other ten were reportedly martyred by various means including beheading, by sword and spear and, in the case of Saint Peter, crucifixion.
Persecutions narrated in the New Testament
Rise of persecution in the Roman Empire
The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (37-68). In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Nero, whose sanity had long been in question, Tacitus' Annals XV.44 record: "...a vast multitude, were convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race. And in their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights."
Persecution under Nero, 64-68 A.D.
By the mid 2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.7).
Further state persecutions were desultory until the third century, though Tertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors The "edict of Septimius Severus" familiar in Christian history is doubted by some secular historians to have existed outside Christian martyrology.
The first documentable Empire-wide persecution took place under Maximin, though only the clergy were sought out. It was not until Decius during the mid-century that a persecution of Christian laity across the Empire took place. Christian sources aver that a decree was issued requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance to the Emperor and the established order. Decius authorized roving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when they refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, called libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.
Persecution from the second century to Constantine
The persecutions culminated with Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth century. Their persecution, the Diocletian Persecution is considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all Christians in the empire were commandeded to sacrifice to the gods or face immediate execution. However, as Diocletian zealously persecuted Christians in the Eastern part of the empire, his co-emperors in the West did not follow the edicts and so Christians in Gaul, Spain, and Brittania were virtually unmolested.
This persecution was to be the last, as Constantine I soon came into power and in 313 legalized Christianity. It was not until Theodosius I in the latter fourth century that Christianity would become the official religion of the Empire.
Edward Gibbon, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, estimates that "the whole might consequently amount to about fifteen hundred ... an annual consumption of 150 martyrs." The Western provinces were little affected, and even in the East where Christianity was recognized as a growing threat, the persecutions were light and sporadic.
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds until they demanded their death."
Diocletian Persecution
In 337 a spate in the ongoing hostilities between Sassanid Persia and the Roman Empire led to anti-Christian persecutions by the Persians of Christians, see also Sassanid Church, who were perceived as potentially treacherous friends to a Christianized Rome, see also Christendom, under Constantine.
Early persecutions outside the Roman Empire
As with many religions, Christianity is not a homogenous group; there exist many sects of Christianity, which often find themselves at odds with each other, often because one group does not consider another Christian at all, as is the case with Mormons and mainstream Christians (see below).
The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions a Natalius, before Hippolytus, as first Antipope, who, according to Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History 5.28.8-12, quoting the Little Labyrinth of Hippolytus, after being "scourged all night by the holy angels", covered in ash, dressed in sackcloth, and "after some difficulty", tearfully submitted to Pope Zephyrinus.
Upon the establishment of official ties between the state and Christianity, the state and the Church turned their considerable negative attention to those deemed heretics, although who was and was not a heretic could alter with the winds of political change. The first nonconforming Christian executed was Priscillian. Many 4th century examples of such a situation involved Arianism, which held, against the orthodox tradition, that Jesus was not "one in unity with the Father", but instead was a created being, not on the same level with God, above humans but below God the Father.
When high-ranking officials agreed with orthodoxy, the state stopped at no ends to bring down the Arians. The converse was true when high-ranking officials, instead, adhered to Arianism, at which point the power of the state was used to promulgate that particular interpretation. The Germanic Goths and Vandals adhered to Arian Christianity, establishing Arian states in Italy and Spain. Orthodox Christians defended themselves vigorously against these foreign Arians. St. Augustine, for example, died while in a town besieged by the Arian Vandals.
An increasing number of scholars have claimed that Early Christianity had no single agreed-upon tradition, and various sects claimed no limit of things about Jesus, God, and the universe, but the extent of this "proto-Christian" diversity can be a matter of debate. Some scholarly opinion adheres to the picture of a continual line of theological orthodoxy, but the early sources, such as Celsus, Origen, Arius, Irenaeus, and Marcion, suggest a world of Christianity far more colorful than the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers painted. This must be contrasted against Irenaeus' claim in Against Heresies that the church had an overall orthodoxy.
In the medieval period the Roman Catholic church moved to suppress the Cathar heresy, the Pope having sanctioned a crusade against the Albigensians. The Crusades in the Middle East also spilled over into conquest of Eastern Orthodox Christians by Roman Catholics and attempted suppression of the Orthodox Church. The Waldenses were as well persecuted by the Catholic Church, but survive up to this day. The Reformation led to a long period of warfare and communal violence between Catholic and Protestant factions, leading to massacres and forced suppression of the alternative views by the dominant faction in many countries. In the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre the French king ordered the murder of Protestants in France.
In the modern period, such events include violence between Mormons and Protestants in the United States during the 19th century. That century also saw the martyrdom of St. Peter the Aleut at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy in San Francisco, California.
Persecution of Christians by Christians
Main article: Anti-Catholicism Anti-Catholic
Main article: Anti-Protestantism
Anti-Protestant
Anti-ProtestantMain article: Anabaptist Persecution of the Anabaptists
Main article: Anti-Mormonism Anti-Mormon
Main article: Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment Muslim persecution of Christians
The new Ottoman government that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. Islam not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another People of the Book. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius. The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single millet, or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
However, these rights and privileges (see Dhimmitude), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the Sultan and the Sublime Porte, while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see Greco-Turkish relations).Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.
The Ottoman Empire was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The Janissary army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the devshirme system).
Ottoman Empire
The new Ottoman government that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. Islam not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another People of the Book. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius. The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single millet, or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
However, these rights and privileges (see Dhimmitude), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the Sultan and the Sublime Porte, while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see Greco-Turkish relations).Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.
The Ottoman Empire was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The Janissary army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the devshirme system).
Ottoman Empire
Main articles: Armenian Genocide, Pontic Greek Genocide, and Assyrian Genocide Turkey
Although Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries, according to UNHCR.
Persecution of Christians in Iraq
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see Demographic history of Kosovo). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[2]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved during the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tradition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see Unrest in Kosovo).
Persecution of Christians in Kosovo
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the Damour Massacre in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The Syrian regime was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.
Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own Sudan Human Rights Organization, which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced Islamisation and Arabisation, and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. Pax Christi has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of El Obeid, also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, concentration camps, genocide of the Nuba people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, crucifixion and mutilation of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.
Persecution of Christians in Sudan
Blasphemy laws
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.
Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in western New Guinea, Maluku (particularly Ambon), and Sulawesi. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to Suharto's transmigrasi plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical Islamist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah or Laskar Jihad to impose Sharia. The following list is far from comprehensive:
1998 - 500 Christian churches burned down in Java.
November, 1998 - 22 churches in Jakarta are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
Christmas Day 1998 - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
Easter 2000 - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
May 23, 2000 - Christians fight back against a Muslim mob. 700 people die.
June, 2001 - the Laskar Jihad declares Jihad against Christians. Muslim citizens are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
May 28, 2005 - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in Tentena, killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in Bali.
October 29, 2005 three school girls were found beheaded near Poso. The girls, students at Central Sulawesi Christian Church, were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class. Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia
In Saudi Arabia Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.
Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations
Atheist persecution of Christians
Although Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries, according to UNHCR.
Persecution of Christians in Iraq
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see Demographic history of Kosovo). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[2]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved during the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tradition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see Unrest in Kosovo).
Persecution of Christians in Kosovo
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the Damour Massacre in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The Syrian regime was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.
Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own Sudan Human Rights Organization, which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced Islamisation and Arabisation, and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. Pax Christi has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of El Obeid, also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, concentration camps, genocide of the Nuba people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, crucifixion and mutilation of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.
Persecution of Christians in Sudan
Blasphemy laws
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.
Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in western New Guinea, Maluku (particularly Ambon), and Sulawesi. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to Suharto's transmigrasi plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical Islamist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah or Laskar Jihad to impose Sharia. The following list is far from comprehensive:
1998 - 500 Christian churches burned down in Java.
November, 1998 - 22 churches in Jakarta are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
Christmas Day 1998 - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
Easter 2000 - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
May 23, 2000 - Christians fight back against a Muslim mob. 700 people die.
June, 2001 - the Laskar Jihad declares Jihad against Christians. Muslim citizens are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
May 28, 2005 - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in Tentena, killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in Bali.
October 29, 2005 three school girls were found beheaded near Poso. The girls, students at Central Sulawesi Christian Church, were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class. Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia
In Saudi Arabia Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.
Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations
Atheist persecution of Christians
Main article: Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror
Marxist ideology promotes atheism. This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other theists.
Communist persecution of Christians
Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Human rights in the Soviet Union
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the government and Russian society, and to make the state atheist. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming Solovki camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "New Martyrs" by the Russian Orthodox Church, the old martyrs being the victims of the Roman persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.
While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.Richard Wurmbrand, author of Tortured for Christ described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as saints following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also Enemy of the people, Gulag, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Varlam Shalamov)
Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union
Further information: Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
Enver Hoxha conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in Albania in 1967, closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See Communist and post-Communist Albania.
However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, Pentecostals and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, notably Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.
Persecution of Christians in North Korea
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the Nazis sought to exterminate throughout the Third Reich and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi totalitarianism demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The Gestapo monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many Jehovah's Witnesses and some Confessing Church members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "German Christians" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the Gleichschaltung of the churches.
The expansion of Nazi Germany and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish intelligentsia. Due to its long historical association with Slavic cultures, Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the Roman Catholic Ustashe to specifically target Eastern Orthodox Christians in Yugoslavia. Roman Catholics were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on Nazi eugenics and racial hatred.
In Italy the fascist regime of Mussolini persecuted Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses and other Protestant groups following the Lateran Accords with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister Guido Buffarini Guidi ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.
Nazi-Fascist persecution
Persecution of Christians in China
Christians in China before 1550 by A.C. Moule notes a tradition that St. Thomas the Apostle made a mission to China. Francis Xavier, de Cruz , de Gouivea, and de Burros, writing in Latin, and Ebed Jesus, writng in Syriac, all mention the tradition of Thomas in China. There is also Chinese tradition of uncertain veracity regarding Christian missionaries in China in A.D. 64. There writings noting Christian missions in China from the second through sixth centuries. The first effective Christian missions to China of which we have detailed knowledge was in A.D. 635, sent by an eastern Patriarch. In Chang'an (Hsi-an) a great stone monument erected in 781, containing a list of missionaries, memorialized the mission to China in 635 spreading Christianity. At this time the emperor (whose mother was said to be a Turkish-Mongolian Nestorian) received the Christians openly, studying the scriptures and noting "their propriety and truth and specially ordered their preaching and transmission." A large number of manuscripts were found in north west China which address seventh and eighth century Christianity. The emperor Kao-tsung continued a policy of religious toleration.
Christian Origins in China and Early Persecution
Tang Wu Zong (of the Tang dynasty) ruled China from 840 to 846. Known as a Taoist zealot, he first suppressed Buddhism in China for its perceived status as a "foreign" religion. He then attacked all other "foreign" religions, including Christianity. Nestorianism, the only Chinese Christian branch at that time, was virtually wiped out in China. Part of the reason for the persecution was the existence of both Christian and Buddhist monasteries which were perceived to have a negative effect on the economy and cultural life of China. Christianity largely disappeared from China, its only substantial remnants in the regions past the Tarim desert from which it had made its entry.
Emperor Tang Wu Zong
With the defeat of the Mongols. China became increasingly xenophobic in area of religion. "China as it has so often done, turned away from the world and turned in upon itself. The new China was to be isolationist, nationalist, and orthodox Confucian, ruled by a completely China centered dynasty, the Ming (1368-1644)."
Under the Ming Dynasty
When Jiaqing Emperor of China declared the closed-door policy, Christianity suffered the first repercussions under the Qing Dynasty. After the Opium War, Christians became a target of hatred and many Christians were killed in the Boxer Rebellion.
Qing Dynasty
Marxist ideology promotes atheism. This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other theists.
Communist persecution of Christians
Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Human rights in the Soviet Union
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the government and Russian society, and to make the state atheist. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming Solovki camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "New Martyrs" by the Russian Orthodox Church, the old martyrs being the victims of the Roman persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.
While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.Richard Wurmbrand, author of Tortured for Christ described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as saints following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also Enemy of the people, Gulag, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Varlam Shalamov)
Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union
Further information: Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
Enver Hoxha conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in Albania in 1967, closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See Communist and post-Communist Albania.
However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, Pentecostals and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, notably Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.
Persecution of Christians in North Korea
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the Nazis sought to exterminate throughout the Third Reich and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi totalitarianism demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The Gestapo monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many Jehovah's Witnesses and some Confessing Church members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "German Christians" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the Gleichschaltung of the churches.
The expansion of Nazi Germany and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish intelligentsia. Due to its long historical association with Slavic cultures, Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the Roman Catholic Ustashe to specifically target Eastern Orthodox Christians in Yugoslavia. Roman Catholics were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on Nazi eugenics and racial hatred.
In Italy the fascist regime of Mussolini persecuted Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses and other Protestant groups following the Lateran Accords with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister Guido Buffarini Guidi ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.
Nazi-Fascist persecution
Persecution of Christians in China
Christians in China before 1550 by A.C. Moule notes a tradition that St. Thomas the Apostle made a mission to China. Francis Xavier, de Cruz , de Gouivea, and de Burros, writing in Latin, and Ebed Jesus, writng in Syriac, all mention the tradition of Thomas in China. There is also Chinese tradition of uncertain veracity regarding Christian missionaries in China in A.D. 64. There writings noting Christian missions in China from the second through sixth centuries. The first effective Christian missions to China of which we have detailed knowledge was in A.D. 635, sent by an eastern Patriarch. In Chang'an (Hsi-an) a great stone monument erected in 781, containing a list of missionaries, memorialized the mission to China in 635 spreading Christianity. At this time the emperor (whose mother was said to be a Turkish-Mongolian Nestorian) received the Christians openly, studying the scriptures and noting "their propriety and truth and specially ordered their preaching and transmission." A large number of manuscripts were found in north west China which address seventh and eighth century Christianity. The emperor Kao-tsung continued a policy of religious toleration.
Christian Origins in China and Early Persecution
Tang Wu Zong (of the Tang dynasty) ruled China from 840 to 846. Known as a Taoist zealot, he first suppressed Buddhism in China for its perceived status as a "foreign" religion. He then attacked all other "foreign" religions, including Christianity. Nestorianism, the only Chinese Christian branch at that time, was virtually wiped out in China. Part of the reason for the persecution was the existence of both Christian and Buddhist monasteries which were perceived to have a negative effect on the economy and cultural life of China. Christianity largely disappeared from China, its only substantial remnants in the regions past the Tarim desert from which it had made its entry.
Emperor Tang Wu Zong
With the defeat of the Mongols. China became increasingly xenophobic in area of religion. "China as it has so often done, turned away from the world and turned in upon itself. The new China was to be isolationist, nationalist, and orthodox Confucian, ruled by a completely China centered dynasty, the Ming (1368-1644)."
Under the Ming Dynasty
When Jiaqing Emperor of China declared the closed-door policy, Christianity suffered the first repercussions under the Qing Dynasty. After the Opium War, Christians became a target of hatred and many Christians were killed in the Boxer Rebellion.
Qing Dynasty
Main article: Status of religious freedom in People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
Main article: Martyrs of Korea Persecution of Christians in 19th Century Korea
Persecution of Christians in Japan
In the early 1500s Christianity was brought to Japan by a Spanish Jesuit named Francis Xavier. Following its arrival, Christianity gained some ground.
Arrival of Christianity
As the Sengoku period drew to a close in the late 1500s, the reigning kampaku Hideyoshi Toyotomi became concerned with the Christians on account of a number of perceived offenses.
Edo Period
During the Meiji era, Western governments continued to pressure the Japanese authorities to legalize Christianity. As a result, public notices proclaiming Christianity a forbidden sect were taken down in 1873. Ever since, Japanese authorities turned a blind eye to missionary preaching. In 1889, a new constitution was finally set in place that guaranteed religious freedom and equality under the law. As a result, Christians could worship and preach in security.
Meiji Revolution and WWII
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the government was forced to enact freedom of religion as part of the surrender. After Japan regained her sovereignty, freedom of religion remained as part of the new Constitution of Japan.
1945 onwards
Persecution of Christians in Japan
In the early 1500s Christianity was brought to Japan by a Spanish Jesuit named Francis Xavier. Following its arrival, Christianity gained some ground.
Arrival of Christianity
As the Sengoku period drew to a close in the late 1500s, the reigning kampaku Hideyoshi Toyotomi became concerned with the Christians on account of a number of perceived offenses.
Edo Period
During the Meiji era, Western governments continued to pressure the Japanese authorities to legalize Christianity. As a result, public notices proclaiming Christianity a forbidden sect were taken down in 1873. Ever since, Japanese authorities turned a blind eye to missionary preaching. In 1889, a new constitution was finally set in place that guaranteed religious freedom and equality under the law. As a result, Christians could worship and preach in security.
Meiji Revolution and WWII
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the government was forced to enact freedom of religion as part of the surrender. After Japan regained her sovereignty, freedom of religion remained as part of the new Constitution of Japan.
1945 onwards
Main article: Persecution of Christians in Mexico Early 20th Century Mexico
During the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, and in the context of atrocities on both sides (eventually far higher on the Nationalist side), many of the Republican forces were violently anti-Christian and anti-clerical anarchists and Communists, whose assaults during what has been termed Spain's Red Terror included sacking and burning monasteries and churches and killing 6,832 members of the Catholic clergy (despite the fact that the vast majority of clergy were not involved in active opposition to the Republican forces). It was not uncommon that clergy and the faithful were tortured and some leftist soldiers would cut off the ears of priests as trophies. The Catholic Church has seen fit to canonize several martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.
During the Spanish Civil War
Persecution of Christians in India
Many Christians in India regard anti-conversion laws passed by some states in India as a restraint on religious freedom, a view taken by the State Department of the United States
By national and state governments
Hindu nationalist attacks against Christians, especially in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa, have occurred in recent years
By Hindu Nationalists
Muslims in India who convert to Christianity are often subjected to harassment, intimidation, and attacks by Muslims. In Kashmir, a region with many Islamic Fundamentalists, a Christian convert named Bashir Tantray was killed , allegedly by Militant Islamists in 2006
By Muslims
In the 11 Northern states of Nigeria that have introduced the Islamic system of law, the Sharia, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have resulted in many deaths, and some churches have been burned. More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from their homes Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
Copts in Egypt are often subject to attacks. The most significant was the 2000-2001 El Kosheh attacks, in which 21 Copts and 1 Muslim were killed. A 2006 attack on three churches in Alexandria left one dead and 17 injured. Though they are accepted officially, Copts claim that discrimination against them continues. Persecution of Christians in Africa
A partial list of countries not already mentioned above where significant recent persecution of Christians exists includes North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka
Sources
Christianophobia
Barnabas Fund
Christian pacifism
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Anti-Protestantism
Anti-Catholic
Martyrs Mirror
Forum 18
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Voice of the Martyrs
Persecution of Heathens
Historical persecution by Christians
Jizya
Abdul Rahman (convert)
Compass Direct
Open Doors
Persecution of Muslims
Persecution of Jews
Religious intolerance
Religious persecution
Religious pluralism
Protestantism in China
Category:Christian martyrs
During the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, and in the context of atrocities on both sides (eventually far higher on the Nationalist side), many of the Republican forces were violently anti-Christian and anti-clerical anarchists and Communists, whose assaults during what has been termed Spain's Red Terror included sacking and burning monasteries and churches and killing 6,832 members of the Catholic clergy (despite the fact that the vast majority of clergy were not involved in active opposition to the Republican forces). It was not uncommon that clergy and the faithful were tortured and some leftist soldiers would cut off the ears of priests as trophies. The Catholic Church has seen fit to canonize several martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.
During the Spanish Civil War
Persecution of Christians in India
Many Christians in India regard anti-conversion laws passed by some states in India as a restraint on religious freedom, a view taken by the State Department of the United States
By national and state governments
Hindu nationalist attacks against Christians, especially in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa, have occurred in recent years
By Hindu Nationalists
Muslims in India who convert to Christianity are often subjected to harassment, intimidation, and attacks by Muslims. In Kashmir, a region with many Islamic Fundamentalists, a Christian convert named Bashir Tantray was killed , allegedly by Militant Islamists in 2006
By Muslims
In the 11 Northern states of Nigeria that have introduced the Islamic system of law, the Sharia, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have resulted in many deaths, and some churches have been burned. More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from their homes Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
Copts in Egypt are often subject to attacks. The most significant was the 2000-2001 El Kosheh attacks, in which 21 Copts and 1 Muslim were killed. A 2006 attack on three churches in Alexandria left one dead and 17 injured. Though they are accepted officially, Copts claim that discrimination against them continues. Persecution of Christians in Africa
A partial list of countries not already mentioned above where significant recent persecution of Christians exists includes North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka
Sources
Christianophobia
Barnabas Fund
Christian pacifism
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Anti-Protestantism
Anti-Catholic
Martyrs Mirror
Forum 18
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Voice of the Martyrs
Persecution of Heathens
Historical persecution by Christians
Jizya
Abdul Rahman (convert)
Compass Direct
Open Doors
Persecution of Muslims
Persecution of Jews
Religious intolerance
Religious persecution
Religious pluralism
Protestantism in China
Category:Christian martyrs
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1 comment:
Pilate gets the blame for Jesus' death, but read the gospel accounts. You almost feel sorry for him. It's clear he wanted nothing to do with it, but he was maneuvered into in by the religionists of his time.
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