FYI:<\/p>\n
Christian persecution reaches historic levels <\/strong><\/p>\n
By John Newton<\/em><\/p>\n
THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new report issued Oct. 12, 2017.<\/p>\n
The \u201cPersecuted and Forgotten?\u201d report concludes that the persecution of Christians reached a high water mark in 2015-17\u2014with growing attacks on the faithful by ISIS, Boko Haram, and other extremist groups.<\/p>\n
The new report, produced by international papal charity Aid to the Church in Need, also identified growing problems in a number of Muslim-majority countries and authoritarian states, such as Eritrea and North Korea.<\/p>\n
The Report\u2019s editor John Pontifex said: \u201cIn terms of the numbers of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed and their impact, it is clear that the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time in history. Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report finds in the countries under review that many faith communities have suffered at the hands of extremists and authoritarian regimes; however, it concludes that Christians have experienced the most hostility and violence.<\/p>\n
The report supports this claim with a series of examples showing the extent of the problems facing Christians in each of the 13 core countries it assesses in depth\u2014as well as providing an overview of the state of religious freedom for the country\u2019s various denominations.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersecuted and Forgotten?\u201d found that members of China\u2019s 127 million-strong Christian population have suffered growing persecution following new attempts to bring Christianity in line with communist ideals. More than 2,000 churches and crosses have been pulled down in China\u2019s coastal Province of Zhejiang\u2014and clergy are still being routinely detained by authorities.<\/p>\n
During the campaign of genocide by ISIS and other Islamist militant groups in the Middle East, Christians were disproportionately affected by the extremists.<\/p>\n
In Iraq, more than half of the country\u2019s Christian population became internal refugees and Syria\u2019s second city of Aleppo, which until 2011 was home to the largest Christian community, saw numbers dropping from 150,000 to barely 35,000 by spring 2017\u2014a fall of more than 75 percent.<\/p>\n
Despite national governments and international organizations having declared that a genocide has taken place, local Church leaders in the Middle East have said that they feel forgotten by the international community\u2014which they claim is overlooking the needs of displaced Christians.<\/p>\n
Extremism has been a growing problem in Africa\u2014particularly in Nigeria where ISIS affiliate Boko Haram has displaced more than 1.8 million people.<\/p>\n
In one diocese alone\u2014Kafanchan\u2014within five years, 988 people had been killed, and 71 Christian-majority villages had been destroyed, as well as 2,712 homes and 20 churches.<\/p>\n
For more information, please click here<\/a>; to read the Executive Summary of the 2017 \u201cPersecuted & Forgotten?\u201d Report, please visit www.churchinneed.org\/persecution<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new report issued Oct. 12, 2017. The \u201cPersecuted and Forgotten?\u201d report concludes that the persecution of Christians reached a high water mark in 2015-17\u2014with growing attacks on the faithful by ISIS, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":101381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-101355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-suffering-church"],"yoast_head":"\n
Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-19T07:37:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-19T14:53:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/71\/2017\/10\/Errors_of_the_Roman_Catholic_Church_or_Centuries_of_oppression_persecution_and_ruin_1899_14756836546.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3188\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2064\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html\",\"name\":\"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-19T07:37:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-19T14:53:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History","description":"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History","og_description":"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2017-10-19T07:37:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-19T14:53:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3188,"height":2064,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/71\/2017\/10\/Errors_of_the_Roman_Catholic_Church_or_Centuries_of_oppression_persecution_and_ruin_1899_14756836546.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html","name":"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-19T07:37:40+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-19T14:53:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"FYI: Christian persecution reaches historic levels By John Newton THE PERSECUTION of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/right-now-greatest-period-christian-persecution-history.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Right Now is the Greatest Period of Christian Persecution in History"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}