New book says Christians suffered most

The Guardian UK ^ | 6/04/02 | Rory Carroll in Rome

[JeepInMazar]

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[SoDak]

Interesting.

[Raymond Hendrix]

The problem is that it is not politically correct to say that Christians are being slaughtered. We are just supposed to ignore it and pretend that it doesn't happen.

[Asclepius]

... Tommaso Debenedetti, a cultural commentator, said the book was part of an attempt by Italy's right to deflect accusations of intolerance against immigrants and other minorities by casting itself as the victim of non-Christian and liberal forces. "The right is reversing the argument" ...

If only we on the right were really that smart.

Generally we tend to believe that the truth will out. That the good guys always win. Which is why we usually lose.

[laconic]

As just one example, the Bolsheviks slaughtered 438 of the 453 Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church and tens of thousands of Orthodox priests Russia-wide (never hear about this, do we?). The Patriarch of Moscow became one of the victims of this garbage after he made this statement when a sewer in Red Square broke and flooded dead Lenin's Tomb with crap: "Myrrh for the relics of Bolshevism". How appropriate.

[Carry_Okie]

Thank you. It's not like it's unique, is it?

[Cicero]

It's perfectly true. And most of them are being killed specifically because they are Christian. That was true in the Communist countries for almost 70 years, and it is true now in most of the Muslim countries.

You'd think the liberals would be up in arms after millions of blacks have been killed and enslaved in Sudan for instance, since blacks are an officially designated victim group. But it doesn't count, since they are Christians as well. That's almost as bad as a black Republican!

There is ample documentation. The Catholic Church has been working on a book of twentieth-century martyrs, and it has been established that more Christians were killed in the past century than in the previous nineteen. And little or nothing said about it.

[LarryLied]

Perhaps the tide is turning. The net is educating many. From Catholic Educators Resource Center

:

20TH CENTURY SAW 65% OF CHRISTIAN MARTYRS

Conclusions of New Study Published in Italy

ROME, (Zenit.org).- The 20th century may have been the most striking in the annals of Christian martyrdom, and a new book shows it with numbers.

In two millennia of Christian history, about 70 million faithful have given their lives for the faith, and of these, 45.5 million -- fully 65% -- were in the last century, according to "The New Persecuted" ("I Nuovi Perseguitati").

Italian journalist Antonio Socci presented his work today during a conference on "Anti-Christian Persecution in the 20th Century" held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum.

"I handed in the draft of the book in January; since then the martyrdom of Christians has had no letup," the author noted. "Suffice it to think of what is happening in Colombia and Indonesia."

In the journalist´s analysis, the term "Christian martyrs" is not understood in the specific sense of the word (with the recognition of the Church´s processes of canonization), but according to the common assessment of scholars who have compiled statistics on religious persecutions.

Socci´s map of the current persecution highlights countries where Christians are dying for their faith.

It includes the Molucca Islands of Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, East Timor, Cuba, the former Soviet republics, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, Vietnam, China and others.

According to the author, the two currents that fuel the persecution of Christians today are Communism and Muslim fundamentalism.

Socci said that persecution of Christians is currently most severe in Sudan.

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[MissionMan]

Good Article, and a good find.
Not that it's a suprise to Christians that there's persecution.....

Just ask 21st Century Chinese Christians about it.

[ExpandNATO]

...and a flawed definition of martyr which included those killed for political reasons.

Since to a communist EVERYTHING is political, the reasons for killing Christians would indeed be political. But it would still make them martyrs, since they were killed by an enemy of the Faith.

[crazykatz]

I appaud the author of this book. It does not lessen the importance of the Shoah at all....it shows that the devil was and still is attacking ALL of GOD's TRUE BELIVERS....Christians and JEWS!!

[crazykatz]

It has been estimated that about 1 million Orthodox clergy and persons who worked for the Church were martyred by the commies MERELY FOR THEIR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

[LarryLied]

..and a flawed definition of martyr which included those killed for political reasons.

Since to a communist EVERYTHING is political, the reasons for killing Christians would indeed be political.

Amazing claim isn't it? The exact same case could be made about the Holocaust. The author of this article exhibits the same bigotry of which he writes.

[JMJ333]

Amazing claim isn't it? The exact same case could be made about the Holocaust. The author of this article exhibits the same bigotry of which he writes.

I had a feeling that was your reason for posting this, but I am still glad you did and bookmarked it. It saddens me, but take comfort that many true soldiers for Christ withstood horrible tortures and hideous death--perservering in the faith. Incidentally, today is the feast day of St. Charles Lwanga who withstood martyrdom that rivaled that of the early christians. I pray for an end to the bloodshed.

[jackliberty]

said Alberto Melloni, an author and religious historian.
"The statistics he cites are largely meaningless but the effect is to make the Shoah [Holocaust] just one detail in a century of massacres. It is part of an effort by some in the Catholic church to stop the Shoah being the most important event in the 20th century."

Mr. Melloni sounds like a "historian" in the mold of Michael Bellesiles. His viewpoint is the only viewpoint that's allowed to be discussed; any differing viewpoint must involve heretical motives.

BTW, I didn't see anything in the article that infers Mr. Socci works for the Vatican. And I don't think the Oxford University Press is a bastion of Catholicism.

Get over it, Mr. Melloni. There have been victims other than you-know-who.

[Salman]

New book says Christians suffered most

Interesting. Benzion Netanyahu, the historian (father of the Israeli politician), says the same in his book
The Origins of the Inquisition (1995). Some controversy among historians, but no venom.

[bescobar]

As soon as I dig up some doe I am putting a big fat Black Cross on My shoulder. On the other shoulder the shield of the USA. Not for decoration but for allegiance.

[RonF]

Would Christian victims of 9/11 be Christian martyrs under this definition? It seems they would, as it seems to me the intent of the killers was to kill people based on their being non-Islamic as well as being Americans. Of course, there were numerous Islamic, and non-American victims as well.