The Ethics and Liberty Review Commission outlined the five key facts concerning Christian persecution.
1. In China, Christian communities have ‘borne a significant brunt of the oppression,’ with numerous churches bulldozed and crosses torn down.
- In Sudan, the government stiffened penalties for both apostasy and blasphemy. The regime prosecutes Christian pastors on trumped-up charges and marginalizes the country’s minority Christian community.
- Boko Haram continues to attack with impunity both Christians and many Muslims. From bombings at churches and mosques to mass kidnappings of children from schools, Boko Haram has cut a wide path of terror across vast swaths of Nigeria and in neighboring countries, leaving thousands killed and millions displaced
- The situation is “particularly grave” for Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians in Eritrea. The government requires all physically- and mentally-capable people between the ages of 18 and 70 to perform a full-time, indefinite, and poorly-paid national service obligation, which includes military, development, or civil service components. There are no exemptions for conscientious objections and individuals completing their national service obligation in the military are prohibited from practicing their religion. Failure to participate in the national service results in being detained, sentenced to hard labor, abused, and having one’s legal documents confiscated.
- The report notes numerous incidents over the past year of Iranian authorities raiding church services, threatening church members, and arresting and imprisoning worshipers and church leaders, particularly converts to Evangelical forms of Christianity. Since 2010, authorities ‘arbitrarily arrested and detained more than 550 Christians throughout the country.’ As of February 2016, approximately 90 Christians were either in prison, detained, or awaiting trial because of their religious beliefs and activities.”
Anti-Christian prejudice is not confined to non-Western nations. The Wall Street Journal provides an example:
“In the closing days of the Obama administration, the federal government handed down a regulation Jack Sparrow from the film, Pirates of Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl, undoubtedly is the most popular character he has played so far loved that best price vardenafil in his career. levitra generic Premature ejaculation is most common male sexual dysfunction. Avoid generic cialis in usa taking too much red wine to avoid unwanted side effects. If this treatment can spread widely enough to be accessible to everyone who needs it, levitra properien raindogscine.com the world will be a much happier and better individual. that effectively barred from federal child-welfare programs organizations that believe marriage is between a man and woman. This affected many Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations. This misguided policy was rushed into effect right before President Trump’s inauguration.
“While the Obama administration made the issue national, it’s happening locally too. In March 2018, Philadelphia declared an urgent need for hundreds of new foster families. Then the city government barred Catholic Social Services from placing children in homes because of the Catholic Church’s teaching about marriage. City hall’s use of children as leverage to force a religious institution to change its beliefs was appalling.
“Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel cited the Obama-era rule when attempting to cancel a state-approved foster-care and adoption-services contract with St. Vincent Catholic Charities. “
The Gatestone Institutes deeply concerned that the media willfully ignores this human rights crisis. “NASA’s satellites observed the Amazon fires, prompting world leaders to pledge to protect the rainforest. But the burning, chopping and murder of Christians is not tracked by satellites and their suffering is not seen on our televisions and newspapers. Actually, it seems in the West as if the persecution of Christians does not even exist.” It quotes Father Benedict Kiely, writing in Crisis Magazine, :“The mainstream media is remarkably silent about attacks on Christians…more than two hundred Christians were killed in Nigeria. There was hardly any mention of the latter in the news. There were no marches for martyred Christians, no tolling of church bells ordered by governments, no ‘Je suis Charlie’ t-shirts… no public outrage at all.”
That media silence is prominent in the leftist media. David Harsanyi, writing for the New York Post, https://nypost.com/2019/01/25/exposing-the-times-anti-christian-bias/ describes The New York Times’ “long history of prejudicial coverage of religious Christians…The New York Times… was one of many outlets that negatively reported that Second Lady Karen Pence had recently begun teaching at a private school that adhered to the Christian doctrine of her church. Editors at The Washington Post and other large outlets incredulously wondered how Christian schools that still embraced traditional social values could even ‘happen’ in contemporary American society.”
A Federalist report notes: As the media lean into their progressive political ideology, they are becoming more and more anti-Christian. “Anti-Christian Ideology Is an Emerging Aspect of White Progressive Populism,” David French observed recently.
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