The Global War on Christians

The Global War on Christians is a difficult book to read. Not because it isn't well-written; it is. It's hard to read because it brings home the sheer magnitude of the horrors facing so many Christians in our world today. John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and the senior Vatican analyst for CNN, tells the manifold stories of those being persecuted and martyred for their Christian faith all around the world. He informs us that several hundred million Christians are suffering, and many dying, for their faith in our day. (Estimates are that approximately eleven Christians are martyred each hour.) The list of afflictions and cruelties endured by these Christians is unimaginable, and often indescribable: amputation, bombing, crucifixion, displacement, flogging, kidnapping, murder, imprisonment, rape, slavery, and torture.

As the Church grows throughout the world, Allen asks whether the peacefulness of Christians, and the fact that Christianity explicitly rejects violence committed in the name of our faith, invites persecution because perpetrators do not have to worry about retribution.