Posted on 06/03/2002 6:55:44 PM PDT by LarryLied
A new book which claims that Christians are the victims of worldwide persecution has stirred controversy in Italy amid accusations that it minimises the Holocaust and demonises Islam.
The author, Antonio Socci, claims the untold story of the 20th century is the murder of 45 million Christians, mostly at the hands of communist and Islamic regimes, and that massacres continue to this day.
The New Persecuted, Inquiries into Anti-Christian Intolerance in the New Century of Martyrs, has angered some scholars by depicting Christians as beleaguered victims of rampaging Muslims.
Some reviewers have hailed the publication as a wake-up call to Christians in the west who have not realised, even in the wake of September 11, that they are under attack by a hostile rival religion.
Others said Mr Socci was part of a rightwing revisionist effort to distort history and promote a hawkish response to perceived threats.
Drawing heavily from the World Christian Encyclopedia, published last year by the Oxford University Press, Mr Socci traces the persecution of Christians through the centuries, from the crucifixion of Jesus to the lions at Circus Maximus, the assassination of Thomas Becket and the execution of Thomas More, the Boxer rebellion in China, Mexico's revolution and the Turkish massacres in Armenia. He calculates that in the past 2,000 years some 70 million Christians have been killed, two-thirds in the past 100 years alone, a bloodbath blamed mostly on the Soviet Union as well as communist China and Nazi Germany.
Mr Socci supports Israel and does not dispute the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust but by framing the genocide in such a context he had minimised its significance, 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 Socci, 43, a columnist with conservative Italian newspapers, claims that an average of 160,000 Christians have been killed every year since 1990, the vast majority in the third world. Critics said the figure included Christians killed in conflicts which had little to do with religion.
Chronicling attacks, pogroms and wars in East Timor, Indonesia, Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, India, and even Rwanda and Latin America, Mr Socci identifies Islamic extremism as the main danger.
He complains that secular western governments, intellectuals and media organisations have played down the bloodbath because the persecution of Jews and Muslims, whether in the former Soviet Union or former Yugoslavia, was considered more newsworthy. "This global persecution of Christianity is still in progress but in most cases is ignored by the mass media and Christians in the west."
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."
Breaking ranks with positive reviews which called the book "extraordinary", the Turin daily La Stampa said it was a provocation with questionable statistics and a flawed definition of martyr which included those killed for political reasons.
Regards.
30 years ago, I didn't hear a word about it either. I'm waiting for the first Hollywood film on the persecution of Christians in the Soviet Block. The audience for such a production is huge.
Could be we will see the same as occurred with "The Black Book of Communism"--it will be a while before an English translation is available.
A google search on the title brings up no more than is on this thread (someone at Lucianne.com saw this post and reposted it over there).
There are many hits on Antonio Socci but most of the links are in Italian.
Does this mean the rest were "uncondemned"? I have a feeling we must agree to disagree on this one. The histories I've read indicate that the Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of Jews.
The Spanish Inquisition, by Anne W. Carroll.
I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree on this as well. The article never mentions the expulsion of Jews from Spain and whitewashes the Inquisition's Chief torturer.
Basically to point out that the history of Christianity is a bloody one.
Yes, it is bloody, but most of it was unprovoked. The Christian nations in Europe never once were the aggressors. Not once.
I guess this depends on your definition of "aggressor".
For example (and I'll never understand this one), in Ireland you have two groups of Christians murdering each other with regularity. Explain the Christian attitudes behind that one.
Easy. Anyone can claim to be anything--that doesn't make it so. Those who use violence in Ireland know about God as much as those in other places who use violence.
That is too simple an answer. With this in mind one can excuse every violent action taken in the name of faith as illegitimate. Islam is easier so I'll use that as an example. Out of the 20 conflicts currently going on in the world, 18 involve Islam. Yet, we are told that those who are engaging in the conflicts and committing atrocities are not acting "in the spirit of Islam". Sorry, it doesn't wash.
There has to be some other explanation as to why people use their faith as an excuse to murder those who are not of their faith.
Regardless, Communism has devestated the Christian community. Just look at what Pol Pot did. We did nothing to incur his wrath. Nothing at all except stand up for what we believe.
I don't know that "Communism" devestated Jewish communities since the pogroms carried out in places like Russia and Poland were frequently "endorsed" by priests. Be that as it may, communism was against any religion...some more than others.
I made an apology for my original remarks in posts #37 and #38. I wonder if you have enough honor to apologize for your post.
I made an apology for my original remarks in posts #37 and #38. I wonder if you have enough honor to apologize for your post.
Who gets to decide that? It's too easy to excuse the violence perpetrated by those who claim to be of a particular faith. The Muslims do it whenever one of their "brothers" picks a target which is unpopular. Sorry, that just doesn't cut it.
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