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.
Islam demonizes itself with its actions... or as Forrest Gump would say, "Stupid is as Stupid does."
How much of the killing in those 19 centuries was done BY Christians?
I guess they'd chalk that up to "collateral damage".[/sarcasm]
Begin quote
The author puts in perspective and lays it down in numbers to really show the impact of democide or genocide. The numbers pre-20th century are about 130,000,000 and only the 20th century around an unbelievable 169,198,000. No one would have guessed such. Also, the Nazis are generally considered as the most repressive regime, but Stalin is clearly the most corrupt at 61,911,000. The litany of torture and murder is definitely difficult to read, but important to be made known.
The greatest contribution of the author is his observation that absolute power kills as obeserved through totalitarism. The more democratic the society, the less destruction. As he summarizes, "The way to end war and virtually eliminate democide appears to be through restricting and checking Power ie. through fostering democratic freedom"
Also it is interesting to note in democratic regimes, only 2,000,000 were killed, 159,000 of its own peoples? Still too many, but contrast that with totalitarian and communist regimes at 138,000,000; 103,000,000 of its own people. You draw your own conclusions.
End quote
I hope this research, and the book mentioned in this thread will put to rest (I know, it won't) the totally unfounded criticism.
BRAVO!!!
I recently said something quite similar about the chechen terrorists.
Not many. Some occured, of course, during the Protestant revolt, but that is nothing compared to the reality of the past 100 years. For the most part, the wars waged against Islam incurred christiandom the most casualites, but it still dwarfs the numbers cited in the recent past.
The Monastery of the Holy Trinity was built in the 14th century on the Rusinica hill above Musutiste, 2 km to the south. In the valuable collection of manuscripts from 14 th to 18 th century there were a Book of Commemoration from 1465 and a hand-written Gospel from the 14 th century. The monastery also had a collection of icons from the 19th century -- 1868-1985.
The Holy Trinity Monastery before destruction
Bishop Atanasije and Fr. Kingsley Joyce (British KFOR) visited the monastery 7 days before it was completely destroyed by Albanians
A nun in front of the destroyed church
The residental quarters for nuns
The view of the destroyed church and the burned residental quarters
Desecrated monastic cemetery
In the second half of June 1999, after the German KFOR troops deployed in the area, Albanian extremists vandalized this holy place and plundered the valuables. Between 10th and 17th July they dynamited the monastery church so that it is now completely destroyed. The monastery konak (residential quarters) was previously burned to the ground. The valuable library, and its icons, disappeared in the flames and wreckage. The church was obviously destroyed by explosive used by experts with military training.
The Crusades, the Inquisition, the genocide committed against the Native Americans....I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. My question was obnoxious and completely out of line given the subject of the thread. However, your response simply isn't true.
Now, I'll exercise my freedom of speech and make a comment about this entire thread - I find it ironic that a group of supposedly conservative people are trying to build a case to support their victimhood status, especially when most have never personally encounterd threats directed at themselves because of their religious affiliation.
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Catalog of churches destroyed and desecrated by Albanian extremists in Kosovo and Metohia (June-October 1999)