[JeepInMazar]

bump

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Teacher317]

amid accusations that it minimises the Holocaust and demonises Islam

Islam demonizes itself with its actions... or as Forrest Gump would say, "Stupid is as Stupid does."

[LiteKeeper]

One unfortunate criticism of Christianity is the number of people killed by "religious" people. R.J. Rummel has written an amazing book called Death By Government. One review of the book on Amazon points out some of the statistics:

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.

[weikel]

Muslims are killing all the non muslims they can I'm not religious but lets destroy Islam Deus Vult LOL.

[aruanan]

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.

Well, at least the Communists killed more people than anyone else during the 20th century, and the Muslims conquered more territory and wiped out more language/ethnic groups (in a shorter amount of time) than any other religion.

[luvzhottea]

The persecution of any religious group must be acknowledged and it must be stopped. I think America insults, attacks, and demonizes its own citizens of the Christian faith through the mainstream media and so-called entertainment.

[Spar]

One example: THE HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY, Musutiste, near Suva Reka

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.