Persecution of Christians

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This article is about the religious persecution of Christians. For the belief that
Christianity is being oppressed in the Western world, see Christian persecution
complex.

Greek Christians in 1922, fleeing their homes from Kharput to Trebizond. In the 1910s and 1920s
the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides were perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.[1]

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The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of

the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to
Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point of
being martyred for their faith, ever since the emergence of Christianity.
Early Christians were persecuted at the hands of both Jews, from whose religion
Christianity arose, and the Romans who controlled many of the early centers of
Christianity in the Roman Empire. Since the emergence of Christian states in Late
Antiquity, Christians have also been persecuted by other Christians due to differences
in doctrine which have been declared heretical. Early in the fourth century, the empire's
official persecutions were ended by the Edict of Serdica and the practice of Christianity
legalized by the Edict of Milan. Shortly thereafter, Christians began persecuting each
other. The schisms of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages – including the Rome–
Constantinople schisms and the many Christological controversies – together with the
later Protestant Reformation provoked severe conflicts between Christian
denominations. During these conflicts, members of the various denominations
frequently persecuted each other and engaged in sectarian violence. In the 20th
century, Christian populations were persecuted, sometimes to the point of genocide, by
various states, including the Ottoman Empire and its successor, which committed
the Hamidian massacres, the Armenian genocide, the Assyrian genocide, and
the Greek genocide, and by officially atheist states such as the former Soviet
Union, Communist Albania, China, and North Korea.[citation needed]
The persecution of Christians has continued into the 21st century. Christianity is the
largest world religion and its adherents live across the globe. Approximately 10% of the
world's Christians are minorities who live in non-Christian-majority states. [2] The
contemporary persecution of Christians includes the persecution of Christians by
ISIL and other terrorist groups, with official state persecution mostly occurring in
countries which are located in Africa and Asia because they have state religions or
because their governments and societies practice religious favoritism. Such favoritism is
often accompanied by religious discrimination and religious persecution, as is also the
case in currently or formerly communist countries.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2020
report, Christians in Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam are persecuted; these countries are labelled
"countries of particular concern" by the United States Department of State, because of
their governments' engagement in, or toleration of, "severe violations of religious
freedom".[3]: 2  The same report recommends that Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan,
Bahrain, the Central African Republic, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan,
Malaysia, Sudan, and Turkey constitute the US State Department's "special watchlist" of
countries in which the government allows or engages in "severe violations of religious
freedom".[3]: 2 
Much of the persecution of Christians is undertaken by non-state actors which are
labelled "entities of particular concern" by the US State Department, including
the Islamist groups Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Houthi movement in Yemen, the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province in Pakistan, al-Shabaab in Somalia,
the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Tahrir al-
Sham in Syria, as well as the United Wa State Army and participants in the Kachin
conflict in Burma.[3]: 2 

Contents

 1Antiquity
o 1.1New Testament
 o 1.2Early Judeo-Christian
o 1.3Roman Empire
 1.3.1Neronian persecution
 1.3.2From Nero to Decius
 1.3.2.1Voluntary martyrdom
 1.3.3Decian persecution
 1.3.4Valerianic persecution
 2Late Antiquity
o 2.1Roman Empire
 2.1.1The Great Persecution
 2.1.2Constantinian period
 2.1.3Valentinianic–Theodosian period
 2.1.4Heraclian period
o 2.2Sassanian Empire
 2.2.1During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628
o 2.3Pre-Islamic Arabia
 3Early Middle Ages
o 3.1Muhammad
o 3.2Rashidun Caliphate
o 3.3Umayyad Caliphate
o 3.4Byzantine Empire
o 3.5Abbasid Caliphate
 4High Middle Ages (1000–1200)
o 4.1Fatimid Caliphate
o 4.2Crusades
 4.2.1Albigensian Crusade
 4.2.2Northern (Baltic) crusades
o 4.3Ilkhanate
 5Late Middle Ages
o 5.1Western Europe
o 5.2Timurid Empire
 6Early Modern period
o 6.1Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
o 6.2China
o 6.3French Revolution
o 6.4Japan
o 6.5Kingdom of Mysore
o 6.6Ottoman Empire
 6.6.1Ottoman Albania and Kosovo
 7Modern era (1815 to 1989)
o 7.1Communist Albania
o 7.2Iraq
 7.2.1Kingdom of Iraq
 7.2.2Republic of Iraq
o 7.3Madagascar
o 7.4Nazi Germany
o 7.5Ottoman Empire
o 7.6Soviet Union
 o 7.7Spain
o 7.8United States
o 7.9Warsaw Pact
 8Current situation (1989 to the present)
o 8.1In the Muslim world
 8.1.1Afghanistan
 8.1.2Algeria
 8.1.3Bangladesh
 8.1.4Chad
 8.1.5Egypt
 8.1.6Indonesia
 8.1.7Iran
 8.1.8Iraq
 8.1.9Malaysia
 8.1.10Nigeria
 8.1.11Pakistan
 8.1.12Saudi Arabia
 8.1.13Somalia
 8.1.14Sudan
 8.1.15Syria
 8.1.16Turkey
 8.1.17Yemen
o 8.2Bhutan
o 8.3China
o 8.4Russia
o 8.5India
o 8.6North Korea
o 8.7Indochina region
 9See also
 10Notes
 11References
 12Sources
 13External links

Antiquity[edit]
See also: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
Death of Saint Stephen, "the Protomartyr", recounted in Acts 7, depicted in an engraving by Gustave
Doré (published 1866)

Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio (1600, Cerasi Chapel)

New Testament[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in the New Testament
Early Christianity began as a sect among Second Temple Jews, and according to
the New Testament account, Pharisees, including Saul of Tarsus (prior to his
conversion to Christianity, persecuted early Christians. Inter-communal dissension
began almost immediately.[4] According to the Acts of the Apostles, a year after
the Crucifixion of Jesus, Saint Stephen, who was considered an apostate by Jewish
authorities, was stoned for his alleged transgression of the Jewish faith.[5] Saul (who later
converted and was renamed Paul) acquiesced, looking on and witnessing Steven's
death.[4] Later, Paul begins a listing of his own sufferings after conversion in 2
Corinthians 11: "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned ..." [6]
Early Judeo-Christian[edit]
In 41 AD, Herod Agrippa, who already possessed the territory of Herod
Antipas and Philip (his former colleagues in the Herodian Tetrarchy), obtained the title
of King of the Jews, and in a sense, re-formed the Kingdom of Judea of Herod the
Great (r. 37–4 BC). Herod Agrippa was reportedly eager to endear himself to his Jewish
subjects and continued the persecution in which James the Great lost his life, Saint
Peter narrowly escaped and the rest of the apostles took flight.[4] After Agrippa's death in
44, the Roman procuratorship began (before 41 they were Prefects in Iudaea Province)
and those leaders maintained a neutral peace, until the procurator Porcius Festus died
in 62 and the high priest Ananus ben Ananus took advantage of the power vacuum to
attack the Church and execute James the Just, then leader of Jerusalem's Christians.
The New Testament states that Paul was himself imprisoned on several occasions by
the Roman authorities, stoned by the Pharisees and left for dead on one occasion, and
was eventually taken to Rome as a prisoner. Peter and other early Christians were also
imprisoned, beaten and harassed. The First Jewish Rebellion, spurred by the Roman
killing of 3,000 Jews, led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the end of Second
Temple Judaism (and the subsequent slow rise of Rabbinic Judaism).[4]
Claudia Setzer asserts that, "Jews did not see Christians as clearly separate from their
own community until at least the middle of the second century" but most scholars place
the "parting of the ways" much earlier, with theological separation occurring
immediately.[7] Second Temple Judaism had allowed more than one way to be Jewish.
After the fall of the Temple, one way led to rabbinic Judaism, while another way became
Christianity; but Christianity was "molded around the conviction that the Jew, Jesus of
Nazareth, was not only the Messiah promised to the Jews, but God's son, offering
access to God, and God"s blessing to non-Jew as much as, and perhaps eventually
more than, to Jews".[8]: 189  While Messianic eschatology had deep roots in Judaism, and
the idea of the suffering servant, known as Messiah Ephraim, had been an aspect since
the time of Isaiah (7th century BCE), in the first century, this idea was seen as being
usurped by the Christians. It was then suppressed, and did not make its way back into
rabbinic teaching till the seventh century writings of Pesiqta Rabati. [9]
The traditional view of the separation of Judaism and Christianity has Jewish-Christians
fleeing, en masse, to Pella (shortly before the fall of the Temple in 70 AD) as a result of
Jewish persecution and hatred.[10] Steven D. Katz says "there can be no doubt that the
post-70 situation witnessed a change in the relations of Jews and Christians". [11] Judaism
sought to reconstitute itself after the disaster which included determining the proper
response to Jewish Christianity. The exact shape of this is not directly known but is
traditionally alleged to have taken four forms: the circulation of official anti-Christian
pronouncements, the issuing of an official ban against Christians attending synagogue,
a prohibition against reading Christian writings, and the spreading of the curse against
Christian heretics: the Birkat haMinim.[11]
Roman Empire[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

A Christian Dirce, by Henryk Siemiradzki (1897, National Museum, Warsaw) A Christian woman is martyred

under Nero in this re-enactment of the myth of Dirce

Neronian persecution[edit]
Main article: Neronian persecution
The first documented case of imperially supervised persecution of Christians in
the Roman Empire begins with Nero (54–68). In 64 AD, a great fire broke out in Rome,
destroying portions of the city and impoverishing the Roman population. Some people
suspected that Nero himself was the arsonist, as Suetonius reported,[12] claiming that he
played the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires. In
the Annals, Tacitus wrote:
...To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures
on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians [13] by the populace. Christus,
from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in
Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and
shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.

— Tacitus' Annals 15.44[14]
This passage in Tacitus constitutes the only independent attestation that Nero blamed
Christians for the Great Fire of Rome, and while it is generally believed to be authentic
and reliable, some modern scholars have cast doubt on this view, largely because there
is no further reference to Nero's blaming of Christians for the fire until the late 4th
century.[15][16] Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the
fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on
Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition. Suetonius,
however, does not specify the reasons for the punishment; he simply lists the fact
together with other abuses put down by Nero.[16]: 269 
From Nero to Decius[edit]
The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1863–1883, Walters Art Museum). A fanciful scene
of damnatio ad bestias in ancient Rome's Circus Maximus beneath the Palatine Hill.

In the first two centuries Christianity was a relatively small sect which was not a
significant concern of the Emperor. Rodney Stark estimates there were less than 10,000
Christians in the year 100. Christianity grew to about 200,000 by the year 200, which
works out to about .36% of the population of the empire, and then to almost 2 million by
250, still making up less than 2% of the empire's overall population. [17] According to Guy
Laurie, the Church was not in a struggle for its existence during its first centuries.
[18]
 However, Bernard Green says that, although early persecutions of Christians were
generally sporadic, local, and under the direction of regional governors, not emperors,
Christians "were always subject to oppression and at risk of open persecution." [19] James
L. Papandrea says there are ten emperors generally accepted to have sponsored state
sanctioned persecution of Christians,[20] though the first empire wide government
sponsored persecution was not until Decius in 249. [21]
According to two different Christian traditions, Simon bar Kokhba, the leader of
the second Jewish revolt against Rome (132–136 AD) who was proclaimed Messiah,
persecuted the Christians: Justin Martyr claims that Christians were punished if they did
not deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ, while Eusebius asserts that Bar Kokhba
harassed them because they refused to join his revolt against the Romans. [22] The latter
is likely true, and Christians' refusal to take part in the revolt against the Roman Empire
was a key event in the schism of Early Christianity and Judaism.
One traditional account of killing is the persecution in Lyon in which Christians were
purportedly mass-slaughtered by being thrown to wild beasts under the decree of
Roman officials for reportedly refusing to renounce their faith according to Irenaeus.[23]
[24]
 The sole source for this event is early Christian historian Eusebius of
Caesarea's Church History, an account written in Egypt in the 4th
century. Tertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted
Christians and was addressed to Roman governors.
Trajan's policy towards Christians was no different from the treatment of other sects,
that is, they would only be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the
gods, but they were not to be sought out.[25] The Historia Augusta mentions an edict of
Emperor Septimius Severus against Christians; however, since the Historia Augusta is
an unreliable mix of fact and fiction, historians consider the existence of such edict
dubious.
According to Eusebius, the Imperial household of Maximinus Thrax's
predecessor, Severus Alexander, had contained many Christians. Eusebius states that,
hating his predecessor's household, Maximinus ordered that the leaders of the churches
should be put to death.[26][27] According to Eusebius, this persecution of 235
sent Hippolytus of Rome and Pope Pontian into exile but other evidence suggests that
the persecutions of 235 were local to the provinces where they occurred rather than
happening under the direction of the Emperor. [28]

Woodcut illustration for the 1570 edition of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs showing the "persecutions of the
primitive Church under the heathen tyrants of Rome" and depicting the "sundry kinds of torments devised
against the Christians"

Voluntary martyrdom[edit]

Execution of Ignatius of Antioch, reputed to have been killed in Rome under the emperor Trajan, depicted in
the Menologion of Basil II, an illuminated manuscript prepared for the emperor Basil II in c. 1000

Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. [29][30] According to Droge and
Tabor, "in 185 the proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, was approached by a group of
Christians demanding to be executed. The proconsul obliged some of them and then
sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope
available or cliffs they could jump off."[31] Such enthusiasm for death is found in the
letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch who was arrested and condemned as a criminal
before writing his letters while on the way to execution. Ignatius casts his own
martyrdom as a voluntary eucharistic sacrifice to be embraced. [32]: 55 
"Many martyr acts present martyrdom as a sharp choice that cut to the core of Christian
identity – life or death, salvation or damnation, Christ or apostacy..." [32]: 145  Subsequently,
the martyr literature has drawn distinctions between those who were enthusiastically
pro-voluntary-martyrdom (the Montanists and Donatists), those who occupied a neutral,
moderate position (the orthodox), and those who were anti-martyrdom (the Gnostics).[32]: 
145 

The category of voluntary martyr began to emerge only in the third century in the
context of efforts to justify flight from persecution.[33] The condemnation of voluntary
martyrdom is used to justify Clement fleeing the Severan persecution in Alexandria in
202 AD, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp justifies Polycarp's flight on the same grounds.
"Voluntary martyrdom is parsed as passionate foolishness" whereas "flight from
persecution is patience" and the end result a true martyrdom. [32]: 155 
Daniel Boyarin rejects use of the term "voluntary martyrdom", saying, "if martyrdom is
not voluntary, it is not martyrdom".[34] G. E. M. De Ste. Croix adds a category of "quasi-
voluntary martyrdom": "martyrs who were not directly responsible for their own arrest
but who, after being arrested, behaved with" a stubborn refusal to obey or comply with
authority.[32]: 153  Candida Moss asserts that De Ste. Croix's judgment of what values are
worth dying for is modern, and does not represent classical values. According to her
there was no such concept as "quasi-volunteer martyrdom" in ancient times. [32]: 153 
Decian persecution[edit]
Main article: Decian persecution
In the reign of the emperor Decius (r. 249–251), a decree was issued requiring that all
residents of the empire should perform sacrifices, to be enforced by the issuing of each
person with a libellus certifying that they had performed the necessary ritual. [35] It is not
known what motivated Decius's decree, or whether it was intended to target Christians,
though it is possible the emperor was seeking divine favors in the forthcoming wars with
the Carpi and the Goths.[35] According to Eusebius, bishops Alexander of
Jerusalem, Babylas of Antioch, and Fabian of Rome were all imprisoned and killed.
[35]
 The patriarch Dionysius of Alexandria escaped captivity, while the bishop Cyprian of
Carthage fled his episcopal see to the countryside.[35]
The legally-required sacrifices were a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance
to the emperor and the established order. Decius authorized roving
commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices
and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were
often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or by
burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when
they refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions.
Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased
their libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the
community should accept these lapsed Christians. The Christian church, despite no
indication in the surviving texts that the edict targeted any specific group, never forgot
the reign of Decius whom they labelled as that "fierce tyrant". [21] After Decius
died, Trebonianus Gallus (r. 251–253) succeeded him and continued the Decian
persecution for the duration of his reign.[35]
Valerianic persecution[edit]
The accession of Trebonianus Gallus's successor Valerian (r. 253–260) ended the
Decian persecution.[35] In 257 however, Valerian began to enforce public religion.
Cyprian of Carthage was exiled and executed the following year, while Pope Sixtus
II was also put to death.[35] Dionysius of Alexandria was tried, urged to recognize "the
natural gods" in the hope his congregation would imitate him, and exiled when he
refused.[35]
Valerian was defeated by the Persians at the Battle of Edessa and himself taken
prisoner in 260. According to Eusebius, Valerian's son, co-augustus, and
successor Gallienus (r. 253–268) allowed Christian communities to use again their
cemeteries and made restitution of their confiscated buildings. [35] Eusebius wrote that
Gallienus allowed the Christians "freedom of action". [35]

Late Antiquity[edit]
Roman Empire[edit]

Execution of Saint Barbara, reputed to have been killed under the emperor Diocletian, depicted in
the Menologion of Basil II

The Great Persecution[edit]

Main article: Diocletianic Persecution
See also: Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire
The Great Persecution, or Diocletianic Persecution, was begun by the
senior augustus and Roman emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) on 23 February 303.[35] In
the eastern Roman empire, the official persecution lasted intermittently until 313, while
in the western Roman empire the persecution went unenforced from 306. [35] According
to Lactantius's De mortibus persecutorum ("on the deaths of the persecutors"),
Diocletian's junior emperor, the caesar Galerius (r. 293–311) pressured the augustus to
begin persecuting Christians.[35] Eusebius of Caesarea's Church History reports
that imperial edicts were promulgated to destroy churches and confiscate scriptures,
and to remove Christian occupants of government positions, while Christian priests
were to be imprisoned and required to perform sacrifice in ancient Roman religion.[35] In
the account of Eusebius, an unnamed Christian man (named by later hagiographers
as Euethius of Nicomedia and venerated on the 27 February) tore down a public notice
of an imperial edict while the emperors Diocletian and Galerius were
in Nicomedia (İzmit), one of Diocletian's capitals; according to Lactantius, he was
tortured and burned alive.[36] According to Lactantius, the church at Nicomedia (İzmit)
was destroyed, while the Optatan Appendix has an account from the praetorian
prefecture of Africa involving the confiscation of written materials which led to
the Donatist schism.[35] According to Eusebius's Martyrs of Palestine and Lactantius's De
mortibus persecutorum, a fourth edict in 304 demanded that everyone perform
sacrifices, though in the western empire this was not enforced. [35]
An "unusually philosophical" dialogue is recorded in the trial proceedings of Phileas of
Thmuis, bishop of Thmuis in Egypt's Nile Delta, which survive on Greek papyri from the
4th century among the Bodmer Papyri and the Chester Beatty Papyri of
the Bodmer and Chester Beatty libraries and in manuscripts in Latin, Ethiopic,
and Coptic languages from later centuries, a body of hagiography known as the Acts of
Phileas.[35] Phileas was condemned at his fifth trial at Alexandria under Clodius
Culcianus, the praefectus Aegypti on 4 February 305 (the 10th day of Mecheir).
In the western empire, the Diocletianic Persecution ceased with the usurpation by two
emperors' sons in 306: that of Constantine, who was acclaimed augustus by the army
after his father Constantius I (r. 293–306) died, and that of Maxentius (r. 306–312) who
was elevated to augustus by the Roman Senate after the grudging retirement of his
father Maximian (r. 285–305) and his co-augustus Diocletian in May 305.[35] Of
Maxentius, who controlled Italy with his now un-retired father, and Constantine, who
controlled Britain, Gaul, and Iberia, neither was inclined to continue the persecution. [35] In
the eastern empire however, Galerius, now augustus, continued Diocletian's policy.
[35]
 Eusebius's Church History and Martyrs of Palestine both give accounts of martyrdom
and persecution of Christians, including Eusebius's own mentor Pamphilus of Caesarea,
with whom he was imprisoned during the persecution. [35]

The execution of the patriarch Peter of Alexandria under the emperor Maximinus Daia, depicted in

the Menologion of Basil II

The execution of the martyrs Luke the Deacon, Mocius the Reader, and Silvanus, bishop of Emesa, reputed to
have been killed under the emperor Maximinus Daia, depicted in the Menologion of Basil II

When Galerius died in May 311, he is reported by Lactantius and Eusebius to have
composed a deathbed edict – the Edict of Serdica – allowing the assembly of Christians
in conventicles and explaining the motives for the prior persecution. [35] Eusebius wrote
that Easter was celebrated openly.[35] By autumn however, Galerius's nephew,
former caesar, and co-augustus Maximinus Daia (r. 310–313) was enforcing
Diocletian's persecution in his territories in Anatolia and the Diocese of the East in
response to petitions from numerous cities and provinces,
including Antioch, Tyre, Lycia, and Pisidia.[35] Maximinus was also encouraged to act by
an oracular pronouncement made by a statue of Zeus Philios set up in Antioch
by Theotecnus of Antioch, who also organized an anti-Christian petition to be sent from
the Antiochenes to Maximinus, requesting that the Christians there be expelled.
[35]
 Among the Christians known to have died in this phase of the persecution are
the presbyter Lucian of Antioch, the bishop Methodius of Olympus in Lycia, and Peter,
the patriarch of Alexandria. Defeated in a civil war by the augustus Licinius (r. 308–324),
Maximinus died in 313, ending the systematic persecution of Christianity as a whole in
the Roman Empire.[35] Only one martyr is known by name from the reign of Licinius, who
issued the Edict of Milan jointly with his ally, co-augustus, and brother-in-law
Constantine, which had the effect of resuming the toleration of before the persecution
and returning confiscated property to Christian owners. [35]
According to legend, one of the martyrs during the Diocletianic persecution was Saint
George, a Roman soldier who loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his
fellow soldiers and tribunes claimed to be a Christian by declaring his worship of Jesus
Christ.[citation needed]
The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern
hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs. Since the title of
martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural".
[37]
 Attempts at estimating the numbers involved are inevitably based on inadequate
sources.[38]
Constantinian period[edit]
Main article: Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire
See also: Religious policies of Constantine the Great
The Christian church marked the conversion of Constantine the Great as the final
fulfillment of its heavenly victory over the "false gods". [39]: xxxii  The Roman state had always
seen itself as divinely directed, now it saw the first great age of persecution, in which
the Devil was considered to have used open violence to dissuade the growth of
Christianity, at an end.[40] The orthodox catholic Christians close to the Roman state
represented imperial persecution as an historical phenomenon, rather than a
contemporary one.[40] According to MacMullan, the Christian histories are colored by this
"triumphalism".[41]: 4 
Peter Leithart says that, "[Constantine] did not punish pagans for being pagans, or Jews
for being Jews, and did not adopt a policy of forced conversion". [42]: 61  Pagans remained in
important positions at his court.[42]: 302  He outlawed the gladiatorial shows, destroyed some
temples and plundered more, and used forceful rhetoric against non-Christians, but he
never engaged in a purge.[42]: 302  Maxentius' supporters were not slaughtered when
Constantine took the capital; Licinius' family and court were not killed. [42]: 304  However,
followers of doctrines which were seen as heretical or causing schism were persecuted
during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, and they would be
persecuted again later in the 4th century.[43] The consequence of Christian doctrinal
disputes was generally mutual excommunication, but once Roman government became
involved in ecclesiastical politics, rival factions could find themselves subject to
"repression, expulsion, imprisonment or exile" carried out by the Roman army. [44]: 317 
In 312, the Christian sect called Donatists appealed to Constantine to solve a dispute.
He convened a synod of bishops to hear the case, but the synod sided against them.
The Donatists refused to accept the ruling, so a second gathering of 200 at Arles, in
314, was called, but they also ruled against them. The Donatists again refused to
accept the ruling, and proceeded to act accordingly by establishing their own bishop,
building their own churches, and refusing cooperation. [44]: 317 [43]: xv  This was a defiance of
imperial authority, and it produced the same response Rome had taken in the past
against such refusals. For a Roman emperor, "religion could be tolerated only as long
as it contributed to the stability of the state". [45]: 87  Constantine used the army in an effort to
compel Donatist' obedience, burning churches and martyring some from 317 – 321. [43]: ix, 
xv 
 Constantine failed in reaching his goal and ultimately conceded defeat. The schism
remained and Donatism continued.[44]: 318  After Constantine, his youngest son Flavius
Julius Constans, initiated the Macarian campaign against the Donatists from 346 – 348
which only succeeded in renewing sectarian strife and creating more martyrs. Donatism
continued.[43]: xvii 
The fourth century was dominated by its many conflicts defining orthodoxy versus
heterodoxy and heresy. In the Eastern Roman empire, known as Byzantium, the Arian
controversy began with its debate of Trinitarian formulas which lasted 56 years. [46]: 141  As it
moved into the West, the center of the controversy was the "champion of
orthodoxy", Athanasius. In 355 Constantius, who supported Arianism, ordered the
suppression and exile of Athanasius, expelled the orthodox Pope Liberius from Rome,
and exiled bishops who refused to assent to Athanasius's exile. [47] In 355, Dionysius,
bishop of Mediolanum (Milan) was expelled from his episcopal see and replaced by the
Arian Christian Auxentius of Milan.[48] When Constantius returned to Rome in 357, he
consented to allow the return of Liberius to the papacy; the Arian Pope Felix II, who had
replaced him, was then driven out along with his followers. [47]
The last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, Constantine's half-brother's
son Julian (r. 361–363) opposed Christianity and sought to restore traditional religion,
though he did not arrange a general or official persecution. [35]
Valentinianic–Theodosian period[edit]
According to the Collectio Avellana, on the death of Pope Liberius in 366, Damasus,
assisted by hired gangs of "charioteers" and men "from the arena", broke into
the Basilica Julia to violently prevent the election of Pope Ursicinus.[47] The battle lasted
three days, "with great slaughter of the faithful" and a week later Damasus seized
the Lateran Basilica, had himself ordained as Pope Damasus I, and compelled
the praefectus urbi Viventius and the praefectus annonae to exile Ursicinus.[47] Damasus
then had seven Christian priests arrested and awaiting banishment, but they escaped
and "gravediggers" and minor clergy joined another mob of hippodrome and
amphitheatre men assembled by the pope to attack the Liberian Basilica, where
Ursacinus's loyalists had taken refuge.[47] According to Ammianus Marcellinus, on the 26
October, the pope's mob killed 137 people in the church in just one day, and many more
died subsequently.[47] The Roman public frequently enjoined the emperor Valentinian the
Great to remove Damasus from the throne of Saint Peter, calling him a murderer for
having waged a "filthy war" against the Christians. [47]
In the 4th century, the Terving king Athanaric in c. 375 ordered the Gothic persecution
of Christians.[49] Athanaric was perturbed by the spread of Gothic Christianity among his
followers, and feared for the displacement of Gothic paganism.
It was not until the later 4th century reigns of the augusti Gratian (r. 367–
383), Valentinian II (r. 375–392), and Theodosius I (r. 379–395) that Christianity would
become the official religion of the empire with the joint promulgation of the Edict of
Thessalonica, establishing Nicene Christianity as the state religion and as the state
church of the Roman Empire on 27 February 380. After this began state persecution of
non-Nicene Christians, including Arian and Nontrinitarian devotees.[50]: 267 
When Augustine became coadjutor Bishop of Hippo in 395, both Donatist and Catholic
parties had, for decades, existed side-by-side, with a double line of bishops for the
same cities, all competing for the loyalty of the people. [43]: xv [a]: 334  Augustine was distressed
by the ongoing schism, but he held the view that belief cannot be compelled, so he
appealed to the Donatists using popular propaganda, debate, personal appeal, General
Councils, appeals to the emperor and political pressure, but all attempts failed. [52]: 242, 
254 
 The Donatists fomented protests and street violence, accosted travelers, attacked
random Catholics without warning, often doing serious and unprovoked bodily harm
such as beating people with clubs, cutting off their hands and feet, and gouging out
eyes while also inviting their own martyrdom. [53]: 120–121  By 408, Augustine supported the
state's use of force against them.[51]: 107–116  Historian Frederick Russell says that Augustine
did not believe this would "make the Donatists more virtuous" but he did believe it would
make them "less vicious".[54]: 128 
Augustine wrote that there had, in the past, been ten Christian persecutions, beginning
with the Neronian persecution, and alleging persecutions by the
emperors Domitian, Trajan, "Antoninus" (Marcus Aurelius), "Severus" (Septimius
Severus), and Maximinus (Thrax), as well as Decian and Valerianic persecutions, and
then another by Aurelian as well as by Diocletian and Maximian.[40] These ten
persecutions Augustine compared with the 10 Plagues of Egypt in the Book of Exodus.
[note 1][55]
 Augustine did not see these early persecutions in the same light as that of fourth
century heretics. In Augustine's view, when the purpose of persecution is to "lovingly
correct and instruct", then it becomes discipline and is just. [56]: 2  Augustine wrote that
"coercion cannot transmit the truth to the heretic, but it can prepare them to hear and
receive the truth".[51]: 107–116  He said the church would discipline its people out of a loving
desire to heal them, and that, "once compelled to come in, heretics would gradually give
their voluntary assent to the truth of Christian orthodoxy." [54]: 115  He opposed the severity of
Rome and the execution of heretics. [57]: 768 
It is his teaching on coercion that has literature on Augustine frequently referring to him
as le prince et patriarche de persecuteurs (the prince and patriarch of persecutors).[53]: 116 
[51]: 107 
 Russell says Augustine's theory of coercion "was not crafted from dogma, but in
response to a unique historical situation" and is therefore context dependent, while
others see it as inconsistent with his other teachings. [54]: 125  His authority on the question of
coercion was undisputed for over a millennium in Western Christianity, and according to
Brown "it provided the theological foundation for the justification of medieval
persecution."[51]: 107–116 
Heraclian period[edit]
Callinicus I, initially a priest and skeuophylax in the Church of the Theotokos of
Blachernae, became patriarch of Constantinople in 693 or 694. [58]: 58–59  Having refused to
consent to the demolition of a chapel in the Great Palace, the Theotokos ton
Metropolitou, and having possibly been involved in the deposition and exile of Justinian
II (r. 685–695, 705–711), an allegation denied by the Synaxarion of Constantinople, he
was himself exiled to Rome on the return of Justinian to power in 705. [58]: 58–59  The emperor
had Callinicus immured.[58]: 58–59  He is said to have survived forty days when the wall was
opened to check his condition, though he died four days later. [58]: 58–59 
Sassanian Empire[edit]
Violent persecutions of Christians began in earnest in the long reign of Shapur
II (r. 309–379).[59] A persecution of Christians at Kirkuk is recorded in Shapur's first
decade, though most persecution happened after 341. [59] At war with the Roman
emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361), Shapur imposed a tax to cover the war
expenditure, and Shemon Bar Sabbae, the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, refused to
collect it.[59] Often citing collaboration with the Romans, the Persians began persecuting
and executing Christians.[59] Passio narratives describe the fate of some Christians
venerated as martyrs; they are of varying historical reliability, some being contemporary
records by eyewitnesses, others were reliant on popular tradition at some remove from
the events.[59] An appendix to the Syriac Martyrology of 411 lists the Christian martyrs of
Persia, but other accounts of martyrs' trials contain important historical details on the
workings of the Sassanian Empire's historical geography and judicial and administrative
practices.[59] Some were translated into Sogdian and discovered at Turpan.[59]
Under Yazdegerd I (r. 399–420) there were occasional persecutions, including an
instance of persecution in reprisal for the burning of a Zoroastrian fire temple by a
Christian priest, and further persecutions occurred in the reign of Bahram V (r. 420–
438).[59] Under Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457) an instance of persecution in 446 is recorded in
the Syriac martyrology Acts of Ādur-hormizd and of Anāhīd.[59] Some individual
martyrdoms are recorded from the reign of Khosrow I (r. 531–579), but there were likely
no mass persecutions.[59] While according to a peace treaty of 562 between Khosrow
and his Roman counterpart Justinian I (r. 527–565), Persia's Christians were granted
the freedom of religion; proselytism was, however, a capital crime.[59] By this time
the Church of the East and its head, the Catholicose of the East, were integrated into
the administration of the empire and mass persecution was rare. [59]
The Sassanian policy shifted from tolerance of other religions under Shapur I to
intolerance under Bahram I and apparently a return to the policy of Shapur until the
reign of Shapur II. The persecution at that time was initiated by Constantine's
conversion to Christianity which followed that of Armenian king Tiridates in about 301.
The Christians were thus viewed with suspicions of secretly being partisans of the
Roman Empire. This did not change until the fifth century when the Church of the
East broke off from the Church of the West.[60] Zoroastrian elites continued viewing the
Christians with enmity and distrust throughout the fifth century with threat of persecution
remaining significant, especially during war against the Romans. [61]
Zoroastrian high priest Kartir, refers in his inscription dated about 280 on the Ka'ba-ye
Zartosht monument in the Naqsh-e Rostam necropolis near Zangiabad, Fars, to
persecution (zatan – "to beat, kill") of Christians ("Nazareans n'zl'y and
Christians klstyd'n"). Kartir took Christianity as a serious opponent. The use of the
double expression may be indicative of the Greek-speaking Christians deported
by Shapur I from Antioch and other cities during his war against the Romans.
[62]
 Constantine's efforts to protect the Persian Christians made them a target of
accusations of disloyalty to Sasanians. With the resumption of Roman-Sasanian conflict
under Constantius II, the Christian position became untenable. Zoroastrian priests
targeted clergy and ascetics of local Christians to eliminate the leaders of the church.
A Syriac manuscript in Edessa in 411 documents dozens executed in various parts of
western Sasanian Empire.[61]
In 341, Shapur II ordered the persecution of all Christians.[63][64] In response to their
subversive attitude and support of Romans, Shapur II doubled the tax on
Christians. Shemon Bar Sabbae informed him that he could not pay the taxes
demanded from him and his community. He was martyred and a forty-year-long period
of persecution of Christians began. The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon gave up
choosing bishops since it would result in death. The local mobads – Zoroastrian clerics
– with the help of satraps organized slaughters of Christians in Adiabene, Beth
Garmae, Khuzistan and many other provinces.[65]
Yazdegerd I showed tolerance towards Jews and Christians for much of his rule. He
allowed Christians to practice their religion freely, demolished monasteries and
churches were rebuilt and missionaries were allowed to operate freely. He reversed his
policies during the later part of his reign however, suppressing missionary activities.
[66]
 Bahram V continued and intensified their persecution, resulting in many of them
fleeing to the eastern Roman empire. Bahram demanded their return, beginning
the Roman–Sasanian War of 421–422. The war ended with an agreement of freedom of
religion for Christians in Iran with that of Mazdaism in Rome. Meanwhile, Christians
suffered destruction of churches, renounced the faith, had their private property
confiscated and many were expelled.[67]
Yazdegerd II had ordered all his subjects to embrace Mazdeism in an attempt to unite
his empire ideologically. The Caucasus rebelled to defend Christianity which had
become integrated in their local culture, with Armenian aristocrats turning to the
Romans for help. The rebels were however defeated in a battle on the Avarayr
Plain. Yeghishe in his The History of Vardan and the Armenian War, pays a tribute to
the battles waged to defend Christianity. [68] Another revolt was waged from 481–483
which was suppressed. However, the Armenians succeeded in gaining freedom of
religion among other improvements.[69]
Accounts of executions for apostasy of Zoroastrians who converted to Christianity
during Sasanian rule proliferated from the fifth to early seventh century, and continued
to be produced even after collapse of Sasanians. The punishment of apostates
increased under Yazdegerd I and continued under successive kings. It was normative
for apostates who were brought to the notice of authorities to be executed, although the
prosecution of apostasy depended on political circumstances and Zoroastrian
jurisprudence. Per Richard E. Payne, the executions were meant to create a mutually
recognised boundary between interactions of the people of the two religions and
preventing one religion challenging another's viability. Although the violence on
Christians was selective and especially carried out on elites, it served to keep Christian
communities in a subordinate and yet viable position in relation to Zoroastrianism.
Christians were allowed to build religious buildings and serve in the government as long
as they did not expand their institutions and population at the expense of
Zoroastrianism.[70]
Khosrow I was generally regarded as tolerant of Christians and interested in the
philosophical and theological disputes during his reign. Sebeos claimed he had
converted to Christianity on his deathbed. John of Ephesus describes an Armenian
revolt where he claims that Khusrow had attempted to impose Zoroastrianism in
Armenia. The account, however, is very similar to the one of Armenian revolt of 451. In
addition, Sebeos does not mention any religious persecution in his account of the revolt
of 571.[71] A story about Hormizd IV's tolerance is preserved by the historian al-Tabari.
Upon being asked why he tolerated Christians, he replied, "Just as our royal throne
cannot stand upon its front legs without its two back ones, our kingdom cannot stand or
endure firmly if we cause the Christians and adherents of other faiths, who differ in
belief from ourselves, to become hostile to us." [72]
During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628[edit]
Main article: Sasanian conquest and occupation of Jerusalem
Several months after the Persian conquest in AD 614, a riot occurred in Jerusalem, and
the Jewish governor of Jerusalem Nehemiah was killed by a band of young Christians
along with his "council of the righteous" while he was making plans for the building of
the Third Temple. At this time the Christians had allied themselves with the Eastern
Roman Empire. Shortly afterward, the events escalated into a full-scale Christian
rebellion, resulting in a battle against the Jews and Christians who were living in
Jerusalem. In the battle's aftermath, many Jews were killed and the survivors fled to
Caesarea, which was still being held by the Persian army.
The Judeo-Persian reaction was ruthless – Persian Sasanian general Xorheam
assembled Judeo-Persian troops and went and encamped around Jerusalem and
besieged it for 19 days.[73] Eventually, digging beneath the foundations of the Jerusalem,
they destroyed the wall and on the 19th day of the siege, the Judeo-Persian forces took
Jerusalem.[73]
According to the account of the Armenian ecclesiastic and historian Sebeos, the siege
resulted in a total Christian death toll of 17,000, the earliest and thus most commonly
accepted figure.[74]: 207  Per Strategius, 4,518 prisoners alone were massacred
near Mamilla reservoir.[75] A cave containing hundreds of skeletons near the Jaffa Gate,
200 metres east of the large Roman-era pool in Mamilla, correlates with the massacre
of Christians at hands of the Persians mentioned in the writings of Strategius. While
reinforcing the evidence of massacre of Christians, the archaeological evidence seem
less conclusive on the destruction of Christian churches and monasteries in Jerusalem.
[75][76][failed verification]

According to the later account of Strategius, whose perspective appears to be that of a

Byzantine Greek and shows an antipathy towards the Jews, [77] thousands of Christians
were massacred during the conquest of the city. Estimates based on varying copies of
Strategos's manuscripts range from 4,518 to 66,509 killed. [78] Strategos wrote that the
Jews offered to help them escape death if they "become Jews and deny Christ", and the
Christian captives refused. In anger the Jews allegedly purchased Christians to kill
them.[79] In 1989, a mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in by Israeli
archeologist Ronny Reich, near the site where Strategius recorded the massacre took
place. The human remains were in poor condition containing a minimum of 526
individuals.[80]
From the many excavations carried out in the Galilee, it is clear that all churches had
been destroyed during the period between the Persian invasion and the Arab conquest
in 637. The church at Shave Ziyyon was destroyed and burnt in 614. Similar fate befell
churches at Evron, Nahariya, 'Arabe and monastery of Shelomi. The monastery
at Kursi was damaged in the invasion.[81]
Pre-Islamic Arabia[edit]
Main article: Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
In AD 516, tribal unrest broke out in Yemen and several tribal elites fought for power.
One of those elites was Joseph Dhu Nuwas or "Yousef Asa'ar", a Jewish king of
the Himyarite Kingdom who is mentioned in ancient south Arabian
inscriptions. Syriac and Byzantine Greek sources claim that he fought his war because
Christians in Yemen refused to renounce Christianity. In 2009, a documentary that aired
on the BBC defended the claim that the villagers had been offered the choice between
conversion to Judaism or death and 20,000 Christians were then massacred by stating
that "The production team spoke to many historians over a period of 18 months, among
them Nigel Groom, who was our consultant, and Professor Abdul Rahman Al-Ansary, a
former professor of archaeology at the King Saud University in Riyadh."[82] Inscriptions
documented by Yousef himself show the great pride that he expressed after killing more
than 22,000 Christians in Zafar and Najran.[83] Historian Glen Bowersock described
this massacre as a "savage pogrom that the Jewish king of the Arabs launched against
the Christians in the city of Najran. The king himself reported in excruciating detail to his
Arab and Persian allies about the massacres that he had inflicted on all Christians who
refused to convert to Judaism."[84]

Early Middle Ages[edit]

Muhammad[edit]
Ancient Arabian Christianity has largely vanished from the region. The main reason for
is Prophet Muhammad's direct orders to eliminate Jews and Christians from Arabia.
Sahih Muslim 1767 a
It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (‫)ﷺ‬
say: "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave
any but Muslim".
Musnad Ahmad 201
Jabir bin ‘Abdullah said:
Umar bin al-Khattab told me that he heard the Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬say:
“I shall certainly expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula so that I will
not leave anyone but Muslims".
Musnad Ahmad 215
It was narrated that Umar said: "If I live, in sha Allah, I shall certainly expel the Jews and
Christians from the Arabian Peninsula".

Rashidun Caliphate[edit]
Since they are considered "People of the Book" in the Islamic religion, Christians under
Muslim rule were subjected to the status of dhimmi (along
with Jews, Samaritans, Gnostics, Mandeans, and Zoroastrians), which was inferior to
the status of Muslims.[85][86][87] Christians and other religious minorities thus faced religious
discrimination and persecution in that they were banned from proselytising (for
Christians, it was forbidden to evangelize or spread Christianity) in the lands invaded by
the Arab Muslims on pain of death, they were banned from bearing arms, undertaking
certain professions, and were obligated to dress differently in order to distinguish
themselves from Arabs.[86] Under the Islamic law (sharīʿa), Non-Muslims were obligated
to pay the jizya and kharaj taxes,[85][86][87] together with periodic heavy ransom levied upon
Christian communities by Muslim rulers in order to fund military campaigns, all of which
contributed a significant proportion of income to the Islamic states while conversely
reducing many Christians to poverty, and these financial and social hardships forced
many Christians to convert to Islam.[86] Christians unable to pay these taxes were forced
to surrender their children to the Muslim rulers as payment who would sell them as
slaves to Muslim households where they were forced to convert to Islam.[86]
According to the tradition of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Muslim conquest of the
Levant was a relief for Christians oppressed by the Western Roman Empire. [87] Michael
the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch, wrote later that the Christian God had "raised from the
south the children of Ishmael to deliver us by them from the hands of the Romans".
[87]
 Various Christian communities in the regions of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon,
and Armenia resented either the governance of the Western Roman Empire or that of
the Byzantine Empire, and therefore preferred to live under more favourable economic
and political conditions as dhimmi under the Muslim rulers.[87] However, modern
historians also recognize that the Christian populations living in the lands invaded by the
Arab Muslim armies between the 7th and 10th centuries AD suffered religious
persecution, religious violence, and martyrdom multiple times at the hands of Arab
Muslim officials and rulers;[87][88][89][90] many were executed under the Islamic death
penalty for defending their Christian faith through dramatic acts of resistance such as
refusing to convert to Islam, repudiation of the Islamic religion and
subsequent reconversion to Christianity, and blasphemy towards Muslim beliefs.[88][89][90]
Umayyad Caliphate[edit]
Roderick is venerated as one of the Martyrs of Córdoba

According to the Ḥanafī school of Islamic law (sharīʿa), the testimony of a Non-Muslim

(such as a Christian or a Jew) was not considered valid against the testimony of a
Muslim in legal or civil matters. Historically, in Islamic culture and traditional Islamic
law Muslim women have been forbidden from marrying Christian or Jewish men,
whereas Muslim men have been permitted to marry Christian or Jewish women [91]
[92]
 (see: Interfaith marriage in Islam). Christians under Islamic rule had the right to
convert to Islam or any other religion, while conversely a murtad, or an apostate from
Islam, faced severe penalties or even hadd, which could include the Islamic death
penalty.[88][89][90]
In general, Christians subject to Islamic rule were allowed to practice their religion with
some notable limitations stemming from the apocryphal Pact of Umar. This treaty,
supposedly enacted in 717 AD, forbade Christians from publicly displaying the cross on
church buildings, from summoning congregants to prayer with a bell, from re-building or
repairing churches and monasteries after they had been destroyed or damaged, and
imposed other restrictions relating to occupations, clothing, and weapons. [93] The
Umayyad Caliphate persecuted many Berber Christians in the 7th and 8th centuries AD,
who slowly converted to Islam.[94]
In Umayyad al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula), the Mālikī school of Islamic law was the
most prevalent.[89] The martyrdoms of forty-eight Christian martyrs that took place in
the Emirate of Córdoba between 850 and 859 AD[95] are recorded in the hagiographical
treatise written by the Iberian Christian and Latinist scholar Eulogius of Córdoba.[88][89]
[90]
 The Martyrs of Córdoba were executed under the rule of Abd al-Rahman
II and Muhammad I, and Eulogius' hagiography describes in detail the executions of the
martyrs for capital violations of Islamic law, including apostasy and blasphemy.[88][89][90]
Byzantine Empire[edit]
George Limnaiotes, a monk on Mount Olympus known only from the Synaxarion of
Constantinople and other synaxaria, was supposed to have been 95 years old when he
was tortured for his iconodulism.[58]: 43  In the reign of Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–741), he
was mutilated by rhinotomy and his head burnt.[58]: 43 
Germanus I of Constantinople, a son of the patrikios Justinian, a courtier of the
emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641), having been castrated and enrolled in the cathedral
clergy of Hagia Sophia when his father was executed in 669, was later bishop
of Cyzicus and then patriarch of Constantinople from 715. [58]: 45–46  In 730, in the reign of
Leo III (r. 717–741), Germanus was deposed and banished, dying in exile at Plantanion
(Akçaabat).[58]: 45–46  Leo III also exiled the monk John the Psichaites, an iconodule,
to Cherson, where he remained until after the emperor's death. [58]: 57 
According only to the Synaxarion of Constantinople, the clerics Hypatios and
Andrew from the Thracesian thema were, during the persecution of Leo III, brought to
the capital, jailed and tortured.[58]: 49  The Synaxarion claims that they had the embers of
burnt icons applied to their heads, subjected to other torments, and then dragged
though the Byzantine streets to their public execution in the area of the city's VIIth Hill,
the so-called Medieval Greek: ξηρόλοφος, romanized: Χērólophos, lit. 'dry hill' near
the Forum of Arcadius.[58]: 49 
Andrew of Crete was beaten and imprisoned in Constantinople after having debated
with the iconoclast emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775), possibly in 767 or 768, and
then abused by the Byzantines as he was dragged through the city, dying of blood loss
when a fisherman cut off his foot in the Forum of the Ox.[58]: 19  The church of Saint Andrew
in Krisei was named after him, though his existence is doubted by scholars. [58]: 19 
Having defeated and killed the emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811) at the Battle of
Pliska in 811, the First Bulgarian Empire's khan, Krum, also put to death a number of
Roman soldiers who refused to renounce Christianity, though these martyrdoms, known
only from the Synaxarion of Constantinople, may be entierely legendary.[58]: 66–67  In 813 the
Bulgarians invaded the thema of Thrace, led by Krum, and the city of Adrianople
(Edirne) was captured.[58]: 66  Krum's successor Dukum died shortly after Krum himself,
being succeeded by Ditzevg, who killed Manuel the archbishop of Adrianople in January
815.[58]: 66  According to the Synaxarion of Constantinople and the Menologion of Basil II,
Ditzevg's own successor Omurtag killed some 380 Christians later that month. [58]: 66  The
victims included the archbishop of Develtos, George, and the bishop of Thracian
Nicaea, Leo, as well as two strategoi called John and Leo. Collectively these are known
as the Martyrs of Adrianople.[58]: 66 
The Byzantine monk Makarios, of the Pelekete monastery in Bithynia, having already
refused a enviable position at court offered by the iconoclast emperor Leo IV the
Khazar (r. 775–780) in return for the repudiation of his iconodulism, was expelled from
the monastery by Leo V the Armenian (r. 813–820), who also imprisoned and exiled
him.[58]: 65 
The patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople dissented from the iconoclast Council of
Constantinople of 815 and was exiled by Leo V as a result. [58]: 74–75  He died in exile in 828.
[58]: 74–75 

In spring 816, the Constantinopolitan monk Athanasios of Paulopetrion was tortured and

exiled for his iconophilism by the emperor Leo V.[58]: 28  In 815, during the reign of Leo V,
having been appointed hegoumenos of the Kathara Monastery in Bithynia by the
emperor Nikephoros I, John of Kathara was exiled and imprisoned first in
Pentadactylon, a stronghold in Phrygia, and then in the fortress of Kriotauros in
the Bucellarian thema.[58]: 55–56  In the reign of Michael II he was recalled, but exiled again
under Theophilos, being banished to Aphousia (Avşa) where he died, probably in 835.[58]: 
55–56 

Eustratios of Agauros, a monk and hegumenos of the Agauros Monastery at the foot of

Mount Trichalikos, near Prusa's Mount Olympus in Bithynia, was forced into exile by the
persecutions of Leo V and Theophilos (r. 829–842).[58]: 37–38  Leo V and Theophilos also
persecuted and exiled Hilarion of Dalmatos, the son of Peter the Cappadocian, who had
been made hegumenos of the Dalmatos Monastery by the patriarch Nikephoros I. [58]: 48–
49 
 Hilarion was allowed to return to his post only in the regency of Theodora.[58]: 48–49  The
same emperors also persecuted Michael Synkellos, an Arab monk of the Mar
Saba monastery in Palestine who, as the syncellus of the patriarch of Jerusalem, had
travelled to Constantinople on behalf of the patriarch Thomas I.[58]: 70–71  On the Triumph of
Orthodoxy, Michael declined the ecumenical patriarchate and became instead
the hegumenos of the Chora Monastery.[58]: 70–71 
According to Theophanes Continuatus, the Armenian monk and iconographer
of Khazar origin Lazarus Zographos refused to cease painting icons in the second
official iconoclast period.[58]: 61–62  Theophilos had him tortured and his hands burned with
heated irons, though he was released at the intercession of the empress Theodora and
hidden at the Monastery of John the Baptist tou Phoberou, where he was able to paint
an image of the patron saint.[58]: 61–62  After the death of Theophilos, and the Triumph of
Orthodoxy, Lazarus re-painted the representation of Christ on the Chalke Gate of
the Great Palace of Constantinople.[58]: 61–62 
Symeon Stylites of Lesbos was persecuted for his iconodulism in the second period of
official iconoclasm. He was imprisoned and exiled, returning to Lesbos only after the
vernation of icons was restored in 842.[58]: 32–33  The bishop George of Mytilene, who may
have been Symeon's brother, was exiled from Constantinople in 815 on account of his
iconophilia. He spent the last six years of his life in exile on an island, probably one of
the Princes' Islands, dying in 820 or 821.[58]: 42–43  George's relics were taken to Mytilene to
be venerated after the restoration of iconodulism to orthodoxy under the
patriarch Methodios I, during which the hagiography of George was written. [58]: 42–43 
Miniature depicting the execution of the patriarch Euthymius of Sardis under the Byzantine Emperor Michael II,
from an illuminated manuscript of the Madrid Skylitzes (12th century).

The bishop Euthymius of Sardis was the victim of several iconoclast Christian

persecutions. Euthymius had previously been exiled to Pantelleria by the
emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811), recalled in 806, led the iconodule resistance
against Leo V (r. 813–820), and exiled again to Thasos in 814.[58]: 38  After his recall to
Constantinople in the reign of Michael II (r. 820–829), he was again imprisoned and
exiled to Saint Andrew's Island, off Cape Akritas (Tuzla, Istanbul).[58]: 38  According to the
hagiography of by the patriarch Methodios I of Constantinople, who claimed to have
shared Euthymius's exile and been present at his death, Theoktistos and two other
imperial officials personally whipped Euthymius to death on account of his iconodulism;
Theoktistos was active in the persecution of iconodules under the iconoclast emperors,
but later championed the iconodule cause.[58]: 38, 68–69 [96]: 218  Theoktistos was later venerated as
a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, listed in the Synaxarion of Constantinople.[96]: 217–
218 
 The last of the iconoclast emperors, Theophilos (r. 829–842), was posthumously
rehabilitated by the iconodule Orthodox Church on the intervention of his wife Theodora,
who claimed he had had a deathbed conversion to iconodulism in the presence of
Theoktistos and had given 60 Byzantine pounds of gold to each of his victims in his will.
[96]: 219 
 The rehabilitation of the iconoclast emperor was a precondition of his widow for
convoking the Council of Constantinople in March 843, at which the veneration
of icons was restored to orthodoxy and which became celebrated as the Triumph of
Orthodoxy.[96]: 219 
Evaristos, a relative of Theoktistos Bryennios and a monk of the Monastery of Stoudios,
was exiled to the Thracian Chersonese (Gallipoli peninsula) for his support of
his hegumenos Nicholas and his patron the patriarch Ignatios of Constantinople when
the latter was deposed by Photios I in 858.[58]: 41, 72–73  Both Nicholas and Evaristos went into
exile.[58]: 41, 72–73  Only after many years was Evaristos allowed to return to Constantinople to
found a monastery of his own.[58]: 41, 72–73  The hegumenos Nicholas, who had accompanied
Evaristos to the Chersonese, was restored to his post at the Stoudios Monastery. [58]: 72–73  A
partisan of Ignatios of Constantinople and a refugee from the Muslim conquest of Sicily,
the monk Joseph the Hymnographer was banished to Cherson from Constantinople on
the elevation of Ignatios's rival Photios in 858. Only after the end of Photios's
patriarchate was Joseph allowed to return to the capital and become the
cathedral skeuophylax of Hagia Sophia.[58]: 57–58 
Euthymius, a monk, senator, and synkellos favored by Leo VI (r. 870–912), was first
made a hegumenos and then in 907 patriarch of Constantinople by the emperor. When
Leo VI died and Nicholas Mystikos was recalled to the patriarchal throne, Euthymius
was exiled.[58]: 38–40 
Abbasid Caliphate[edit]
The Abbasid Caliphate was less tolerant of Christianity than had been the Umayyad
caliphs.[87] Nonetheless, Christian officials continued to be employed in the government,
and the Christians of the Church of the East were often tasked with the translation
of Ancient Greek philosophy and Greek mathematics.[87] The writings of al-Jahiz attacked
Christians for being too prosperous, and indicates they were able to ignore even those
restrictions placed on them by the state. [87] In the late 9th century, the patriarch of
Jerusalem, Theodosius, wrote to his colleague the patriarch of
Constantinople Ignatios that "they are just and do us no wrong nor show us any
violence".[87]
Elias of Heliopolis, having moved to Damascus from Heliopolis (Ba'albek), was accused
of apostasy from Christianity after attending a party held by a Muslim Arab, and was
forced to flee Damascus for his hometown, returning eight years later, where he was
recognized and imprisoned by the "eparch", probably the jurist al-Layth ibn Sa'd.[58]: 
34 
 After refusing to convert to Islam under torture, he was brought before the
Damascene emir and relative of the caliph al-Mahdi (r. 775–785), Muhammad ibn-
Ibrahim, who promised good treatment if Elias would convert. [58]: 34  On his repeated
refusal, Elias was tortured and beheaded and his body burnt, cut up, and thrown into
the river Chrysorrhoes (the Barada) in 779 AD.[58]: 34 

Raid on the Monastery of Zobe and the death of hegumenos Michael and his 36 brothers, depicted in
the Menologion of Basil II.

According to the Synaxarion of Constantinople, the hegumenos Michael of Zobe and

thirty-six of his monks at the Monastery of Zobe near Sebasteia (Sivas) were killed by a
raid on the community.[58]: 70  The perpetrator was the "emir of the Hagarenes", "Alim",
probably Ali ibn-Sulayman, an Abbasid governor who raided Roman territory in 785 AD.
[58]: 70 
 Bacchus the Younger was beheaded in Jerusalem in 786–787 AD. Bacchus was
Palestinian, whose family, having been Christian, had been converted to Islam by their
father.[58]: 29–30  Bacchus however, remained crypto-Christian and undertook a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, upon which he was baptized and entered the monastery of Mar Saba.[58]: 29–
30 
 Reunion with his family prompted their reconversion to Christianity and Bacchus's trial
and execution for apostasy under the governing emir Harthama ibn A'yan.[58]: 29–30 
After the 838 Sack of Amorium, the hometown of the emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842)
and his Amorian dynasty, the caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842) took more than forty
Roman prisoners.[58]: 41–42  These were taken to the capital, Samarra, where after seven
years of theological debates and repeated refusals to convert to Islam, they were put to
death in March 845 under the caliph al-Wathiq (r. 842–847).[58]: 41–42  Within a generation
they were venerated as the 42 Martyrs of Amorium. According to their hagiographer
Euodius, probably writing within a generation of the events, the defeat at Amorium was
to be blamed on Theophilos and his iconoclasm. [58]: 41–42  According to some later
hagiographies, including one by one of several Middle Byzantine writers known as
Michael the Synkellos, among the forty-two were Kallistos, the doux of
the Koloneian thema, and the heroic martyr Theodore Karteros.[58]: 41–42 
During the 10th-century phase of the Arab–Byzantine wars, the victories of the Romans
over the Arabs resulted in mob attacks on Christians, who were believed to sympathize
with the Roman state.[87] According to Bar Hebraeus, the catholicus of the Church of the
East, Abraham III (r. 906–937), wrote to the grand vizier that "we Nestorians are the
friends of the Arabs and pray for their victories". [87] The attitude of the Nestorians "who
have no other king but the Arabs", he contrasted with the Greek Orthodox Church,
whose emperors he said "had never cease to make war against the Arabs. [87] Between
923 and 924, several Orthodox churches were destroyed in mob violence
in Ramla, Ashkelon, Caesarea Maritima, and Damascus.[87] In each instance, according
to the Arab Melkite Christian chronicler Eutychius of Alexandria, the caliph al-
Muqtadir (r. 908–932) contributed to the rebuilding of ecclesiastical property. [87]
According to the Synaxarion of Constantinople, Dounale-Stephen, having journeyed to
Jerusalem, continued his pilgrimage to Egypt, where he was arrested by the
local emir and, refusing to relinquish his beliefs, died in jail c. 950.[58]: 33–34 

High Middle Ages (1000–1200)[edit]

See also: History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance
Fatimid Caliphate[edit]
The caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996–1021) engaged in a persecution of Christians.
[97]
 Al-Hakim was "half-insane", and had perpetrated the only general persecution of
Christians by Muslims until the Crusades.[98] Al-Hakim's mother was a Christian, and he
had been raised mainly by Christians, and even through the persecution al-Hakim
employed Christian ministers in his government. [99] Between 1004 and 1014, the caliph
produced legislation to confiscate ecclesiastical property and burn crosses; later, he
ordered that small mosques be built atop church roofs, and later still decreed that
churches were to be burned.[99] The caliph's Jewish and Muslim subjects were subjected
to similarly arbitrary treatment.[99] As part of al-Hakim's persecution, thirty thousand
churches were reportedly destroyed, and in 1009 the caliph ordered the demolition of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the pretext that the annual Holy
Fire miracle on Easter was a fake.[99] The persecution of al-Hakim and the demolition of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre prompted Pope Sergius IV to issue a call for soldiers
to expel the Muslims from the Holy Land, while European Christians engaged in a
retaliatory persecution of Jews, whom they conjectured were in some way responsible
for al-Hakim's actions.[100] In the second half of the eleventh century, pilgrims brought
home news of how the rise of the Turks and their conflict with the Egyptians increased
the persecution of Christian pilgrims.[100]
In 1013, at the intervention of the emperor Basil II (r. 960–1025), Christians were given
permission to leave Fatimid territory. [99] In 1016 however, the caliph was proclaimed
divine, alienating his Muslim subjects by banning the hajj and the fast of ramadan, and
causing him to again favor the Christians. [99] In 1017, al-Hakim issued an order of
toleration regarding Christians and Jews, while the following year confiscated
ecclesiastical property was returned to the Church, including the construction materials
seized by the authorities from demolished buildings. [99]
In 1027, the emperor Constantine VIII (r. 962–1028) concluded a treaty with Salih ibn
Mirdas, the emir of Aleppo, allowing the emperor to repair the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre and permitting the Christians forced to convert to Islam under al-Hakim to
return to Christianity.[99] Though the treaty was re-confirmed in 1036, actual building on
the shrine began only in the later 1040s, under the emperor Constantine IX
Monomachos (r. 1042–1055).[99] According to al-Maqdisi, the Christians seemed largely
in control of the Holy Land, and the emperor himself was rumored, according to Nasir
Khusraw, to have been among the many Christian pilgrims that came to the Holy
Sepulchre.[99]
Crusades[edit]
In the Middle Ages, the crusades were promoted as defensive response of Christianity
against persecution of Eastern Christianity in the Levant. [100] Western Catholic
contemporaries believed the First Crusade was a movement against Muslim attacks on
Eastern Christians and Christian sites in the Holy Land. [100] In the mid-11th century,
relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate and between
Christians and Muslims were peaceful, and there had not been persecution of
Christians since the death of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. [97] As a result of the migration
of Turkic peoples into the Levant and the Seljuk Empire's wars with the Fatimid
Caliphate in the later 11th century, reports of Christian pilgrims increasingly mentioned
persecution of Christians there.[100] Similarly, accounts sent to the West of the
Byzantines' medieval wars with various Muslim states alleged persecutions of Christians
and atrocities against holy places.[101] Western soldiers were encouraged to take up
soldiering against the empire's Muslim enemies; a recruiting bureau was even
established in London.[100] After the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, the sense of Byzantine
distress increased and Pope Gregory VII suggested that he himself would ride to the
rescue at the head of an army, claiming Christians were being "slaughtered like cattle".
[101]
 In the 1090s, the emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) issued appeals for
help against the Seljuks to western Europe. [101] In 1091 his ambassadors told the king of
Croatia Muslims were destroying sacred sites, while his letter to Robert I, Count of
Flanders, deliberately described emotively the rape and maltreatment of Christians and
the sacrilege of the Jerusalem shrines.[101]
Pope Urban II, who convoked the First Crusade at the 1095 Council of Clermont, spoke
of the defense of his co-religionists in the Levant and the protection of the Christian holy
places, while ordinary crusaders are also known to have been motivated by the notion
of persecution of Christians by Muslims.[100] According to Fulcher of Chartres, the pope
described his holy wars as being contra barbaros, 'against the barbarians', while the
pope's own letters indicate that the Muslims were barbarians fanatically persecuting
Christians.[102] The same idea, expressed in similar language, was evident in the writings
of the bishop Gerald of Cahors, the abbot Guibert of Nogent, the priest Peter Tudebode,
and the monk Robert of Reims.[102] Outside the clergy, the Gesta Francorum's author
likewise described the Crusaders' opponents as persecuting barbarians, language not
used for non-Muslim non-Christians.[102] These authors, together with Albert of
Aix and Baldric of Dol, all referred to the Arabs, Saracens, and Turks as barbarae
nationes, 'barbarian races'.[102] Peter the Venerable, William of Tyre, and The Song of
Roland all took the view that Muslims were barbarians, and in calling for the Third
Crusade, Pope Gregory VIII expounded on the Muslim threat from Saladin, accusing the
Muslims of being "barbarians thirsting for the blood of Christians". [102] In numerous
instances Pope Innocent III called on the Catholics to defend the Holy Land in a holy
war against the impugnes barbariem paganorum, 'attacks of the pagan barbarians'.
[102]
 Crusaders believed that by fighting off the Muslims, the persecution of Christians
would abate, in accordance to their god's will, and this ideology – much promoted by the
Crusader-era propagandists – was shared at every level of literate medieval western
European society.[102]
According to Guibert of Nogent, a Catholic writer, the persecution suffered by the
Eastern Christians and the attacks on the empire by the Turks were caused by the
Christians' own doctrinal errors. He claimed that "Since they deviate from faith in the
Trinity, so that hitherto they who are in filth become filthier, gradually they have come to
the final degradation of having taken paganism upon themselves as the punishment for
the sin proceeding from this, they have lost the soil of their native land to invading
foreigners ...".[103] Western Christians considered the Byzantine position in the filioque
controversy to be heresy and akin to Arianism; Guibert claimed that heresy was an
Eastern practice, almost unknown in the Latin West. [103] Further blame was attached to
the Eastern Christians by the crusaders for the Crusade of 1101's defeats in Asia Minor;
Alexios Komnenos was accused of having collaborated with the Turks to attack the
crusaders.[103] The Norman prince Bohemond, citing the supposed transgressions of the
emperor and the Eastern Church, which the pope had declared heretic and whose
doctrinal errors Bohemond blamed on Alexios, seized the Muslim-held and formerly
Byzantine city of Antioch (Antakya) for himself after the Siege of Antioch and
subsequent Battle of Antioch left Kerbogha defeated, becoming Bohemond I of
the Principality of Antioch.[103] This contravention of the agreement to return conquered
lands to the emperor's control, was justified in the crusaders' letter to Pope Urban II by
the statement that the Greek Christians were heretics. [103] Later, Bohemond took the
opportunity of a crusade to attack Dyrrachium (Durrës), justifying his attack on the
Christians in a letter to Pope Paschal II enumerating Alexios's faults and blaming him for
the East–West Schism and for having taken the imperial throne by force. [103] Besides
Guibert, other crusader writers to accuse Eastern Christians of sabotaging the crusade
include Raymond of Aguilers, Albert of Aix, Baldric of Dol, and the author of the Gesta
Francorum.[103] Alexios's departure from the crusade, followed by the departure of his
envoy Tatikios, was seen as proof of the Eastern Christians' treachery. [103] Though
Fulcher of Chartres displayed a positive assessment of Eastern Christianity, he too
accused the emperor of attacking Christian pilgrims, and of being a "tyrant". [103]
When First Crusade's Siege of Jerusalem ended successfully for the crusaders, the
patriarchate of Jerusalem was vacant, and the crusaders elevated a Latin
patriarch without reference to either the Roman Catholic or the Eastern Orthodox
churches.[104] An Orthodox candidate for the patriarchate was forced to flee to
Constantinople.[104] Only when Saladin's Siege of Jerusalem was concluded and the city
was returned to Muslim control were the Orthodox Christians allowed to practise in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[104]
Crusade scholars continue to debate crusading, its causes, and its effects, so
scholarship in this field repeatedly undergoes revision and reconsideration. [105]: 96  Many
early crusade scholars saw the source-histories as simple recitations of how events
actually transpired, but by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scholarship was
increasingly skeptical of that assumption. By 1935, Carl Erdmann published Die
Entstehung des Kreuzzugsgedankens (The Origin of the Idea of Crusade), changing the
direction of crusader studies more than any other single work by focusing on the
ideology of crusade. This ideology indicated the crusades were essentially defensive,
which meant that soldiers were there to provide protection for pilgrims and fellow
Christians in the East and to reclaim formerly Christian lands lost to Islamic expansion
and forced conversion. This ideology remained throughout the Middle Ages despite the
failure to finalize these goals.[106]: 3 fn 10, 6, 10, 13  Constable adds that those "scholars who see the
crusades as the beginning of European colonialism and expansionism would have
surprised people at the time. Crusaders would not have denied some selfish aspects...
but the predominant emphasis was on the defense and recovery of lands that had once
been Christian and on the self-sacrifice rather than the self-seeking of the participants".
[106]: 15 

In 1951, Steven Runciman, a Byzantinist who saw the crusades in terms of East-West

relations, wrote in the conclusion of his crusade history, that the "Holy War was nothing
more than a long act of intolerance".[106]: 3, 9–10  Giles Constable says it is this view of the
crusades that is most common among the populace.[106]: 3  The problem with this view,
according to political science professor Andrew R. Murphy, [107] is that such concepts as
intolerance were not part of eleventh century thinking about relationships for any of the
various groups involved in or affected by the crusades, neither the Latins, the
Byzantines, the Turks, the Baybars, nor others.[108]: xii–xvii  Instead, concepts of tolerance
began to grow during the crusades from efforts to define legal limits and the nature of
co-existence, and these ideas grew among both Christians and Muslims. [108]: xii 
These wars produced multiple massacres perpetrated by both sides. According to Mary
Jane Engh's definition of religious persecution, which identifies it as "the repressive
action initiated or condoned by authorities against their own people on religious
grounds," it is not possible to term these acts of war as religious persecution. [109]
After the collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fall of Acre, the last of the
Crusaders' possessions in Asia in 1291, one of the main Christian military orders was
suppressed from 1307 on trumped-up charges by the papacy. [110] The Knights
Templar were accused of sodomy, heresy, and corruption and the members were
persecuted.[110] In the crusades waged against non-Muslims, including Christians
described as heretics, Catholic participants were promised the same spiritual rewards
as were believed to be received by those who fought against Muslims in the Holy Land.
[111]

Albigensian Crusade[edit]
Pope Innocent III, with the king of France, Philip Augustus, began the military campaign
known as the Albigensian Crusade between 1209 and 1226 against other Christians
known as Cathars.[111][112]: 46, 47  Scholars disagree, using two distinct lines of reasoning, on
whether the war that followed was religious persecution from the Pope or a land grab by
King Philip.[113]: 50  Historian Laurence W. Marvin says the Pope exercised "little real control
over events in Occitania".[114]: 258  Four years after the Massacre at Beziers in 1213, the
Pope cancelled crusade indulgences and called for an end to the campaign. [115]: 58  The
campaign continued anyway. The Pope was not reversed until the Fourth Lateran
council re-instituted crusade status two years later in 1215; afterwards, the Pope
removed it yet again.[116][114]: 229, 235  The campaign continued in what Marvin refers to as "an
increasingly murky moral atmosphere" for the next 16 years: there was technically no
longer any crusade, no indulgences or dispensational rewards for fighting it, the papal
legates exceeded their orders from the Pope, and the army occupied lands of nobles
who were in the good graces of the church.[114]: 216  The Treaty of Paris that ended the
campaign left the Cathars still in existence, but awarded rule of Languedoc to Louis'
descendants.[114]: 235 
Northern (Baltic) crusades[edit]
The Northern (or Baltic Crusades), went on intermittently from 1147 to 1316, and the
primary trigger for these wars was not religious persecution but instead was the noble's
desire for territorial expansion and material wealth in the form of land, furs, amber,
slaves, and tribute.[117]: 5, 6  The princes wanted to subdue these pagan peoples and stop
their raiding by conquering and converting them, but ultimately, Iben Fonnesberg-
Schmidt says, the princes were motivated by their desire to extend their power and
prestige, and conversion was not always an element of their plans. [118]: 24  When it was,
conversion by these princes was almost always as a result of conquest, either by the
direct use of force or indirectly when a leader converted and required it of his followers
as well.[118]: 23, 24  "While the theologians maintained that conversion should be voluntary,
there was a widespread pragmatic acceptance of conversion obtained through political
pressure or military coercion."[118]: 24  The Church's acceptance of this led some
commentators of the time to endorse and approve it, something Christian thought had
never done before.[119]: 157–158 [118]: 24 
Ilkhanate[edit]
During the Ilkhanate, massacres were perpetrated by Hulagu Khan against the
Assyrians, particularly in and around the ancient Assyrian city of Arbela (modern Erbil).
[citation needed]

Late Middle Ages[edit]

Western Europe[edit]
Advocates of lay piety called for church reform and met with persecution from the
Popes.[120]: 248–250  John Wycliffe (1320–1384) urged the church to give up ownership of
property, which produced much of the church's wealth, and to once again embrace
poverty and simplicity. He urged the church to stop being subservient to the state and
its politics. He denied papal authority. John Wycliff died of a stroke, but his followers,
called Lollards, were declared heretics.[120]: 249  After the Oldcastle rebellion many were
killed.[121]: 12, 13 
Jan Hus (1369–1415) accepted some of Wycliff's views and aligned with the Bohemian
Reform movement which was also rooted in popular piety. In 1415, Hus was called to
the Council of Constance where his ideas were condemned as heretical and he was
handed over to the state and burned at the stake. [122]: 130, 135–139 [120]: 250 
The Fraticelli, who were also known as the "Little Brethren" or "Spiritual Franciscans",
were dedicated followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. These Franciscans honored their
vow of poverty and saw the wealth of the Church as a contributor to corruption and
injustice when so many lived in poverty. They criticized the worldly behavior of many
churchmen.[123]: 28, 50, 305  Thus, the Brethren were declared heretical by John XXII (1316–
1334) who was called "the banker of Avignon". [124]: 131 
The leader of these brethren, Bernard Délicieux (c. 1260–1270 – 1320) was well known
as he had spent much of his life battling the Dominican-run inquisitions. He confessed,
after torture and threat of excommunication, to the charge of opposing the inquisitions,
and was defrocked and sentenced to life in prison, in chains, in solitary confinement,
and to receive nothing but bread and water. The judges attempted to ameliorate the
harshness of this sentence due to his age and frailty, but Pope John
XXII countermanded them and delivered the friar to Inquisitor Jean de Beaune.
Délicieux died shortly thereafter in early 1320.[125]: 191, 196–198 
Timurid Empire[edit]
Timur (Tamerlane) instigated large scale massacres of Christians
in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria in the 14th century AD. Most of the
victims were indigenous Assyrians and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of
the East and Orthodox Churches, which led to the decimation of the hitherto majority
Assyrian population in northern Mesopotamia and the abandonment of the ancient
Assyrian city of Assur.[126]

Early Modern period[edit]

Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation[edit]

Persecution of the Servants of Christ by Maerten de Vos and engraved by Hieronymus Wierix (Wellcome

Library). An illustration of the prophecy of persecution made during the Sermon on the Mount according to
the Gospel of Luke.
"But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake." (Luke 21:12)[note 2]

Main articles: European wars of religion, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation

The Protestant Reformation and the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation provoked a
number of persecutions of Christians by other Christians and the European wars of
religion, including the Eighty Years' War, the French Wars of Religion, the Thirty Years'
War, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Savoyard–Waldensian wars, and
the Toggenburg War. There were false allegations of witchcraft and numerous witch
trials in the early modern period.
China[edit]

An 1858 illustration from the French newspaper, Le Monde Illustré, of the torture and execution of
Father Auguste Chapdelaine, a French missionary in China, by slow slicing (Lingchi).

Beginning in the late 17th century, Christianity was banned for at least a century in
China by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty after Pope Clement
XI forbade Chinese Catholics from venerating their relatives or Confucius or
the Buddha or Guanyin.[127]
During the Boxer Rebellion, Muslim unit Kansu Braves serving in the Chinese army
attacked Christians.[128][129][130]
During the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang incited anti-foreign, anti-Western
sentiment. Portraits of Sun Yat-sen replaced the crucifix in several churches, KMT
posters proclaimed "Jesus Christ is dead. Why not worship something alive such as
Nationalism?" Foreign missionaries were attacked and anti-foreign riots broke out. [131] In
1926, Muslim General Bai Chongxi attempted to drive out foreigners in Guangxi,
attacking American, European, and other foreigners and missionaries, and generally
making the province unsafe for foreigners. Westerners fled from the province, and some
Chinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents. [132]
From 1894 to 1938, there were many Uighur Muslim converts to Christianity. They were
killed, tortured and jailed.[133][134][135] Christian missionaries were expelled.[136]
French Revolution[edit]
Main articles: Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and Revolt in
the Vendée
September Massacres, 1792

The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional

description of a campaign, conducted by various Robespierre-era governments of
France beginning with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, to eliminate any
symbol that might be associated with the past, especially the monarchy.
The program included the following policies: [137][138][139]

 the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,

 the closing, desecration and pillaging of churches, removal of the word "saint"
from street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public
sphere
 removal of statues, plates, and other iconography from places of worship
 destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
 the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of
Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
 the large-scale destruction of religious monuments,
 the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
 forced marriages of the clergy,
 forced abjuration of priesthood, and
 the enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and
all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.

Mass shootings at Nantes, 1793

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre-Dame
de Paris, the Parisian cathedral, on 10 November.
Under threat of death, imprisonment, military conscription or loss of income, about
20,000 constitutional priests were forced to abdicate or hand over their letters of
ordination and 6,000 – 9,000 were coerced to marry, many ceasing their ministerial
duties.[140] Some of those who abdicated covertly ministered to the people. [140] By the end
of the decade, approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and
thousands who did not leave were executed. [141] Most of France was left without the
services of a priest, deprived of the sacraments and any nonjuring priest faced
the guillotine or deportation to French Guiana.[142]
The March 1793 conscription requiring Vendeans to fill their district's quota of 300,000
enraged the populace, who took up arms as "The Catholic Army", "Royal" being added
later, and fought for "above all the reopening of their parish churches with their former
priests."[143]
With these massacres came formal orders for forced evacuation; also, a 'scorched
earth' policy was initiated: farms were destroyed, crops and forests burned and villages
razed. There were many reported atrocities and a campaign of mass killing universally
targeted at residents of the Vendée regardless of combatant status, political affiliation,
age or gender.[144] By July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between
117,000 and 500,000, out of a population of around 800,000. [145][146][147]
Japan[edit]
Main article: Martyrs of Japan

The Christian martyrs of Nagasaki. 17th-century Japanese painting.

Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed control over Japan in 1600. Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he

disliked Christian activities in Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate finally decided to ban
Catholicism in 1614, and in the mid-17th century it demanded the expulsion of all
European missionaries and the execution of all converts. This marked the end of open
Christianity in Japan.[148] The Shimabara Rebellion, led by a young Japanese
Christian boy named Amakusa Shirō Tokisada, took place in 1637. After the Hara
Castle fell, the shogunate's forces beheaded an estimated 37,000 rebels and
sympathizers. Amakusa Shirō's severed head was taken to Nagasaki for public display,
and the entire complex at Hara Castle was burned to the ground and buried together
with the bodies of all the dead.[149]
Many of the Christians in Japan continued for two centuries to maintain their religion
as Kakure Kirishitan, or hidden Christians, without any priests or pastors. Some of those
who were killed for their Faith are venerated as the Martyrs of Japan.
Christianity was later allowed during the Meiji era. The Meiji Constitution of 1890
introduced separation of church and state and permitted freedom of religion.
Kingdom of Mysore[edit]
See also: Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam

The Jamalabad fort route. Mangalorean Catholics had traveled through this route on their way
to Seringapatam.

Muslim Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, took action against

the Mangalorean Catholic community from Mangalore and the South Canara district on
the southwestern coast of India. Tipu was widely reputed to be anti-Christian. He took
Mangalorean Catholics into captivity at Seringapatam on 24 February 1784 and
released them on 4 May 1799.[150]
Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tipu gained control of Canara.[151] He issued
orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates, [152] and deport them to
Seringapatam, the capital of his empire, through the Jamalabad fort route.[153] There were
no priests among the captives. Together with Fr. Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests
were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 2 lakhs, and threatened death by
hanging if they ever returned.[citation needed] Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic
churches.
According to Thomas Munro, a Scottish soldier and the first collector of Canara, around
60,000 of them,[154] nearly 92 percent of the entire Mangalorean Catholic community,
were captured. 7,000 escaped. Observer Francis Buchanan reports that 70,000 were
captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. They were forced to climb
nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) through the jungles of the Western Ghat mountain ranges. It
was 210 miles (340 km) from Mangalore to Seringapatam, and the journey took six
weeks. According to British Government records, 20,000  of them died on the march to
Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along
with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam. The
young women and girls were forcibly made wives of the Muslims living there and later
distributed and sold in prostitution. [155] The young men who offered resistance were
disfigured by cutting their noses, upper lips, and ears. [156] According to Mr. Silva
of Gangolim, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from
Seringapatam was found, the punishment under the orders of Tipu was the cutting off of
the ears, nose, the feet and one hand. [157]
The Archbishop of Goa wrote in 1800, "It is notoriously known in all Asia and all other
parts of the globe of the oppression and sufferings experienced by the Christians in the
Dominion of the King of Kanara, during the usurpation of that country by Tipu Sultan
from an implacable hatred he had against them who professed Christianity." [citation needed]

The British officer James Scurry, who was detained a prisoner for 10 years by Tipu Sultan along with the
Mangalorean Catholics

Tipu Sultan's invasion of the Malabar Coast had an adverse impact on the Saint

Thomas Christian community of the Malabar coast. Many churches in Malabar
and Cochin were damaged. The old Syrian Nasrani seminary at Angamaly which had
been the center of Catholic religious education for several centuries was razed to the
ground by Tipu's soldiers. Many centuries-old religious manuscripts were lost forever.
The church was later relocated to Kottayam where it still exists to this date. The Mor
Sabor church at Akaparambu and the Martha Mariam Church attached to the seminary
were destroyed as well. Tipu's army set fire to the church at Palayoor and attacked the
Ollur Church in 1790. Furthernmore, the Arthat church and the Ambazhakkad seminary
was also destroyed. Over the course of this invasion, many Saint Thomas Christians
were killed or forcibly converted to Islam. Most of the coconut, arecanut, pepper and
cashew plantations held by the Saint Thomas Christian farmers were also
indiscriminately destroyed by the invading army. As a result, when Tipu's army invaded
Guruvayur and adjacent areas, the Syrian Christian community fled Calicut and small
towns like Arthat to new centres like Kunnamkulam, Chalakudi, Ennakadu, Cheppadu,
Kannankode, Mavelikkara, etc. where there were already Christians. They were given
refuge by Sakthan Tamburan, the ruler of Cochin and Karthika Thirunal, the ruler of
Travancore, who gave them lands, plantations and encouraged their businesses.
Colonel Macqulay, the British resident of Travancore also helped them. [158]
Tipu's persecution of Christians also extended to captured British soldiers. For instance,
there were a significant amount of forced conversions of British captives between 1780
and 1784. Following their disastrous defeat at the battle of Pollilur, 7,000 British men
along with an unknown number of women were held captive by Tipu in the fortress of
Seringapatnam. Of these, over 300 were circumcised and given Muslim names and
clothes, and several British regimental drummer boys were made to wear ghagra
cholis and entertain the court as nautch girls or dancing girls. After the 10-year-long
captivity ended, James Scurry, one of those prisoners, recounted that he had forgotten
how to sit in a chair and use a knife and fork. His English was broken and stilted, having
lost all his vernacular idiom. His skin had darkened to the swarthy complexion
of negroes, and moreover, he had developed an aversion to wearing European clothes.
[159]

During the surrender of the Mangalore fort which was delivered in an armistice by the
British and their subsequent withdrawal, all the Mestiços (Luso-Indians and Anglo-
Indians) and remaining non-British foreigners were killed, together with 5,600
Mangalorean Catholics. Those condemned by Tipu Sultan for treachery were hanged
instantly, the gibbets being weighed down by the number of bodies they carried.
The Netravati River was so putrid with the stench of dying bodies, that the local
residents were forced to leave their riverside homes. [citation needed]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
Main article: Christianity in the Ottoman Empire
In accordance with the traditional custom at the time, Sultan Mehmed II allowed his
troops and his entourage three full days of unbridled pillage and looting in the city
shortly after it was captured. Once the three days passed, he would then claim its
remaining contents for himself.[101][160] However, by the end of the first day, he proclaimed
that the looting should cease as he felt profound sadness when he toured the looted
and enslaved city.[161][101] Hagia Sophia was not exempted from the pillage and looting and
specifically became its focal point as the invaders believed it to contain the greatest
treasures and valuables of the city.[162] Shortly after the defence of the Walls of
Constantinople collapsed and the Ottoman troops entered the city victoriously, the
pillagers and looters made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors
before storming in.[101]
Throughout the period of the siege of Constantinople, the trapped worshippers of the
city participated in the Divine Liturgy and the Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia
Sophia and the church formed a safe-haven and a refuge for many of those who were
unable to contribute to the city's defence, which comprised women, children, elderly, the
sick and the wounded.[163][164] Being trapped in the church, the many congregants and yet
more refugees inside became spoils-of-war to be divided amongst the triumphant
invaders. The building was desecrated and looted, with the helpless occupants who
sought shelter within the church being enslaved.[162] While most of the elderly and the
infirm/wounded and sick were killed, and the remainder (mainly teenage males and
young boys) were chained up and sold into slavery. [101]
The women of Constantinople also suffered from rape at the hands of Ottoman forces.
[165]
 According to Barbaro, "all through the day the Turks made a great slaughter of
Christians through the city". According to historian Philip Mansel, widespread
persecution of the city's civilian inhabitants took place, resulting in thousands of murders
and rapes, and 30,000 civilians being enslaved or forcibly deported. [166][167][168][169] George
Sphrantzes says that people of both genders were raped inside Hagia Sophia.[170]
Since the time of the Austro-Turkish war (1683–1699), relations between Muslims and
Christians who lived in the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire gradually
deteriorated[vague] and this deterioration in interfaith relations occasionally resulted in calls
for the expulsion or extermination of local Christian communities by some Muslim
religious leaders. As a result of Ottoman oppression, the destruction of Churches and
Monasteries, and violence against the non-Muslim civilian
population, Serbian Christians and their church leaders, headed by Serbian
Patriarch Arsenije III, sided with the Austrians in 1689 and again in 1737 under Serbian
Patriarch Arsenije IV. In the following punitive campaigns, Ottoman forces conducted
systematic atrocities against the Christian population in the Serbian regions, resulted in
the Great Migrations of the Serbs.[171]
Ottoman Albania and Kosovo[edit]
Main article: Islamization of Albania
Before the late 16th century, Albania's population remained overwhelmingly Christian,
despite the fact that it was under Ottoman rule, unlike the populations of other regions
of the Ottoman Empire such as Bosnia, Bulgaria and Northern Greece,[172] the
mountainous Albania was a frequent site of revolts against Ottoman rule, often at an
enormous human cost, such as the destruction of entire villages. [173] In response, the
Ottomans abandoned their usual policy of tolerating Christians in favor of a policy which
was aimed at reducing the size of Albania's Christian population through Islamization,
beginning in the restive Christian regions of Reka and Elbasan in 1570. [174]
The pressures which resulted from this campaign included particularly harsh economic
conditions which were imposed on Albania's Christian population; while earlier taxes on
the Christians were around 45 akçes a year, by the middle of the 17th century the rate
had been multiplied by 27 to 780 akçes a year. Albanian elders often opted to save their
clans and villages from hunger and economic ruin by advocating village-wide and
region-wide conversions to Islam, with many individuals frequently continuing to practice
Christianity in private.[175]
A failed Catholic rebellion in 1596 and the Albanian population's support of Austro-
Hungary during the Great Turkish War,[176] and its support of the Venetians in the 1644
Venetian-Ottoman War[177] as well as the Orlov Revolt[178][179][180][181][182] were all factors which
led to punitive measures in which outright force was accompanied by economic
incentives depending on the region, and ended up forcing the conversion of large
Christian populations to Islam in Albania. In the aftermath of the Great Turkish War,
massive punitive measures were imposed on Kosovo's Catholic Albanian population
and as a result of them, most members of it fled to Hungary and settled around
Budapest, where most of them died of disease and starvation. [176][183]
After the Orthodox Serbian population's subsequent flight from Kosovo, the pasha of
Ipek (Peja/Pec) forced Albanian Catholic mountaineers to repopulate Kosovo by
deporting them to Kosovo, and also forced them adopt Islam. [176] In the 17th and 18th
centuries, South Albania also saw numerous instances of violence which was directed
against those who remained Christian by local newly converted Muslims, ultimately
resulting in many more conversions out of fear as well as flight to faraway lands by the
Christian population.[184][185][178][182][186][187][188]
Modern era (1815 to 1989)[edit]
Communist Albania[edit]
Main articles: Religion in Albania §  Communist Albania, and Freedom of religion in
Albania
Religion in Albania was subordinated to the interests of Marxism during the rule of the
country's communist party when all religions were suppressed. This was used to justify
the communist stance of state atheism from 1967 to 1991.[189] The Agrarian Reform
Law of August 1945 nationalized most of the property which belonged to religious
institutions, including the estates of mosques, monasteries, orders, and dioceses. Many
clergy and believers were tried and some of them were executed. All foreign Roman
Catholic priests, monks, and nuns were expelled in 1946. [190][191] Churches, cathedrals and
mosques were seized by the military and converted into basketball courts, movie
theaters, dance halls, and the like; with members of the Clergy being stripped of their
titles and imprisoned.[192][193] Around 6,000 Albanians were disappeared by agents of the
Communist government, with their bodies having never been found or identified.
Albanians continued to be imprisoned, tortured and killed for their religious practices
well into 1991.[194]
Religious communities or branches that had their headquarters outside the country,
such as the Jesuit and Franciscan orders, were henceforth ordered to terminate their
activities in Albania. Religious institutions were forbidden to have anything to do with the
education of the young, because that had been made the exclusive province of the
state. All religious communities were prohibited from owning real estate and they were
also prohibited from operating philanthropic and welfare institutions and hospitals. Enver
Hoxha's overarching goal was the eventual destruction of all organized religion in
Albania, despite some variance in approach.[190][191]
Iraq[edit]
Kingdom of Iraq[edit]
The Assyrians suffered a further series of persecutions during the Simele massacre in
1933, with the death of approximately 3000 Assyrian civilians in the Kingdom of Iraq at
the hands of the Royal Iraqi Army.
Republic of Iraq[edit]
In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians.[195] They were tolerated
under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, who even made one of them, Tariq
Aziz his deputy. However, Saddam Hussein's government continued to persecute the
Christians on an ethnic, cultural and racial basis, because the vast majority are
Mesopotamian Eastern Aramaic-speaking Ethnic Assyrians (aka Chaldo-Assyrians).
The Assyro-Aramaic language and script was repressed, the giving of Hebraic/Aramaic
Christian names or Akkadian/Assyro-Babylonian names was forbidden (for
example Tariq Aziz's real name was Michael Youhanna ), and Saddam exploited
religious differences between Assyrian denominations such as Chaldean Catholics,
the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Pentecostal
Church and the Ancient Church of the East, in an attempt to divide them. Many
Assyrians and Armenians were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages during
the al Anfal Campaign in 1988, despite the fact that this campaign was primarily
directed against the Kurds.
Madagascar[edit]

Christian martyrs burned at the stake by Ranavalona I in Madagascar

Queen Ranavalona I (reigned 1828–1861) issued a royal edict prohibiting the practice

of Christianity in Madagascar, expelled British missionaries from the island, and sought
to stem the growth of conversion to Christianity within her realm. Far more, however,
were punished in other ways: many were required to undergo the tangena ordeal, while
others were condemned to hard labor or the confiscation of their land and property, and
many of these consequently died. The tangena ordeal was commonly administered to
determine the guilt or innocence of an accused person for any crime, including the
practice of Christianity, and involved ingestion of the poison contained within the nut of
the tangena tree (Cerbera odollam). Survivors were deemed innocent, while those who
perished were assumed guilty.
In 1838, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 people in Imerina died as a result of
the tangena ordeal, constituting roughly 20% of the population. [196] contributing to a
strongly unfavorable view of Ranavalona's rule in historical accounts.
[197]
 Malagasy Christians would remember this period as ny tany maizina, or "the time
when the land was dark". Persecution of Christians intensified in 1840, 1849 and 1857;
in 1849, deemed the worst of these years by British missionary to Madagascar W.E.
Cummins (1878), 1,900 people were fined, jailed or otherwise punished in relation to
their Christian faith, including 18 executions. [198]
Nazi Germany[edit]
Main articles: Nazism, Nazi Germany, Religion in Nazi Germany, Religious aspects of
Nazism, Religious views of Adolf Hitler, Kirchenkampf, Nazi persecution of the Catholic
Church in Germany, and Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany

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Hitler and the Nazis received some support from Christian communities, mainly due to

their common cause against the anti-religious Communists, as well as their
mutual Judeophobia and antisemitism. Once in power, the Nazis moved to consolidate
their power over the German churches and bring them in line with Nazi ideals. Some
historians say that Hitler had a general covert plan, which some of them say existed
even before the Nazis' rise to power, to destroy Christianity within the Reich, which was
to be accomplished through Nazi control and subversion of the churches and it would
be completed after the war.[199][200][201][202][203][excessive citations] The Third Reich founded its own version
of Christianity which was called Positive Christianity, a Nazi version of Christianity which
made major changes in the interpretation of the Bible by saying that Jesus Christ was
the son of God, but he was not a Jew and it also argued that Jesus
despised Jews and Judaism, and the Jews were the ones who were solely responsible
for Jesus's death.[citation needed]
Outside mainstream Christianity, the Jehovah's Witnesses were targets of Nazi
Persecution, for their refusal to swear allegiance to the Nazi government. In Nazi
Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s, Jehovah's Witnesses refused to renounce their
political neutrality and as a result, they were imprisoned in concentration camps. The
Nazi government gave detained Jehovah's Witnesses the option of release if they
signed a document which indicated their renunciation of their faith, their submission to
state authority, and their support of the German military. [204] Historian Hans Hesse said,
"Some five thousand Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps where
they alone were 'voluntary prisoners', so termed because the moment they recanted
their views, they could be freed. Some lost their lives in the camps, but few renounced
their faith."[205][206]
The Nazi Dissolution of the Bruderhof was also carried out by the Nazi government
because the Bruderhof refused to pledge allegiance to Hitler. In 1937 its property was
confiscated and its members fled to England.[207]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
Main articles: Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians §  Persecution in the Ottoman
Empire, Armenian genocide, Seyfo, and Greek genocide
See also: 1843 and 1846 massacres in Hakkari
Relations between Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire during the modern
era were shaped in no small part by broader dynamics which were related to European
colonial and neo-imperialist activity in the region, dynamics which frequently (though by
no means always) generated tensions between the two communities. Too often,
growing European influence in the region during the nineteenth century seemed to
disproportionately benefit Christians, thus producing resentment on the part of many
Muslims, likewise a suspicion that Christians were colluding with the European powers
in order to weaken the Islamic world. Further exacerbating relations was the fact that
Christians seemed to benefit disproportionately from efforts at reform (one aspect of
which generally sought to elevate the political status of non-Muslims), likewise, the
various Christian nationalist uprisings in the Empire's European territories, which often
had the support of the European powers.[208]

Corpses of massacred Armenian Christians in Erzurum in 1895

Persecutions and forced migrations of Christian populations were induced by Ottoman

forces during the 19th century in the European and Asian provinces of the Ottoman
Empire. The Massacres of Badr Khan were conducted by Kurdish and Ottoman forces
against the Assyrian Christian population of the Ottoman Empire between 1843 and
1847, resulting in the slaughter of more than 10,000 indigenous Assyrian civilians of
the Hakkari region, with many thousands more being sold into slavery.[209][210]

Adana massacre of 1909

On 17 October 1850 the Muslim majority began rioting against the Uniate Catholics – a
minority that lived in the communities of Judayda, in the city of Aleppo. [211]
During the Bulgarian Uprising (1876) against Ottoman rule, and the Russo-Turkish War
(1877–1878), the persecution of the Bulgarian Christian population was conducted by
Ottoman soldiers. The principal locations were Panagurishte, Perushtitza,
and Bratzigovo.[212] Over 15,000 non-combatant Bulgarian civilians were killed by the
Ottoman army between 1876 and 1878, with the worst single instance being the Batak
massacre.[212][213] During the war, whole cities including the largest Bulgarian one (Stara
Zagora) were destroyed and most of their inhabitants were killed, the rest being
expelled or enslaved. The atrocities included impaling and grilling people alive. [214] Similar
attacks were undertaken by Ottoman troops against Serbian Christians during
the Serbian-Turkish War (1876–1878).

Greek-Orthodox metropolises in Asia Minor, ca. 1880. Since 1923 only the Metropolis of Chalcedon retains a
small community.
The Assyrian genocide was a mass slaughter of the Assyrian population. [215]

Between 1894 and 1896 a series of ethno-religiously motivated Anti-

Christian pogroms known as the Hamidian massacres were conducted against the
ancient Armenian and Assyrian Christian populations by the forces of the Ottoman
Empire.[216] The motives for these massacres were an attempt to reassert Pan-
Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, resentment of the comparative wealth of the ancient
indigenous Christian communities, and a fear that they would attempt to secede from
the tottering Ottoman Empire.[217] The massacres mainly took place in what is today
southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northern Iraq. Assyrians and Armenians
were massacred in Diyarbakir, Hasankeyef, Sivas and other parts of Anatolia and
northern Mesopotamia, by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The death toll is estimated to have
been as high as 325,000 people,[218][219] with a further 546,000 Armenians and Assyrians
made destitute by forced deportations of survivors from cities, and the destruction or
theft of almost 2500 of their farmsteads towns and villages. Hundreds of churches and
monasteries were also destroyed or forcibly converted into mosques. [220] These attacks
caused the death of over thousands of Assyrians and the forced "Ottomanisation" of the
inhabitants of 245 villages. The Ottoman troops looted the remains of the Assyrian
settlements and these were later stolen and occupied by south-east Anatolian tribes.
Unarmed Assyrian women and children were raped, tortured and murdered.
[221]
 According to H. Aboona, the independence of the Assyrians was destroyed not
directly by the Turks but by their neighbours under Ottoman auspices. [222]
The Adana massacre occurred in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in April
1909. A massacre of Armenian and Assyrian Christians in the city of Adana and its
surrounds amidst the 31 March Incident led to a series of anti-
Christian pogroms throughout the province.[223] Reports estimated that the Adana
Province massacres resulted in the death of as many as 30,000 Armenians and 1,500
Assyrians.[224][225][226]
Between 1915 and 1921 the Young Turks government of the collapsing Ottoman
Empire persecuted Eastern Christian populations in Anatolia, Persia,
Northern Mesopotamia and The Levant. The onslaught by the Ottoman army, which
included Kurdish, Arab and Circassian irregulars resulted in an estimated 3.4 million
deaths, divided between roughly 1.5 million Armenian Christians,[227][228] 0.75
million Assyrian Christians, 0.90 million Greek Orthodox Christians and 0.25
million Maronite Christians (see Great Famine of Mount Lebanon);[229] groups
of Georgian Christians were also killed. The massive ethnoreligious cleansing expelled
from the empire or killed the Armenians and the Bulgarians who had not converted to
Islam, and it came to be known as the Armenian genocide,[230][231] Assyrian genocide,
[232]
 Greek genocide.[113] and Great Famine of Mount Lebanon.[233][234] which accounted for
the deaths of Armenian, Assyrian, Greek and Maronite Christians, and the deportation
and destitution of many more. The Genocide led to the devastation of
ancient indigenous Christian populations who had existed in the region for thousands of
years.[235][236][237][238]
In the aftermath of the Sheikh Said rebellion, the Syriac Orthodox Church and
the Assyrian Church of the East were subjected to harassment by Turkish authorities,
on the grounds that some Assyrians allegedly collaborated with the rebelling Kurds.
[239]
 Consequently, mass deportations took place and Assyrian Patriarch Mar Ignatius
Elias III was expelled from the Mor Hananyo Monastery which was turned into a Turkish
barrack. The patriarchal seat was then temporarily transferred to Homs.
Soviet Union[edit]

Demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on 5 December 1931: The USSR's official state
atheism resulted in the 1921–1928 anti-religious campaign, during which many "church institution[s] at [the]
local, diocesan or national level were systematically destroyed." [240]

Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Persecution of

Christians in the Eastern Bloc
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to
remove the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the government,
outlawed antisemitism in society, and promoted atheism. Tens of thousands of
churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, and many members of the clergy
were murdered, publicly executed and imprisoned for what the government termed
"anti-government activities". An extensive educational and propaganda campaign was
launched in order to convince people, especially children and youths, to abandon their
religious beliefs. This persecution resulted in the intentional murder of 500,000
Orthodox followers by the government of the Soviet Union during the 20th century. [241] In
the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were
executed.[242]
The state established atheism as the only scientific truth.[243][244][245][246] Soviet authorities
forbade the criticism of atheism and agnosticism until 1936 or of the state's anti-religious
policies; such criticism could lead to forced retirement. [247][248][249] Militant atheism became
central to the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a high priority
policy of all Soviet leaders.[250] Christopher Marsh, a professor at the Baylor
University writes that "Tracing the social nature of religion from Schleiermacher and
Feurbach to Marx, Engles, and Lenin...the idea of religion as a social product evolved to
the point of policies aimed at the forced conversion of believers to atheism." [251]
Under the doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union, a "government-sponsored
program of forced conversion to atheism" was conducted by the Communists.[252][253]
[254]
 The Communist Party destroyed churches, mosques and temples, ridiculed,
harassed, incarcerated and executed religious leaders, flooded the schools and media
with anti-religious teachings, and it introduced a belief system called "scientific atheism",
with its own rituals, promises and proselytizers. [255][256] Many priests were killed and
imprisoned; thousands of churches were closed. In 1925 the government founded
the League of Militant Atheists in order to intensify the persecution.[257] The League of
Militant Atheists was also a "nominally independent organization established by the
Communist Party to promote atheism".[258]
The Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed
believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions towards particular religions,
however, were determined by State interests, and most organized religions were never
outlawed. It is estimated that 500,000 Russian Orthodox Christians were martyred in
the gulags by the Soviet government, excluding the members of other Christian
denominations who were also tortured or killed.[241]
The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian
Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful worshippers. A very large
segment of its clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps.
Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. In the period
between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell
from 29,584 to less than 500. Between 1917 and 1940, 130,000 Orthodox priests were
arrested. The widespread persecution and internecine disputes within the church
hierarchy lead to the seat of Patriarch of Moscow being vacant from 1925 to 1943.
After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the
Russian Orthodox Church in order to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. By
1957, about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. But in 1959, Nikita
Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and
forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985, fewer than 7,000 churches
remained active.[242]
In the Soviet Union, in addition to the methodical closure and destruction of churches,
the charitable and social work formerly done by ecclesiastical authorities was taken over
by the state. As with all private property, Church owned property was confiscated by the
state and converted to public use. The few places of worship left to the Church were
legally viewed as state property which the government permitted the church to use.
After the advent of state funded universal education, the Church was not permitted to
carry on educational, instructional activity for children. For adults, only training for
church-related occupations was allowed. With the exception of sermons during the
celebration of the divine liturgy, it could not instruct the faithful or evangelise the youth.
Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious
publications were all declared illegal and banned. This caused many religious tracts to
be circulated as illegal literature or samizdat.[140] This persecution continued, even after
the death of Stalin until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the fall of the
Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church has recognized a number of New
Martyrs as saints, some of whom were executed during the Mass operations of the
NKVD under directives like NKVD Order No. 00447.
Before and after the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (25 October Old
Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the
world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern
European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. Since some of these Slavic
states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the people and their
churches were targeted for ethnic and political genocide by the Soviets and their form
of State atheism.[259][260] The Soviets' official religious stance was one of "religious freedom
or tolerance", though the state established atheism as the only scientific truth (see also
the Soviet or committee of the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Scientific and
Political Knowledge or Znanie which was until 1947 called The League of the Militant
Godless and various Intelligentsia groups).[245][246][261] Criticism of atheism was strictly
forbidden and sometimes resulted in imprisonment. [262][263][264][265] Some of the more high-
profile individuals who were executed include Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd,
priest and scientist Pavel Florensky.
According to James M. Nelson a psychology professor at East Carolina University, the
total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime may have been around 12
million,[266] while Todd Johnson and Gina Zurlo of Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary at Boston University estimate a figure of 15–20 million.[267]
Spain[edit]
Main articles: Red Terror (Spain) and White Terror (Spain)
The Second Spanish Republic, proclaimed in 1931, attempted to establish a regime
with a separation between State and Church as it had happened in France (1905).
When established, the Republic passed legislation which prevented the Church from
conducting educational activities. A process of political polarisation had characterised
the Spanish Second Republic, party divisions became increasingly embittered and
questions of religious identity came to assume major political significance. The
existence of different Church institutions was an illustration of the situation which
resulted from the proclamation which denounced the 2nd Republic as an anti-Catholic,
Masonic, Jewish, and Communist internationalist conspiracy which heralded a clash
between God and atheism, chaos and harmony, Good and Evil. [268] The Church's high-
ranking officials like Isidro Goma, bishop of Tudela, reminded their Christian subjects of
their obligation to vote "for the righteous", and their priests of their obligation to "educate
the consciences."[269] In the Asturian miners' strike of 1934, part of the Revolution of
1934, 34 Catholic priests were massacred and churches were systematically burned.
[270]
 Anticlerical opinion accused the Catholic priesthood and religious orders of hypocrisy:
clerics were guilty of taking up arms against the people, of exploiting others for the sake
of wealth, and of sexual immorality all while claiming the moral authority of
peacefulness, poverty, and chastity.[270]
Since the early stages of the Second Republic, far-right forces which were imbued with
an ultra-Catholic spirit attempted to overthrow the Republic. Carlists, Africanistas, and
Catholic theologians fostered an atmosphere of social and racial hatred in their
speeches and writings.[271] The Catholic Church endorsed the rebellion which was led by
the fascist Francisco Franco, and Pope Pius XI expressed sympathy for the Nationalist
side during the Spanish Civil War.[270] The Catholic authorities described Franco's war as
a "crusade" against the Second Republic, and later the Collective Letter of the Spanish
Bishops, 1937 appeared, justifying Franco's attack on the Republic. [270] A similar
approach is attested in 1912, when the bishop of Almería José Ignacio de
Urbina [es] (founder of the National Anti-Masonic and Anti-Semitic League  [es])
announced "a decisive battle that must be unleashed" between the "light" and
"darkness".[272] Though the official declaration of the "crusade" followed the Republican
persecution of Catholic clerics, the Catholic Church was already predisposed towards
Franco's position, because it was seen as the "perfect ally of fascism" while it opposed
the anticlerical policies of the Second Republic. [270] The 1936 anticlerical persecution has
been seen as "final phase of a long war between clericalism and anticlericalism" [273] and
"fully consistent with a Spanish history of popular anticlericalism and anticlerical
populism".[270]
Stanley Payne suggested that the persecution of right-wingers and people who were
associated with the Catholic church both before and at the beginning of the Spanish
Civil War involved the murder of priests and other clergy, as well as thousands of lay
people, by sections of nearly all leftist groups, while a killing spree was also unleashed
across the Nationalist zone.[274] During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, and
especially during the early months of the conflict, individual clergymen and entire
religious communities were executed by leftists, some of whom
were communists and anarchists. The death toll of the clergy alone included 13
bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns,
reaching a total of 6,832 clerical victims.[270] The main perpetrators of the Red Terror
were members of the anarchist Federación Anarquista Ibérica, the Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo, and the Trotskyist Workers' Party of Marxist Unification.[270] These
organizations distanced themselves from the violence, condemned those who were
responsible for it or characterized the killings as mob reprisals for acts of violence which
had been perpetrated by the clerics themselves, an explanation which was readily
accepted by the public.[270]
In addition to the murder of both the clergy and the faithful, the destruction of churches
and the desecration of sacred sites and objects was also widespread. On the night of 19
July 1936 alone, some fifty churches were burned. [275] In Barcelona, out of the 58
churches, only the cathedral was spared, and similar desecrations occurred almost
everywhere in Republican Spain.[276]
Two exceptions were Biscay and Gipuzkoa where the Christian Democratic Basque
Nationalist Party, after some hesitation, supported the Republic and halted the
persecution of Catholics in areas which were held by the Basque Government. All other
Catholic churches which were located in the Republican zone were closed. The
desecration was not limited to Catholic churches, because synagogues and Protestant
churches were also pillaged and closed, but some small Protestant churches were
spared. The rising Franco's regime would keep Protestant churches and synagogues
closed, as he only permitted the Catholic Church.[277]
Payne called the terror the "most extensive and violent persecution of Catholicism in
Western History, in some way even more intense than that of the French
Revolution."[278] The persecution drove Catholics to the side of the Nationalists, even
more of them sided with the Nationalists than would have been expected, because they
defended their religious interests and survival.[278]
The Roman Catholic priests who were killed during the Red Terror are considered
"Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War", though the priests who were executed by the
fascists are not counted among them. A group known as the "498 Spanish Martyrs"
were beatified by the Roman Catholic Church's Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. The history
of the Red Terror has been obscured by scholarly inattention and the "embarrassing
partiality" of ecclesiastical historians.[270] Some of the numerous non-fascists who were
persecuted during Franco's White Terror were Protestants, because the fascists
accused them of being associated with Freemasonry, and the persecution which they
were subjected to during Franco's White Terror was much more intense than the
persecution which they were subjected to during the Red Terror.[279][280]
United States[edit]
The Latter Day Saints, (Mormons) have been persecuted since their founding in the
1830s. The persecution of the Mormons drove them from New
York and Ohio to Missouri, where they continued to be subjected to violent attacks. In
1838, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs declared that Mormons had made war on the state
of Missouri, so they "must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven
from the state"[281] At least 10,000 were expelled from the State. In the most violent
altercation which occurred at that time, the Haun's Mill massacre, 17 Mormons were
murdered by an anti-Mormon mob and 13 other Mormons were wounded.
[282]
 The Extermination Order which was signed by Governor Boggs was not formally
invalidated until 25 June 1976, 137 years after being signed.
The Mormons subsequently fled to Nauvoo, Illinois, where hostilities again escalated. In
Carthage, Ill., where Joseph Smith was being held on the charge of treason, a mob
stormed the jail and killed him. Smith's brother, Hyrum, was also killed. After
a succession crisis, most united under Brigham Young, who organized an evacuation
from the United States after the federal government refused to protect them.
[283]
 70,000 Mormon pioneers crossed the Great Plains to settle in the Salt Lake
Valley and surrounding areas. After the Mexican–American War, the area became the
US territory of Utah. Over the next 63 years, several actions by the federal
government were directed against Mormons in the Mormon Corridor, including the Utah
War, the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, the Poland Act, Reynolds v. United States,
the Edmunds Act, the Edmunds–Tucker Act, and the Reed Smoot hearings.

In this 1926 cartoon, the Ku Klux Klan chases the Roman Catholic Church, personified by St Patrick, from the
shores of America.

The second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1915 and launched in the 1920s,
persecuted Catholics in both the United States and Canada. As stated in its official
rhetoric which focused on the threat of the Catholic Church, the Klan was motivated
by anti-Catholicism and American nativism.[284] Its appeal was exclusively directed
towards white Anglo-Saxon Protestants; it opposed Jews, blacks, Catholics, and newly
arriving Southern and Eastern European immigrants such as Italians, Russians,
and Lithuanians, many of whom were either Jewish or Catholic.[285]
Warsaw Pact[edit]

St. Teodora de la Sihla Church in Central Chișinău was one of the churches that were "converted into
museums of atheism", under the doctrine of Marxist–Leninist atheism.[286]

Across Eastern Europe following World War II, the parts of the Nazi Empire which were
conquered by the Soviet Red Army and Yugoslavia became one-party Communist
states and the project of coercive conversion to atheism continued. [287][288] The Soviet
Union ended its war time truce with the Russian Orthodox Church, and extended its
persecutions to the newly Communist Eastern bloc: "In Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and
other Eastern European countries, Catholic leaders who were unwilling to be silent were
denounced, publicly humiliated or imprisoned by the Communists. Leaders of the
national Orthodox Churches in Romania and Bulgaria had to be cautious and
submissive", wrote Geoffrey Blainey.[289] While the churches were generally not treated
as severely as they had been in the USSR, nearly all of their schools and many of their
churches were closed, and they lost their formally prominent roles in public life. Children
were taught atheism, and clergy were imprisoned by the thousands. [290] In the Eastern
Bloc, Christian churches, along with Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques were
forcibly "converted into museums of atheism." [263][264]
Along with executions, some other actions which were taken against Orthodox priests
and believers included torture, being sent to prison camps, labour camps or mental
hospitals.[140][291][292]

Current situation (1989 to the present)[edit]

Main article: Persecution of Christians in the post–Cold War era
In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI claimed that Christians were the most persecuted religious
group in the contemporary world.[293] In a speech to the United Nations Human Rights
Council's 23rd session in May 2013, then-Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the
United Nations in Geneva, Silvano Maria Tomasi claimed that "an estimate of more than
100,000 Christians are violently killed because of some relation to their faith every
year".[294][295] This number was supported by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity
(CSGC) at the evangelical Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts,
which published a statement in December 2016 stating that "between 2005 and 2015
there were 900,000 Christian martyrs worldwide – an average of 90,000 per year." [296]
[297]
 Tomasi's radio address to the Council called the figures both a "shocking conclusion"
and "credible research".[294] The accuracy of this number, based on population estimates
in a 1982 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia, is disputed.[298][299] Almost all died in
wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where all sides of the Second Congo
War and subsequent conflicts are majority-Christian, and previous years included
victims of the Rwandan genocide, an ethnic conflict and a part of the First Congo
War where again most belligerents were Christian.[298] As a result, the BBC News
Magazine cautioned that "when you hear that 100,000 Christians are dying for their
faith, you need to keep in mind that the vast majority – 90,000 – are people who were
killed in DR Congo."[298]
Klaus Wetzel, an internationally recognized expert on religious persecution, states that
this discrepancy in numbers is due to the contradiction between the definition used by
Gordon-Conwell defining Christian martyrdom in the widest possible sense, and the
more sociological and political definition Wetzel and Open Doors and others such
as The International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) use, which is: 'those who are
killed, who would not have been killed, if they had not been Christians.'[300]
Numbers are affected by several important factors, for example, population distribution
is a factor. The United States submits an annual report on religious freedom and
persecution to the Congress which recognizes restrictions on religious freedom, ranging
from low to very high, in three-quarters of the world's countries including the United
States. In approximatrly one quarter of the world's countries, there are high and very
high restrictions and oppression, and some of those countries, such as China and India,
Indonesia and Pakistan are among those with the highest populations. [301] About three
quarters of the world's population live in the most oppressive countries in the world. [302]
Numbers of martyrs are especially difficult to accurately identify, because religious
persecution often occurs in conjunction with wider conflicts. This fact complicates the
identification of acts of persecution because they may be politically rather than
religiously motivated.[303]: xii  For example, the U.S. Department of State identified 1.4
million Christians in Iraq in 1991 when the Gulf War began. By 2010, the number of
Christians dropped to 700,000 and by 2011 it was estimated that there were between
450,000 and 200,000 Christians left in Iraq.[303]: 135  During that period, actions against
Christians included the burning and bombing of churches, the bombing of Christian
owned businesses and homes, kidnapping, murder, demands for protection money, and
anti-Christian rhetoric in the media with those responsible saying that they wanted to rid
the country of its Christians.[303]: 135–138 
A report which was released by the UK's Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs and prepared by Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, in
July 2019, and a report on worldwide restrictions on religious freedom by the PEW
organization, both stated that the number of countries where Christians were suffering
as a result of religious persecution was increasing, rising from 125 in 2015 to 144 as of
2018.[304][305][306][note 3] PEW has published a caution concerning the interpretation of its
numbers: "The Center's recent report ... does not attempt to estimate the number of
victims in each country... it does not speak to the intensity of harassment..." [307] France,
who restricts the wearing of the hijab, is counted as a persecuting country equally with
Nigeria and Pakistan where, according to the Global Security organization, Christians
have been killed for their faith.[308]
The Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte [309] – the International Society for
Human Rights – in Frankfurt, Germany, is a non-governmental organization with 30,000
members from 38 countries who monitor human rights. In September 2009, then
chairman Martin Lessenthin,[310] issued a report estimating that 80% of acts of religious
persecution around the world were aimed at Christians at that time. [311][312]
W. J. Blumenfeld says that Christianity enjoys dominant group privilege in the US and
some other Western societies.[313] Christianity is, numerically, the largest religion in the
U.S. according to PEW, with 43% of Americans identifying themselves
as Protestants and one in five (20%) of Americans identifying themselves as Catholics.
[314]
 It remains the largest religion in the world.[315] Roughly two-thirds of the world's
countries have Christian majorities.[316] Due to the large number of Christian majority
countries, differing groups of Christians are harassed and persecuted in Christian
countries such as Eritrea[317] and Mexico[318] more often than in most Muslim countries,
though not in greater numbers.[316]
According to PEW, the Middle East and North Africa have experienced the highest rates
of restrictions on non-favorite religions for the last decade, being higher than any other
region, each year, from 2007 to 2017.[319] But it's the gap between this region and other
regions where government favoritism is concerned that is particularly large: "the
average country in this region scores nearly twice as high on measures of government
favoritism of one religion as the average country in any other region". [319]
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan
independent federal agency which was created by the United States Congress in 1998,
published a study of the predominantly Muslim countries which are located in the Middle
Eastern/North African region. It concludes that, of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, "28
percent live in ten countries that declare themselves to be Islamic states. In addition,
there are 12 predominantly Muslim countries that have chosen to declare that Islam is
the official state religion ... Taken together, the 22 states that declare that Islam is the
official religion account for 58 percent – or just over 600 million – of the 1 billion Muslims
living in 44 predominantly Muslim countries. [320]: 6 
"Several countries with constitutions establishing Islam as the state religion either do not
contain guarantees of the right to freedom of religion or belief, or they contain
guarantees that, on their face, do not compare favorably with all aspects of international
[human rights] standards."[320]: 16  All of these countries defer to religious authorities or
doctrines on legal issues in some way.[319] For example, "when one spouse is Muslim and
the other has a different religion (such as Coptic Christianity), or if spouses are
members of different Christian denominations, courts still defer to Islamic family
law."[319] Grim and Finke say their studies indicate that: "When religious freedoms are
denied through the regulation of religious profession or practice, violent religious
persecution and conflict increase."[321]: 6 
In its Annual Report, the USCIRF lists 14 "Countries of Particular Concern" with regard
to religious rights and it also lists 15 additional countries which it has recommended be
placed on the U.S. Department of State's Special Watch List (SWL), a lesser category
than the CPC designation.[3] Of these 29 countries, 17 of them are predominantly Muslim
countries, mostly located in the Middle East and North Africa, representing less than
half of the 44 predominantly Muslim countries in the world, the rest of which are either
secular or have not declared any state religion. Of the remaining countries, two of them
have populations which are almost equally Christian and Muslim, both of them have
official state versions of Christianity and Islam, four other countries are predominantly
Christian countries where adherents of non-official or non-favored varieties of
Christianity and adherents of other religions are persecuted, one country is
predominantly Buddhist, and one country is predominantly Hindu. Eight of these
countries are either current or former communist states such
as China, Cuba, Russia and Vietnam. Twenty four of the USCIRF's twenty nine
countries are also included on Open Doors Worldwide Watch list because they are
especially dangerous for Christians.[322]
Eleven predominantly Muslim countries are ruled by governments which proclaim that
their states are secular. "These countries account for nearly 140 million Muslims, or
13.5 percent of the 1 billion Muslims living in predominantly Muslim countries. The 11
remaining predominantly Muslim countries have not made any constitutional declaration
concerning the Islamic or secular nature of the state, and have not made Islam the
official state religion. This group of countries, which includes Indonesia, the world's
largest Muslim country, accounts for over 250 million Muslims". [320]: 6  This demonstrates
that the majority of the world's Muslim population live in countries that either proclaim
the state to be secular, or that make no pronouncements concerning Islam as the
official state religion.[320]: 2 
In the Muslim world[edit]
Muslim countries where the death penalty for the crime of apostasy is in force or has been proposed as of
2013.[323] Many other Muslim countries impose a prison term for apostasy or they prosecute it
under blasphemy or other laws.[324]

See also: Anti-Christian sentiment in the Middle East, Christianity in the Middle

East, Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques, and Persecution of
Christians by ISIL
Christians have faced increasing levels of persecution in the Muslim world.[325] Muslim-
majority nations in which Christian populations have suffered acute discrimination,
persecution, repression, violence and in some cases death, mass murder or ethnic
cleansing include; Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Qatar, Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives.[326] Native
Christian communities are subjected to persecution in several Muslim-majority
countries such as Egypt[327] and Pakistan.[328]
Furthermore, any Muslim person – including any person who was born into a Muslim
family or any person who became a Muslim at a given point in his or her life – who
converts to Christianity or re-converts to it, is considered an apostate. Apostasy, the
conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or deed, including conversion to
Christianity, is punishable as a crime under applications of the Sharia (countries in the
graph). There are, however, cases in which a Muslim will adopt the Christian faith,
secretly without declaring his/her apostasy. As a result, they are practising Christians,
but legally, they are still considered Muslims, and as a result, they can still face
the death penalty according to the Sharia. Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman, was
sentenced to death for apostasy in 2014, because the government of Sudan classified
her as a Muslim, even though she was raised as a Christian. [329]
A report by the international catholic charity organisation Aid to the Church in Need said
that the religiously motivated ethnic cleansing of Christians is so severe that they are
set to completely disappear from parts of the Middle-East within a decade. [330][331]
A report which was commissioned by the British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and
published in May 2019 stated that the level and nature of persecution of Christians in
the Middle East "is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of
genocide, according to that adopted by the UN." The report coted Algeria, Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia where "the situation of Christians and other minorities has
reached an alarming stage." The report attributed the sources of persecution to
extremist groups and the failure of state institutions. [332]
Afghanistan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old citizen, was charged in 2006 with
rejecting Islam, a crime punishable by death under Sharia law. He has since been
released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments. [333]
[334]
 In 2008, the Taliban killed a British charity worker, Gayle Williams, "because she was
working for an organization which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan" even
though she was extremely careful not to try to convert Afghans. [335]
Algeria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Algeria

The Cemetery of the seven monks of Tibhirine

On the night of 26–27 March 1996, seven monks from the monastery

of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of
the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were
held for two months and were found dead on 21 May 1996. The circumstances of their
kidnapping and death remain controversial; the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) allegedly
took responsibility for both, but the then French military attaché, retired
General Francois Buchwalter, reports that they were accidentally killed by the Algerian
army in a rescue attempt, and claims have been made that the GIA itself was a cat's
paw of Algeria's secret services (DRS).[336][337][338]
A Muslim gang allegedly looted and burned to the ground, a Pentecostal church in Tizi
Ouzou on 9 January 2010. The pastor was quoted as saying that worshipers fled when
local police supposedly left a group of local protestors unchecked. [339] Many Bibles were
burnt.[340]
Bangladesh[edit]
There has been large scale persecution in Bangladesh which has included forced
conversions, the destruction of Churches, the seizure of land from Christians and
killings of Christians in Bangladesh over decades.[341][342][343][344][345] This included abductions,
attacks and forced conversions on Rohingya Christians in refugee camps in
Bangladesh.[346]
Chad[edit]
In Chad, Christians form a minority, at 41% of the population. They have faced an
increasing level of persecution from local officials as well as Islamist groups like Boko
Haram and tribal herdsmen. Persecution includes burning of Christian villages, closing
of markets and killings.[347][unreliable source?]
Egypt[edit]
See also: Persecution of Copts

Part of a series of articles on the

Modern persecution
of Coptic Christians

Overview

 Christianity in Egypt
 Human rights in Egypt
 Secularism in Egypt
 Judiciary of Egypt
 Crime in Egypt
 Terrorism in Egypt

Terrorist attacks
 Kosheh, 2000
 Alexandria, 2005
 Saint Fana, 2008
 Nag Hammadi, 2010
 Alexandria, 2011
 Imbaba, 2011
 Maspero, 2011
 Libya, 2015
 Abbasia, 2016
 Alexandria and Tanta, 2017
 Minya, 2017
 Helwan, 2017
 Minya, 2018
 Figures

o Sidhom Bishay
o Master Malati
 Mohammed Hegazy
 Bahaa el-Akkad

o Mark Gabriel
o Zakaria Botros

 v
 t
 e

Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country if they restrict their activities to social
improvements and refrain from proselytizing. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in
extremist Islamist groups such as the Gama'at Islamiya during the 1980s was
accompanied by increased attacks on Copts and on Coptic Orthodox churches; these
have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police
have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases. [348]
There have been periodic acts of violence against Christians since, including attacks on
Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria in April 2006, [349] and sectarian violence
in Dahshur in July 2012.[350] From 2011 to 2013, more than 150 kidnappings, for ransom,
of Christians had been reported in the Minya governorate.[351] Christians have been
convicted for "contempt of religion",[352] such as poet Fatima Naoot in 2016.[353][354]
Indonesia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Indonesia
Although Christians are a minority in Indonesia, Christianity is one of the six officially
recognized religions of Indonesia and religious freedom is permitted. But there are
some religious tensions and persecutions in the country, and most of the tensions and
persecutions are civil and not by state.
In January 1999[355] tens of thousands died when Muslim gunmen terrorized Christians
who had voted for independence in East Timor.[356] These events came toward the end of
the East Timor genocide, which began around 1975.
In Indonesia, religious conflicts have typically occurred in Western New
Guinea, Maluku (particularly Ambon), and Sulawesi. The presence of Muslims in these
traditionally Christian regions is in part a result of the transmigrasi program of population
re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of
radical Islamist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah or Laskar Jihad to
impose Sharia,[357][358] with such groups attacking Christians and destroying over 600
churches.[359] In 2005 three Christian girls were beheaded as retaliation for previous
Muslim deaths in Christian-Muslim rioting.[360] The men were imprisoned for the murders,
including Jemaah Islamiyah's district ringleader Hasanuddin. [361] On going to jail,
Hasanuddin said, "It's not a problem (if I am being sentenced to prison), because this is
a part of our struggle."[362] Later in November 2011, another fight between Christians
against Muslims happen in Ambon. Muslims allegedly set fire to several Christian
houses, forcing the occupants to leave the buildings. [363]
In December 2011, a second church in Bogor, West Java, was ordered to halt its
activities by the local mayor. Another Catholic church had been built there in 2005.
Previously a Christian church, GKI Taman Yasmin, had been sealed. Local authorities
refused to lift a ban on the activities of the church, despite an order from the Supreme
Court of Indonesia.[364] Local authorities have persecuted the Christian church for three
years. While the state has ordered religious toleration, it has not enforced these orders.
[365]

In Aceh Province, the only province in Indonesia with autonomous Islamic Shari'a Law,
20 churches in Singkil Regency face threat of demolition due to gubernatorial decree
requires the approval of 150 worshippers, while the ministerial decree also requires the
approval of 60 local residents of different faiths. On 30 April 2012, all the 20 churches
(17 Protestant churches, 2 Catholic churches and one place of worship belonging to
followers of a local nondenominational faith) have been closed down by order, from the
Acting Regent which also ordered members of the congregations to tear down the
churches by themselves. Most of the churches slated for demolition were built in the
1930s and 1940s. The regency has 2 churches open, both built after 2000. [366][367]
On 9 May 2017, Christian governor of Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has been
sentenced to two years in prison by the North Jakarta District Court after being found
guilty of committing a criminal act of blasphemy.[368][369][370]
Iran[edit]
See also: Christianity in Iran
Though Iran recognizes Assyrian and Armenian Christians as ethnic and religious
minorities (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in
the Parliament, they are nonetheless forced to adhere to Iran's strict interpretation
of Islamic law. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Muslim converts to Christianity
(typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed.
[371]
 Youcef Nadarkhani is an Iranian Christian pastor who was arrested on charges of
apostasy in October 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to death. In June 2011 the
Iranian Supreme Court overruled his death sentence on condition that he recant, which
he refused to do.[372] In a reversal on 8 September 2012 he was acquitted of the charges
of apostasy and extortion, and sentenced to time served for the charge of "propaganda
against the regime", and immediately released.[373]
Iraq[edit]
See also: Christianity in Iraq and Assyrian exodus from Iraq
According to the UNHCR, although Christians (almost exclusively
ethnic Assyrians and Armenians) represented less than 5% of the total Iraqi population
in 2007, they made up 40% of the refugees living in nearby countries. [374]
In 2004, five churches were destroyed by bombing, and Christians were targeted by
kidnappers and Islamic extremists, leading to tens of thousands of Christians fleeing to
Assyrian regions in the north or leaving the country altogether. [375][376]
In 2006, the number of Assyrian Christians dropped to between 500,000 and 800,000,
of whom 250,000 lived in Baghdad.[377] An exodus to the Assyrian homeland in northern
Iraq, and to neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey left behind
closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority, who until recently were
without a militia of their own, Assyrian Christians were persecuted by
both Shi'a and Sunni Muslim militias, Kurdish Nationalists, and also by criminal gangs.[378]
[379]

As of 21 June 2007, the UNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to

neighbouring countries, and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000
Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month. [380][381] A 25 May 2007 article notes that in
the past seven months 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the
United States.[382]
In 2007, Chaldean Catholic Church priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and
subdeacons Basman Yousef Dawid, Wahid Hanna Esho, and Gassan Isam
Bidawed were killed in the ancient city of Mosul.[383] Ganni was driving with his three
deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they
refused they were shot.[383] Ganni was the pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy
Spirit in Mosul and a graduate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome in 2003 with a licentiate in ecumenical theology. Six
months later, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried
near Mosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver
were killed.[384] See 2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul for more details.
In 2010 there was an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac
Catholic cathedral[385] of Baghdad, Iraq, that took place during Sunday evening Mass on
31 October 2010. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been
taken hostage. The al-Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgent group The Islamic State of
Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack;[386] though Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
amongst others condemned the attack.
In 2013, Assyrian Christians were departing for their ancestral heartlands in the Nineveh
Plains, around Mosul, Erbil and Kirkuk. Assyrian militias were established to protect
villages and towns.[387][388]
During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a decree in
July that all indigenous Assyrian Christians in the area of its control must leave the
lands that Assyrians have occupied for 5000 years, be subject to extortion in the form
of a special tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Islam, or be murdered.
Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish-controlled regions of Iraq.[389] Christian
homes have been painted with the Arabic letter ‫( ن‬nūn) for Nassarah (an Arabic word
Christian) and a declaration that they are the "property of the Islamic State". On 18 July,
ISIS militants seemed to have changed their minds and announced that all Christians
would need to leave or be killed. Most of those who left had their valuable possessions
stolen by the Islamic terrorists.[390] According to Patriarch Louis Sako, there are no
Christians remaining in the once Christian dominated city of Mosul for the first time in
the nation's history, although this situation has not been verified. [389]
Malaysia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Malaysia and Freedom of religion in Malaysia
In Malaysia, although Islam is the official religion, Christianity is tolerated under Article 3
and Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution. But at some point, the spread of Christianity
is a particular sore point for the Muslim majority, the Malaysian government has also
persecuted Christian groups who were perceived to be attempting to proselytize Muslim
audiences.[391] Those showing interest in the Christian faith or other faith practices not
considered orthodox by state religious authorities are usually sent either by the police or
their family members to state funded Faith Rehabilitation Centres (Malay: Pusat
Pemulihan Akidah) where they are counseled to remain faithful to Islam and some
states have provisions for penalties under their respective Shariah legislations for
apostasy from Islam.[392]
It has been the practice of the church in Malaysia to not actively proselytize to the
Muslim community. Christian literature is required by law to carry a caption "for non-
Muslims only". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia allows the states to
prohibit the propagation of other religions to Muslims, and most (with the exception of
Penang, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories) have done so. There is no well-
researched agreement on the actual number of Malaysian Muslim converts to
Christianity in Malaysia.[393] According to the latest population census released by the
Malaysian Statistics Department, there are none, according to Ustaz Ridhuan Tee, they
are 135 and according to Tan Sri Dr Harussani Zakaria, they are 260,000.[393] See
also Status of religious freedom in Malaysia.
There are, however, cases in which a Muslim will adopt the Christian faith without
declaring his/her apostasy openly. In effect, they are practicing Christians, but legally
Muslims.[394]
Nigeria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Nigeria and Boko Haram insurgency
In the 11 Northern states of Nigeria that have introduced the Islamic system of law,
the Sharia, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have resulted in many
deaths, and some churches have been burned. More than 30,000 Christians were
displaced from their homes in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.[395]
The Boko Haram Islamist group has bombed churches and killed numerous Christians
who they regard as kafirs (infidels).[396][397] Some Muslim aid organisations in Nigeria
reportedly reserve aid for Muslims displaced by Boko Haram. Christian Bishop William
Naga reported to Open Doors UK that, "They[who?] will give food to the refugees, but if you
are a Christian they will not give you food. They will openly tell you that the relief is not
for Christians."[398]
Pakistan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Pakistan, 2009 Gojra riots, and Forced conversion to Islam in
Pakistan
In Pakistan, 1.5% of the population are Christian.[399] Many churches built during
the colonial Indian period, prior to the partition, remain locked, with the Pakistani
government refusing to hand them over to the Christian community. [400] Others have been
victims of church arsons or demolitions.[400]
Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with
punishment. At least a dozen Christians have been given death sentences, [401][402] and half
a dozen murdered after being accused of violating blasphemy laws. In 2005, 80
Christians were behind bars due to these laws. [403] The Pakistani-American
author Farahnaz Ispahani has called treatment of Christians in Pakistan a "drip-drip
genocide".[404]
Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998.
He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer Salman
Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction.
However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the
accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired
control of the property. Masih has been released. [405]
In October 2001, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a Protestant congregation in
the Punjab, killing 18 people. The identities of the gunmen are unknown. Officials think it
might be a banned Islamic group.[406]
In March 2002, five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad, including
an American schoolgirl and her mother.[407]
In August 2002, masked gunmen stormed a Christian missionary school for foreigners
in Islamabad; six people were killed and three injured. None of those killed were
children of foreign missionaries.[408]
In August 2002, grenades were thrown at a church in the grounds of a Christian hospital
in north-west Pakistan, near Islamabad, killing three nurses. [409]
On 25 September 2002, two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice
Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then
murdered seven Christians by shooting them in the head. [410][411] All of the victims were
Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands
tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.
In December 2002, three young girls were killed when a hand grenade was thrown into
a church near Lahore on Christmas Day. [412]
In November 2005, 3,000 Muslims attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and
destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The
attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian
named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in
Pakistan.[413]
On 5 June 2006, a Pakistani Christian, Nasir Ashraf, was assaulted for the "sin" of using
public drinking water facilities near Lahore.[414]
One year later, in August 2007, a Christian missionary couple, Rev. Arif and Kathleen
Khan, were gunned down by Muslim terrorists in Islamabad. Pakistani police believed
that the murders was committed by a member of Khan's parish over alleged sexual
harassment by Khan. This assertion is widely doubted by Khan's family as well as by
Pakistani Christians.[415][416]
In August 2009, six Christians, including four women and a child, were burnt alive
by Muslim militants and a church set ablaze in Gojra, Pakistan when violence broke out
after alleged desecration of a Qur'an in a wedding ceremony by Christians.[417][418]
On 8 November 2010, a Christian woman from Punjab Province, Asia Noreen Bibi, was
sentenced to death by hanging for violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. The accusation
stemmed from a 2009 incident in which Bibi became involved in a religious argument
after offering water to thirsty Muslim farm workers. The workers later claimed that she
had blasphemed the Muhammed. Until 2019, Bibi was in solitary confinement. A cleric
had offered $5,800 to anyone who killed her. [419][420] As of May 2019, Bibi and her family
have left Pakistan and now reside in Canada.
On 2 March 2011, the only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot
dead. Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, was in his car along with his niece.
Around 50 bullets struck the car. Over 10 bullets hit Bhatti. Before his death, he had
publicly stated that he was not afraid of the Taliban's threats and was willing to die for
his faith and beliefs. He was targeted for opposing the anti-free speech "blasphemy"
law, which punishes insulting Islam or its Prophet. [421] A fundamentalist Muslim group
claimed responsibility.[422]
On 22 September 2013, at least 78 people, including 34 women and 7 children, were
killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide attack on the over 10-year-old All Saints
Church in Peshawar after a service on Sunday morning. [423]
on 4 November 2014, a Christian couple were burnt alive in the Punjab province of
Pakistan, on a false rumor of blasphemy against the Quran. [424]
On 15 March 2015, 10 people were killed in suicide bombings on Christian Churches in
the city of Lahore.[425]
On 27 March 2016, a suicide bomber from a Pakistani Taliban faction killed at least 60
people and injured 300 others in an attack at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan,
and the group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it intentionally targeted
Christians celebrating Easter Sunday.[426][427]
On 18 December 2017, six people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing
on a Methodist church in the city of Quetta, Balochistan province. [428]
On 3 April 2018, four members of a Christian family were shot to death and a young girl
injured in the city of Quetta where they had arrived from Punjab province to celebrate
Easter.[429]
On 5 March 2018, an armed mob of over two dozen, attacked the Gospel Assembly
church in Punjab province and beat up Christian worshippers including women and
children.[430]
Saudi Arabia[edit]
"Non-Muslim Bypass:" Non-Muslims are barred from entering Mecca and Medina.[431][432]

See also: Christianity in Saudi Arabia and Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state that practices Wahhabism and restricts all other
religions, including the possession of religious items such as the Bible, crucifixes,
and Stars of David.[433] Strict sharia is enforced. Muslims are forbidden to convert to
another religion. If one does so and does not recant, they can be executed. [434]
Somalia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Somalia
Christians in Somalia face persecution associated with the ongoing civil war in that
country.[435]
In September 2011 militants sworn to eradicate Christianity from Somalia beheaded two
Christian converts. A third Christian convert was beheaded in Mogadishu in early 2012.
[436]

Sudan[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in Sudan
See also: Meriam Ibrahim and Freedom of religion in Sudan
In 1992 there were mass arrests and torture of local priests. [437] Prior to partition,
southern Sudan had a number of Christian villages. These were subsequently wiped out
by Janjaweed militias.[438]
Syria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Syria, Genocide of Christians by ISIL, and Sectarianism and
minorities in the Syrian Civil War §  Christians
Christians make up approximately 10% of Syria's population of 17.2 million people.
[439]
 The majority of Syrian Christians are once Western Aramaic speaking but now
largely Arabic speaking Arameans-Syriacs, with smaller minorities of Eastern
Aramaic speaking Assyrians and Armenians also extant. While religious persecution
has been relatively low level compared to other Middle Eastern nations, many of the
Christians have been pressured into identifying as Arab Christians, with the Assyrian
and Armenian groups retaining their native languages.
In FY 2016, when the US dramatically increased the number of refugees admitted from
Syria, the US let in 12,587 refugees from the country. Fewer than 1% were Christian
according to the Pew Research Center analysis of State Department Refugee
Processing Center data.[440]
Turkey[edit]
 This section needs expansion with:
There is more documented
persecution than what's included
below. You can help by adding to
it. (January 2021)

Further information: Christianity in Turkey; Bible publishing firm murders in Malatya,

Turkey; Varlık Vergisi; and Istanbul pogroms

External video

 Christians Persecuted in Turkey (2010)- Journeyman Pictures

See also: Freedom of religion in Turkey, Minorities in Turkey, Human rights in Turkey,

and Discrimination in Turkey
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is still in a difficult position. Turkish law
requires the Ecumenical Patriarch to be an ethnic Greek who holds Turkish citizenship
since birth, although most members of Turkey's Greek minority have been expelled. The
state's expropriation of church property is an additional difficulty faced by the Church of
Constantinople. In November 2007, a 17th-century chapel of Our Lord's
Transfiguration at the Halki seminary was almost totally demolished by the Turkish
forestry authority.[441] There was no advance warning given for the demolition work and it
was only stopped after appeals were filed by the Ecumenical Patriarch.[442]
The difficulties currently experienced by the Assyrians and Armenian Orthodox
minorities in Turkey are the result of an anti-Armenian and anti-Christian attitude which
is espoused by ultra-nationalist groups such as the Grey Wolves. According to
the Minority Rights Group, the Turkish government recognizes Armenians and
Assyrians as minorities but in Turkey, this term is used to denote second-class status. [443]
In February 2006, Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon.[444] On 18 April 2007
in the Zirve Publishing House, Malatya, Turkey.[445][446] Three employees of
the Bible publishing house were attacked, tortured and murdered by five Sunni
Muslim assailants.[447]
Yemen[edit]
See also: Christianity in Yemen
The Christian presence in Yemen dates back to the fourth century AD when a number
of Himyarites embrace Christianity due to the efforts of Theophilos the Indian. Currently,
there are no official statistics on their numbers, but they are estimated to be between
3,000 and 25,000 people,[448] and most of them are either refugees or temporary
residents. Freedom of worship, conversion from Islam and establishing facilities
dedicated for worship are not recognized as rights in the country's Constitution and
laws.[449] At the same time, Wahabbi activities linked to Al-Islah was being facilitated,
financed and encouraged from multiple fronts including the Ministry of Endowments and
Guidance,[450] which says that its tasks "to contribute to the development of Islamic
awareness and circulation of the publication Education and Islamic morals and
consolidation in the life of public and private citizens." [451]
The Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa has worked in Aden since 1992,
and it has three other centers in Sana'a, Taiz and Hodeidah. Three Catholic nuns were
killed in Hodeidah in 1998, two of them were from India and the third was from
the Philippines at the hands of a member of Al-Islah named Abdullah al-Nashiri, who
argued that they were calling Muslims to convert to Christianity. In 2002, three
Americans were killed in Baptists Hospital at the hands of another Al-Islah member
named Abed Abdul Razak Kamel.[452] Survivors say that the suspect (Al-Islah) was "a
political football" who had been raised by Islamists, who talked about it often in
mosques and who described hospital workers as "spies". But they emphasized that
these views are only held by a minority of Yemenis. [453] In December 2015, an old
Catholic church in Aden was destroyed.[454]
Since the escalation of the Yemeni crisis in March 2015, six priests from John
Bosco remained, and twenty workers for charitable missions in the country, described
by Pope Francis by the courage to fortitude amid war and conflict. He called
the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia to pray for all the oppressed and tortured,
expelled from their homes, and killed unjustly. [455] In all cases, regardless of the values
and ethics of the warring forces in Yemen on religious freedom, it is proved that the
Missionaries of Charity were not active in the field of evangelization according to the
testimonies of beneficiaries of its services.[453][456]
On 4 March 2016, an incident named Mother Teresa's Massacre in Aden occurred,[457] 16
were killed including 4 Indian Catholic nuns, 2 from Rwanda, and the rest were
from India and Kenya, along with a Yemeni, 2 Guards, a cook, 5 Ethiopian women, and
all of them were volunteers. One Indian priest named Tom Ozhonaniel was kidnapped.
[458]
 The identities of the attackers are unknown, and media outlets published a statement
attributed to Ansar al-Sharia, one of the many jihadist organizations currently active in
the country, but the group denies its involvement in the incident. [459]
Bhutan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Bhutan
Bhutan is a conservative Buddhist country. Article 7 of the 2008 constitution guarantees
religious freedom, but also forbids conversion "by means of coercion or inducement".
[460]
 According to Open Doors, to many Bhutanese this hinders the ability of Christians to
proselytize.[461]

 In 2002: According to a 2002 report cited by the Bhutanese Christians

Services Centre NGO, "the 65,000 Christians [in the country] have only one
church at their disposal."[462]
 In 2006: According to Mission Network News, "it's illegal for a Buddhist to
become a Christian and church buildings are forbidden. ... Christians in
Bhutan are only allowed to practice their faith at home. Those who openly
choose to follow Christ can be expelled from Bhutan and stripped of their
citizenship."[463]
  In 2007: According to Gospel for Asia, "the government has recently begun
clamping down on Christians by barring some congregations from meeting for
worship. This has caused at least two Gospel for Asia-affiliated churches to
temporarily close their doors. ... Under Bhutan law, it is illegal to attempt to
convert people from the country's two predominant religions [Buddhism and
Hinduism]."[464]
 Since 2008: According to the "Open Doors" ONG, "Persecution in Buddhist
Bhutan mainly comes from the family, the community, and the monks who
yield a strong influence in the society. Cases of atrocities (i.e. beatings) have
been decreasing in number; this may continue as a result of major changes in
the country, including the implementation of a new constitution guaranteeing
greater religious liberty."[465]
China[edit]
During the Cultural Revolution, Christian churches, monasteries, and cemeteries were
closed down and sometimes converted to other uses, looted, and destroyed.
[466]
 The Chinese Communist Party and government and the Chinese Buddhist organ try
to maintain tight control over all religions, so the only legal Christian Churches (Three-
Self Patriotic Movement and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association) are those under
Chinese Communist Party control. Churches which are not controlled by the
government are shut down, and their members are imprisoned. Gong Shengliang, head
of the South China Church, was sentenced to death in 2001. Although his sentence was
commuted to a jail sentence, Amnesty International reports that he has been tortured.
[467]
 A Christian lobby group says that about 300 Christians caught attending
unregistered house churches were in jail in 2004.[467]
In January 2016, a prominent Christian church leader Rev Gu Yuese who criticised the
mass removal of church crucifixes by the government was arrested for "embezzling
funds". Chinese authorities have taken down hundreds of crosses in Zhejiang
Province known as "China's bible belt". Gu led China's largest authorised church with
capacity of 5,000 in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang.[468]
The Associated Press reported in 2018 that China's leader and Communist Party
general secretary Xi Jinping "is waging the most severe systematic suppression of
Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese
constitution in 1982", which has involved "destroying crosses, burning bibles, shutting
churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith". [469]
Russia[edit]
In the Russian Federation Jehovah Witnesses have been persecuted as "extremists"
since 2017.[470][471]
India[edit]
Main article: Anti-Christian violence in India
Modern-day persecution also exists and is carried out by Hindu nationalists. A report
by Human Rights Watch stated that there is a rise in anti-Christian violence due
to Hindu nationalism and Smita Narula, Researcher, Asia Division of Human Rights
Watch stated "Christians are the new scapegoat in India's political battles. Without
immediate and decisive action by the government, communal tensions will continue to
be exploited for political and economic ends." [472] Violence against Christians in India has
been seen by the Human Rights Watch as part of the right-wing Sangh
Parivar organizations' orchestrated effort to encourage and exploit sectarian violence to
raise their political power base.[473]
The United Christian Forum for Human Rights reported that in 1998, 90 separate acts of
violence were committed against Christian churches or against Christians compared to
only 53 attacks which took place from 1964 to 1997 in India. [474] The Human Rights
Watch reported that most of the reported instances of violence towards Christians took
place in 1998 in the state of Gujarat, the same year that the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP)
came to state power. The Human Rights Watch reported that during the 1998 attacks
on Christians in southeastern Gujarat from 25 December 1988 to 3 January 1999, at
least 20 prayer halls and churches had been damaged or burned down, and Christians
and Christian institutions had been attacked in the Dangs and its surrounding districts,
and at least 25 villages had reported incidents of burning and damage to prayer halls
and churches throughout Gujarat by Bajrang Dal, BJP, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)
and Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM).[475] More than 100 churches and church institutions
were burnt down, vandalised or damaged during the 2007 Christmas violence in
Kandhamal by mobs led by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vanavasi Kalyan
Ashram, Bajrang Dal, VHP and the Kui Samaj, the incident also killed 3 Christians while
other reports put the death toll to 50.[476][477] The 2008 Kandhamal violence led to 39
Christians killed, according to government reports. More than 395 churches have been
burnt down or vandalized, more than 5,600 Christian houses have been plundered or
burned down, over 600 villages have been ransacked and over 54,000 Christians have
been left homeless. Other reports put the death toll at nearly 100. Under threat of
violence, many Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism. This violence was led by
the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal.[478][479][480] The 2008 Kandhamal violence led to
several attacks against Christians and Churches in southern Karnataka in the same
year by Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena.[481] The violence also spread to the state of Tamil
Nadu, the police reported 20 graves desecrated and many churches vandalized by
members of the Hindu Munnani.[482][483] There have also been attacks on Christians in the
states of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. [484]
Muslims in India who convert to Christianity have been subjected to harassment,
intimidation, and attacks by Muslims.[citation needed] In Jammu and Kashmir, a Christian convert
and missionary, Bashir Tantray, was killed, by Islamic militants in broad daylight in
2006.[485]
The organisations involved in persecution of Christians have stated that the violence is
an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against "forcible conversion"
activities undertaken by missionaries. These claims have been disputed by
Christians[486] a belief described as mythical[487] and propaganda by Sangh Parivar;[488] the
opposing organisations objects in any case to all conversions as a "threat to national
unity".[489] Religious scholar Cyril Veliath of Sophia University stated that the attacks by
Hindus on Christians were the work of individuals motivated by "disgruntled politicians
or phony religious leaders" and where religion is concerned the typical Hindu is an
"exceptionally amicable and tolerant person ... Hinduism as a religion could well be one
of the most accommodating in the world. Rather than confront and destroy, it has a
tendency to welcome and assimilate."[490]
In its controversial annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department
of State criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians." [491] The report
listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious
property to violence against Christians pilgrims.[491] In 1997, 24 such incidents were
reported.[492] Recent waves of anti-conversion laws passed by some Indian states
like Chhattisgarh,[493] Gujarat,[494] Madhya Pradesh[495] is claimed to be a gradual and
continuous institutionalization of Hindutva by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights
and Labour of the US State Department.[496]
Violence against Christians have seen a sharp increase of 60 percent between 2016
and 2019, according to the annual report released by Persecution Relief.[497] The Alliance
Defending Freedom data shows that in 2019 alone, a record 328 violent attacks against
Christians in India were reported.[498]
North Korea[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in North Korea
North Korea is an atheist state where the public practice of religion is discouraged.
[499]
 The Oxford Handbook of Atheism states that "North Korea maintains a state-
sanctioned and enforced atheism".[500]
North Korea leads the list of the 50 countries in which Christians are persecuted the
most at the present time according to a watchlist which is published by Open Doors.[501] It
is currently estimated that more than 50,000 Christians are locked inside concentration
camps because of their faith, where they are systematically subjected to mistreatment
such as unrestrained torture, mass-starvation and even imprisonment and death by
asphyxiation in gas chambers.[502] This means that 20% of North Korea's Christian
community lives in concentration camps.[503] The number of Christians who are being
murdered for their faith seems to be increasing as time goes on because in 2013 the
death toll was 1,200 and in 2014, this figure doubled, rendering it close to 2,400
murdered Christians. North Korea has earned the top spot 12 years in a row. [504][needs update]
Indochina region[edit]
See also: Christianity in Vietnam, Christianity in Laos, Religion in Cambodia
§  Christianity, Christianity in Burma, Christianity in Thailand, Freedom of religion in
Vietnam, Freedom of religion in Laos, Freedom of religion in Cambodia, Freedom of
religion in Burma, and Freedom of religion in Thailand
The establishment of French Indochina once led to a high Christian population. Regime
changes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries led to increased persecutions of
minority religious groups[citation needed]. The Center for Public Policy Analysis has claimed that
killings, torture or imprisonment and the forced starvation of local groups are all
common in parts of Vietnam and Laos. In more recent years it has stated that the
persecution of Christians is increasing.[505]