The Persecution of Christianity Worldwide
The word "of" in this case has a double meaning. Above is a
list of the first meaning; countries which persecute Christians. But there
is also a second possible interpretation--those countries where Christianity
is dominant and persecutes other ideological and religious views.
Frequently, the "other views" are actually different forms of
Christianity.
There have been many examples of this throughout history. Listed are
a few:
Nazi Germany. Like it or not, the churches, Catholic and
Protestant alike, encouraged the persecution of Jews.
The Crusades. A series of for-profit attacks on Middle East
Islamic groups between the 1100's and 1300's. While not a country,
the Church wielded its power on the level of a government.
England. The Anglican Church expelled many smaller
Christian sects, the Puritans included, during the 1600's. These smaller
sects moved to...
The United States. A country whose founding members were
members of the extremist Puritan sect. The Puritans arrived and almost
immediately began to move against the Native Americans and their
"pagan" religion--a tradition which has continued up until modern
day in some backwater areas of the country. Specific examples
range from witch trials to the Ku Klux Klan.
As time goes by and Christianity loses numbers, it has lost much of its
power to oppress--currently Christianity has total control only in smaller,
less advanced areas of the world. As cities advance, religions lose
their ability to dominate society.
Despite Christianity's tradition of oppression, keep in mind that this
neither proves nor disproves the validity of Christianity. It does,
however, show that Christianity is equally as guilty of oppression as any other
religion of its size, be it Islam, Buddhism, or Judaism.
sources: http://www.nextext.com/hreaders/holocaust/student/lesson/holo_les01.cfm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.htm