Sociologist Reports that Christians Are the Most Persecuted Group in the World

Hilary White : Jun 4, 2013
LifeSiteNews.com

"Statistically, persecutions of Christians are the biggest ones but the media dedicate the least time to them."

(Rome, Italy)—LifeSiteNews published a report in which Italian sociologist and author, Dr. Massimo Introvigne, states that Christians are the most persecuted group. Below are excerpts from that article.

In all, 15 European countries currently have laws on the books that effectively restrict the freedom of religious practice and speech of Christians, according to testimony at the annual meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), May 22 in Tirana, Albania.

Dr. Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist and author said that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, with one Christian being killed out of religious discrimination every five minutes, particularly in Islamic or Communist countries like North Korea.

OSCE is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization.

"The most dangerous areas," Introvigne said, "are those which limit the conscientious objection of Christians who do not want to cooperate in abortion, the sale of abortifacient pills, or the celebration of same-sex marriage."

"In Europe, we have identified 14 laws that are likely to negatively affect the religious liberty of Christians in 15 countries," he said. "Fortunately, Italy is not among them."

In 2012, his group reported 169 rulings made in courts around Europe "that we judged to be dangerous to the freedom of Christians."

Introvigne is the head of the Observatory on Religious Liberty established last year by the Italian Foreign Ministry and Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno.

He highlighted laws which "limit the freedom to preach through the misuse of laws against so-called ‘hate speech'; those which restrict the freedom of religious education and parents' rights to educate their children, and those which place restrictions on the use of religious symbols."

At the 2011 conference, Introvigne said, "Between the 1st and the 20th centuries there were 70 million Christian martyrs and 40 million of them were in the last century."

"Statistically," he said, "persecutions of Christians are the biggest ones but the media dedicate the least time to them."

Read this article in its entirety at the link provided.