Anti-Christian sentiment

{{Short description|Discrimination against Christianity or Christians}} {{Christianity |society}} {{Status of religious freedom |expanded=persecution}} '''Anti-Christian sentiment''', also referred to as '''Christianophobia''' or '''Christophobia''', is the irrational fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or aspects of the Christian religion's practices. These terms encompass "every form of discrimination and intolerance against Christians".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of ANTI-CHRISTIAN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-Christian |access-date=2021-05-20 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ANTI-CHRISTIAN {{!}} Definition of ANTI-CHRISTIAN by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of ANTI-CHRISTIAN |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/anti-christian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021125642/https://www.lexico.com/definition/anti-christian |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |access-date=2021-05-20 |website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English |language=en}}</ref> The presence of anti-Christian sentiment has frequently led to the persecution of Christians throughout history.

==Antiquity== [[File:Alexorig.jpg|thumb|Anti-Christian graffiti from the Roman Empire. The text reads "ΑΛΕ ΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ" ("Alexamenos worships his god").]] Evidence shows that anti-Christian sentiment was already present as early as the Roman Empire during the first century AD. The steady growth of the Christian movement was viewed with suspicion by both the authorities and the people of Rome leading to the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

During the second century, Christianity was viewed as a negative movement in two ways: both due to accusations made against adherents of the Christian faith in accordance with the principles held by the Roman population, and because of the supplementary controversy aroused during the intellectual age.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagemakers |first=Bart |title=Incest, Infanticide, and Cannibalism: Anti-Christian Imputations in the Roman Empire |date=2010 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40929483 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=337–354 |doi=10.1017/S0017383510000069 |jstor=40929483 |s2cid=161652552 |issn=0017-3835|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Anti-Christian sentiment is alluded to in the New Testament, and appears to have been anticipated thus by Jesus of Nazareth, being documented by the writers of the gospels. Furthermore, anti-Christian sentiment of the first century was not expressed by the Roman authorities alone, but also by the Jews. As Christianity was, at that time, a sect which was largely emerging from Judaism,<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion:Christianity |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christianity-2 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=9 November 2021}}</ref> much of this sentiment was the result of anger from the well established Jewish faith towards a new and revolutionary faith. Paul of Tarsus, who persecuted Christians before himself becoming a Christian, highlighted the Crucifixion of Jesus as a 'stumbling block' to the Jews: the belief that the messiah would have died on a cross was offensive to some of the Jews because they awaited a messiah who had different characteristics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religions: Paul |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/paul_1.shtml |website=BBC |access-date=9 November 2021}}</ref>

==Middle Ages== On the subject of historical anti-Christian sentiments of early Muslims, professor Sidney H. Griffith explains that "The cross and the icons publicly declared those very points of Christian faith which the Quran, in the Muslim view, explicitly denied: that Christ was the Son of God and that he died on the cross." For that reason, "the Christian practice of venerating the cross and the icons of Christ and the saints often aroused the disdain of Muslims". Because of that, there was an ongoing "campaign to erase the public symbols of Christianity [in formerly Christian lands such as Egypt and Syria], especially the previously ubiquitous sign of the cross. There are archaeological evidences of the destruction and defacement of Christian images [and crosses] in the early Islamic period due to the conflict with Muslims they aroused."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jn-tiP0b-PYC|title=The church in the shadow of the mosque: Christians and Muslims in the world of Islam|date=2008 |pages=14, 144–145|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691130156 }}</ref>

The initial expansion of the Islamic Caliphate brought large Christian populations under Muslim rule. The legal framework of the Pact of Umar defined the status of Christians as ''dhimmis'' ("protected people"). While this granted them the right to practice their faith, it was contingent upon the payment of the ''jizya'' (tax levied on non-muslims) and adherence to restrictive social codes, during which Christians were forbidden from building or repairing churches, displaying crosses, sounding bells, riding horses or camels, bearing arms, taking Muslim names, and using Arabic in religious documents, and were required to yield seats to Muslims, and attach demeaning images to their doors, among other regulations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dhimmi status and religious minorities {{!}} Religions of the... |url=https://fiveable.me/religions-of-the-west/unit-11/dhimmi-status-religious-minorities/study-guide/STwhAnWXq6NUGAUD |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=Fiveable |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-25 |title=The Patriarch and the Caliph {{!}} Seen & Unseen |url=https://www.seenandunseen.com/patriarch-and-caliph |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=www.seenandunseen.com |language=en}}</ref> Early anti-Christian sentiment was often expressed through theological refutation. Scholars such as Al-Jahiz wrote polemics like ''Al-Radd 'ala al-Nasara'' ("Refutation of the Christians"), criticizing Christians for their perceived social "haughtiness" and intellectual influence in the Abbasid court. He argued that their doctrine of the Trinity was a logical contradiction and a form of s''hirk'' (associating partners with God).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abidin |first=Salman bin Zainal |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Al_Jahiz_s_Views_on_Christianity_with_Sp.html?id=QylXAQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y#:~:text=This%20research%20analyzes%20al-Jahiz's,who%20wrote%20on%20Christian%20doctrines. |title=Al-Jahiz's Views on Christianity with Special Reference to Al-Radd 'Ala Al-Nasara |date=2011 |publisher=Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia |language=en}}</ref>

The prominent Andalusian jurist Ibn Rushd decreed that "golden crosses must be broken up before being distributed" (as plunder). "As for their sacred books [<nowiki/>Bibles], one must make them disappear", he added. (He later clarified that unless all words can be erased from every page in order to resell the blank book, all Christian scripture must be burned.)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJNgCwAAQBAJ |title=The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise |date=9 February 2016 |page=41|publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=9781504034692}}</ref> An anti-Christian treatise published in Al-Andalus was titled "Hammers [for breaking] crosses."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCj3Dr1WUdsC|title=Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources|date=1997 |page=143|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812215694 }}</ref>

The Persian poet Mu'izzi urged the grandson of Alp Arslan to root out and wipe out all Christians in the world in an act of genocide:<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leqqBgAAQBAJ|title=Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The battle of Manzikert|pages=151–152|isbn=9780748631155 |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Carole |date=21 November 2007 }}</ref> {{blockquote|For the sake of the Arab religion, it is a duty, O ghazi king, to clear the country of Syria of patriarchs and bishops, to clear the land of Rum [<nowiki/>Anatolia] from priests and monks. You should kill those accursed dogs and wretched creatures... You should... cut their throats... You should make polo-balls of the Franks' heads in the desert, and polo sticks from their hands and feet"}}

Marco Polo, who journeyed throughout the East in the 13th century and made an observation of the people of Arabia, stated that "The inhabitants are all Saracens [Muslims], and utterly detest the Christians",<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VihTY_8lTokC|title=The Travels of Marco Polo|date=4 December 2001 |page=264|publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=9780375758188 }}</ref> and "indeed, it is a fact that all the Saracens in the world are agreed in wishing ill to all the Christians in the world".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wG8hAQAAMAAJ|title=World Communication: A Journal of the World Communication Association|date=1991 }}</ref>

==Early modern period== At the time of the Reformation, anti-Christian sentiment grew with the rise of atheism.<ref name="Gifford 2022 p. 265">{{cite book | last=Gifford | first=J.D. | title=The Hexagon of Heresy: A Historical and Theological Study of Definitional Divine Simplicity | publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-6667-5432-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSKcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT265 | access-date=2023-01-25 | page=265}}</ref> During the Reign of Terror, a period of the French Revolution, radical revolutionaries and their supporters desired a cultural revolution that would rid the French state of all Christian influence.<ref name="Lynn Hunt p 3">{{cite book |doi=10.1525/9780520931046-011 |chapter=The Imagery of Radicalism |title=Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution |year=2019 |pages=87–120 |isbn=978-0-520-93104-6 |s2cid=226772970 |first1=Lynn |last1=Hunt }}</ref> In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed or forced to leave France.<ref name="Lynn Hunt p 3"/> Later in 1792, "refractory priests" were targeted and replaced with their secular counterpart from the Jacobin club.<ref>{{Citation|title=Report by the Jacobin Society of Besançon on Refractory Priests|date=1792-01-08|url=https://revolution.chnm.org/d/548|access-date=2021-12-09}}</ref> Anti-Christian sentiment increased during 1793 and a campaign of dechristianization occurred, and new forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Emmet|title=A Cultural History of the French Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/culturalhistoryo0000kenn|url-access=registration|date=1989|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300044263|page=[https://archive.org/details/culturalhistoryo0000kenn/page/343 343]}}</ref> The drownings at Nantes targeted many Catholic priests and nuns. The first drownings happened on the night of 16 November 1793. The victims were 160 arrested Catholic priests that were labeled "refractory clergy" by the National Convention.

==Late modern period== In China, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, particularly in the late Qing period, "教案" (anti-missionary incidents) were frequent. During the Taiping Rebellion, Qing official Zeng Guofan, in his "Proclamation Against the Cantonese Bandits" (《讨粤匪檄》), equated the God Worshipping Society with Catholicism. This led those who hated the Taiping Rebellion to direct their resentment towards Catholicism. The Boxer Rebellion saw attacks on Christians and the destruction of churches. According to official Chinese statistics, "from 1840 to 1900, there were over 400 anti-missionary incidents across China.<ref>中央统战部网：[http://www.zytzb.org.cn/zytzbwz/religion/wdzj/80200212260010.htm 对独立自主自办宗教事业的支持] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010221625/http://www.zytzb.org.cn/zytzbwz/religion/wdzj/80200212260010.htm|date=2008-10-10}}</ref>

William Kingdon Clifford was outspoken about Christianity as a drag on progress. He was personified by Mr. Saunders in the novel ''The New Republic'' by W. H. Mallock in 1878. For example, ‘All our doubts on this matter,’ said Mr. Saunders, ‘are simply due to that dense pestiferous fog of crazed sentiment that still hides our view, but which the present generation has sternly set its face to dispel and conquer. Science will drain the marshy grounds of the human mind, so that the deadly malaria of Christianity, which has already destroyed two civilisations, shall never be fatal to a third.’<ref>W. H. Mallock (1878) [http://www.pseudopodium.org/repress/mallock/title.html The New Republic, or Culture, Faith, and Philosophy in an English Country House]</ref>

[[File:Kharput Greek-Orthodox refugees - C.D.Morris - National Geographic, Nov. 1925.jpg|thumb|right|Christians fleeing their homes in the Ottoman Empire, {{circa|1922}}. Many Christians were persecuted and/or killed during the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide.<ref name="James L. Barton 1998">James L. Barton, ''Turkish Atrocities: Statements of American Missionaries on the Destruction of Christian Communities in Ottoman Turkey, 1915–1917''. Gomidas Institute, 1998, {{ISBN|1-884630-04-9}}.</ref>]] When British writer Charles Montagu Doughty journeyed around Arabia, the local Bedouins said to him, "Thou wast safe in thine own country, though mightest have continued there; but since thou art come into the land of the Moslemin [Muslims], God has delivered thee into our hands to die—so perish all the Nasara [Christians]! And be burned in hell with your father, Sheytan [Satan]." Doughty also records how Muslims in Arabia would, while circling around the Kaaba, supplicate Allah to "curse and destroy" the Jews and Christians.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efclAAAAMAAJ|title=The Explorers: An Anthology of Discovery|date=1962 |page=55|publisher=Casell }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BU_CgAAQBAJ|title=Travels in Arabia Deserta: Two Volumes in One|date=14 March 2014 |publisher=Ravenio Books }}</ref>

Many Christians were persecuted and/or killed during the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide.<ref name="James L. Barton 1998"/> Benny Morris and Dror Ze'evi argue that the Armenian genocide and other contemporaneous persecution of Christians in the Ottoman Empire (Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide) constitute an extermination campaign, or genocide, carried out by the Ottoman Empire against its Christian subjects.<ref name="Morris">{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |last2=Ze'evi |first2=Dror |year=2019 |title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-24008-7 |pages=3–5}}</ref><ref name="Gutman">{{cite journal|author=Gutman, David|year=2019|title=The thirty year genocide: Turkey's destruction of its Christian minorities, 1894–1924|journal=Turkish Studies|publisher=Routledge|volume=21|pages=1–3|doi=10.1080/14683849.2019.1644170|s2cid=201424062}}</ref><ref name="Morris-Zeevi 2021">{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |author1-link=Benny Morris |last2=Ze'evi |first2=Dror |author2-link=Dror Ze'evi |date=4 November 2021 |title=Then Came the Chance the Turks Have Been Waiting For: To Get Rid of Christians Once and for All |url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2021-11-04/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/then-came-the-chance-the-turks-have-been-waiting-for-to-get-rid-of-christians/0000017f-f0ac-da6f-a77f-f8ae1c9c0000 |url-status=live |work=Haaretz |location=Tel Aviv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104172307/https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-then-came-the-chance-the-turks-have-been-waiting-for-to-get-rid-of-christians-1.10354739 |archive-date=4 November 2021 |access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref>

The Affair of the Cards was a political scandal which broke out in 1904 in France, during the Third French Republic. From 1900 to 1904, the prefectural administrations, the Masonic lodges of the Grand Orient de France and other intelligence networks established data sheets and created a secret surveillance system of all army officers in order to ensure that Christians would be excluded from promotions and advancement in the military hierarchy, and "free-thinking" officers would be promoted instead.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Xavier |last=Boniface |title=L'affaire des fiches dans le Nord |journal=Revue du Nord |issue=384 |date=2010 |volume=384 |pages=2,169–193 |doi=10.3917/rdn.384.0169 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thuillier |first1=Guy |title=Aux origines de l'affaire des fiches (1904) : Le cabinet du général André |journal=La Revue administrative |date=2002 |volume=55 |issue=328 |pages=354, 372–381 |jstor=40774826 |issn=0035-0672}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Berstein |first1=Serge |title=L'affaire des fiches et le grand mythe du complot franc-maçon : conférence du mardi 6 février 2007 / Serge Bernstein, aut. du texte; Serge Bernstein, participant |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1320784j/f1 |website=Gallica |language=EN |date=2007 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Vindé|first1=François|title=L'affaire des fiches, 1900–1904: chronique d'un scandale|date=1989|publisher=Editions universitaires|location=University of Michigan|isbn=9782711303892}}</ref>

The Cristero War was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico in response to the implementation of secularist and anticlerical articles. The rebellion was instigated as a response to an executive decree by Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles to strictly enforce Article 130 of the Constitution, a decision known as Calles Law. Calles sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico, its affiliated organizations and to suppress popular religiosity. To help enforce the law, Calles seized Church properties, expelled foreign priests, and closed monasteries, convents, and religious schools.<ref name=oppqlz>Warnock, John W. ''The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ubxBPdk79WkC&pg=PA27 p. 27] (1995 Black Rose Books, Ltd) {{ISBN|1-55164-028-7}}</ref> Some have characterized Calles as the leader of an atheist state<ref>Haas, Ernst B., [https://books.google.com/books?id=ldKJ_Re6p8AC Nationalism, Liberalism, and Progress: The dismal fate of new nations], Cornell Univ. Press 2000</ref> and his program as being one to eradicate religion in Mexico.<ref>Cronon, E. David "American Catholics and Mexican Anticlericalism, 1933–1936", pp. 205–208, Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XLV, Sept. 1948</ref> Tomás Garrido Canabal led persecutions against the Church in his state, Tabasco, killing many priests and laymen and driving the remainder underground.<ref>Kirshner, Alan M. [http://jcs.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/3/479.extract "A Setback to Tomas Garrido Canabal's Desire to Eliminate the Church in Mexico"]. ''Journal of Church and State'' (1971) 13 (3): 479–492.</ref>

The First Portuguese Republic was intensely anti-clerical. Under the leadership of Afonso Costa, the Minister of Justice, the revolution immediately targeted the Catholic Church; the provisional government began devoting its entire attention to an anti-religious policy. On 8 October the religious orders in Portugal were expelled, and their property was confiscated.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portugal – The First Republic, 1910–26|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Portugal|access-date=2021-07-16|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> On 10 October – five days after the inauguration of the Republic – the new government decreed that all convents, monasteries and religious orders were to be suppressed. All residents of religious institutions were expelled and their goods were confiscated. The Jesuits were forced to forfeit their Portuguese citizenship. A series of anti-Catholic laws and decrees followed each other in rapid succession.

The Red Terror in Spain committed various acts of violence that included the desecration and burning of monasteries, convents, and churches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cueva |first=Julio de la|title=Religious Persecution, Anticlerical Tradition and Revolution: On Atrocities against the Clergy during the Spanish Civil War |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume= XXXIII |number=3 |year=1998 |pages=355–369|jstor=261121}}</ref> The failed coup of July 1936 set loose a violent onslaught on those that revolutionaries in the Republican zone identified as enemies; "where the rebellion failed, for several months afterwards merely to be identified as a priest, a religious, or simply a militant Christian or member of some apostolic or pious organization, was enough for a person to be executed without trial".<ref>Hilari Raguer, ''Gunpowder and Incense'', p. 126</ref>

Although Nazi Germany never officially proclaimed a Kirchenkampf against Christian churches, top Nazis freely expressed their contempt for Christian teachings in private conversations. Nazi ideology conflicted with traditional Christian beliefs in various respects – Nazis criticized Christian notions of "meekness and guilt" on the basis that they "repressed the violent instincts necessary to prevent inferior races from dominating Aryans". Aggressive anti-church radicals like Alfred Rosenberg and Martin Bormann saw the conflict with the churches as a priority concern, and anti-church and anti-clerical sentiments were strong among grassroots party activists.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kershaw| first=Ian| author-link=Ian Kershaw| title=Hitler: A Biography| publisher=W. W. Norton| date=2008| pages=381–382| isbn=978-0393067576}}</ref> Hitler himself disdained Christianity, as Alan Bullock noted:

{{blockquote|In Hitler's eyes, Christianity was a religion fit only for slaves; he detested its ethics in particular. Its teaching, he declared, was a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle and the survival of the fittest.}}

Throughout the history of the Soviet Union (1917–1991), there were periods when Soviet authorities suppressed and persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents depending on State interests.<ref name="USGOV1">{{cite web|title=Revelations from the Russian Archives: ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/anti.html|website=Library of Congress|publisher=US Government|access-date=2 May 2016}}</ref> The state advocated the destruction of religion, and to achieve this goal, it officially denounced religious beliefs as superstitious and backward.<ref name="Daniel, Wallace L 2009"> {{cite journal | last1 = Daniel | first1 = Wallace L. | title = Father Aleksandr Men and the struggle to recover Russia's heritage | url = http://www.alexandrmen.ru/english/demokratizatsia/Father_Aleksandr_Men_and_the_Struggle_to_Recover_Russia.html | journal = Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization | publisher = Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (George Washington University) | date = Winter 2009 | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | pages = 73–92 | doi = 10.3200/DEMO.17.1.73-92 | issn = 1940-4603 | access-date = 2014-03-29 | quote = Continuing to hold to one's beliefs and one's view of the world required the courage to stand outside a system committed to destroying religious values and perspectives. | url-access= subscription | doi-access= free }} </ref><ref name="Froese, Paul 2005"> Froese, Paul. "'I am an atheist and a Muslim': Islam, communism, and ideological competition." Journal of Church and State 47.3 (2005)</ref> The Communist Party destroyed churches, ridiculed, harassed, incarcerated and executed religious leaders, flooded the schools and media with anti-religious teachings, and introduced a belief system called "scientific atheism", with its own rituals, promises and proselytizers.<ref name="Paul Froese 2004 pp. 35-50">Paul Froese. Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an Atheistic Monopoly Failed. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 35–50</ref><ref name="Haskins, Ekaterina V 2009">Haskins, Ekaterina V. "Russia's postcommunist past: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the reimagining of national identity." History and Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past 21.1 (2009)</ref> According to some sources, the total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range around 12 to 20 million.<ref>"''Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.''", James M. Nelson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LBv_K9Q0Z6gC&q=%22Estimates+of+the+total+number+all+Christian+martyrs+in+the+former+Soviet+Union+are+about+12+million%22 "Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality"], Springer, 2009, {{ISBN|0387875727}}, p. 427</ref><ref>"''over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps''", Todd M. Johnson, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220215/http://icl.nd.edu/assets/84231/the_demographics_of_christian_martyrdom_todd_johnson.pdf "Christian Martyrdom: A global demographic assessment"], p. 4</ref> At least 106,300 Russian clergymen were executed between 1937 and 1941.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yakovlev|first=Alexander N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChRk43tVxTwC&pg=PA165|title=A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia|date=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-10322-9|language=en}}</ref>

==Contemporary== [[File:Orissa violence destroyedbuilding.jpg|thumb|Remains of a church property burnt down during 2008 Kandhamal violence in Orissa, India, in August 2008]] After China's reform and opening-up policy, restrictions on Christianity were somewhat relaxed. However, Christians are still viewed with suspicion by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities and are considered "outsiders" in Chinese society. Christians who refuse to join the government-established Three-Self Patriotic Movement and instead attend "underground churches" sometimes face crackdowns and persecution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=中國的「基督教中國化」是「魔鬼」妄圖同化「神」|url=https://insidechina.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2086913|website=RTI 洞察中國|language=zh-Hant-TW|access-date=2025-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2024展望: 中國基督徒面臨更嚴酷的宗教中國化高壓政策|url=https://www.voacantonese.com/a/china-demands-strict-control-of-christians-20240101/7421045.html|website=美國之音|date=2024-01-02|access-date=2025-04-06|archive-date=2025-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250322132413/https://www.voacantonese.com/a/china-demands-strict-control-of-christians-20240101/7421045.html/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During Christmas, police are often stationed at church entrances. Since 2016, a rumor that the Eight-Nation Alliance invented Christmas has circulated online in China annually before Christmas. Despite being debunked, this rumor is widely shared on WeChat and reappears online each year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=圣诞节是八国联军为了庆祝侵华胜利？细说这个谣言都有哪些错误_北京_狂欢节_咸丰|url=https://www.sohu.com/a/814618544_121903347|website=www.sohu.com|access-date=2025-04-29}}</ref>

When broadcasting television programs from Hong Kong and Macau via digital TV, China does not air programs with Christian content, instead replacing them with other material.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parke |first=Caleb |date=2020-07-28 |title=China's new guidelines censoring miracles in films a 'fatal blow' to industry, Christian content |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-film-christian-censorship-tv-radio |access-date=2026-04-28 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=国家广播电视总局规章境外电视节目引进、播出管理规定|url=https://www.nrta.gov.cn/art/2015/5/21/art_3812_51.html|website=www.nrta.gov.cn|access-date=2026-04-28}}</ref>

Persecution of Christians in the post–Cold War era has been taking place in Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Middle East since 1989.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 May 2019 |title=Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48146305 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world |url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/persecution/christians-are-the-most-persecuted-religious-group-in-the-world.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508182045/https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/persecution/christians-are-the-most-persecuted-religious-group-in-the-world.html |archive-date=2019-05-08 |website=www.catholiceducation.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 May 2019 |title=Persecution of Christians 'coming close to genocide' in Middle East – report |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/02/persecution-driving-christians-out-of-middle-east-report |website=TheGuardian.com}}</ref> Native Christian communities are subjected to persecution across many Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt<ref>{{cite web |date=25 April 2013 |title=The Fate of Egypt's Coptic Christians: Part One With Raymond Ibrahim |url=http://www.inquisitr.com/634399/the-fate-of-egypts-coptic-christians-part-one-with-raymond-ibrahim/}}</ref> and Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Persecution in Pakistan |url=http://www.christianfreedom.org/the-christian-winter/persecution-in-pakistan/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110942/http://www.christianfreedom.org/the-christian-winter/persecution-in-pakistan/ |archive-date=2 April 2015 |access-date=24 March 2015 |work=Christian Freedom International}}</ref> The persecution of Christians in North Korea is ongoing and systematic.<ref name="christianityToday">{{cite web |last1=Casper |first1=Jayson |title=117 Witnesses Detail North Korea's Persecution of Christians |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/december/north-korea-persecution-christians-human-rights-report-kfi.html |website=Christianity Today |access-date=1 September 2021 |date=21 December 2020 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901194615/https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/december/north-korea-persecution-christians-human-rights-report-kfi.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="diplomatCrimes">{{cite web | url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/the-world-must-not-forgot-north-koreas-crimes-against-humanity/ | title=The World Must Not Forgot North Korea's Crimes Against Humanity | publisher=The Diplomat | date=22 July 2021 | accessdate=5 September 2021 | author=Benedict Rogers | archive-date=5 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905181059/https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/the-world-must-not-forgot-north-koreas-crimes-against-humanity/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guardianOneInThree">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/one-in-three-christians-face-persecution-in-asia-report-finds | title=One in three Christians face persecution in Asia, report finds | work=The Guardian | date=16 January 2019 | accessdate=5 September 2021 | author=Harriet Sherwood | archive-date=10 June 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610043519/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/one-in-three-christians-face-persecution-in-asia-report-finds | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CNNranking">{{cite web | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/17/world/christian-persecution-2015/index.html | title=Christian persecution reached record high in 2015, report says | publisher=CNN | date=17 January 2015 | accessdate=5 September 2021 | author=William J. Cadigan | archive-date=5 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905181059/https://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/17/world/christian-persecution-2015/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guardianMillions">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/27/dying-for-christianity-millions-at-risk-amid-rise-in-persecution-across-the-globe | title=Dying for Christianity: millions at risk amid rise in persecution across the globe | work=The Guardian | date=27 July 2015 | accessdate=5 September 2021 | author=Harriet Sherwood | archive-date=8 February 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208063023/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/27/dying-for-christianity-millions-at-risk-amid-rise-in-persecution-across-the-globe | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite web | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8167644.stm | title=North Korea 'executes Christians' | author=Andre Vornic | publisher=BBC | date=24 July 2009 | access-date=6 September 2021 | archive-date=5 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905210327/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8167644.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> According to the Christian organization Open Doors, North Korea persecutes Christians more than any other country in the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Watch List 2012: North Korea No. 1 Persecutor of Christians for 10th Straight Year |work=Open Doors |date=January 2, 2012 |url=http://www.opendoorsusa.org/press/press-release/2012/January/Islamic-Majority-Countries-Top-Open-Doors-2012-World-Watch-List |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114071906/http://www.opendoorsusa.org/press/press-release/2012/January/Islamic-Majority-Countries-Top-Open-Doors-2012-World-Watch-List |archive-date=January 14, 2012}}</ref>

The issue of Christianophobia was considered by the UK parliament on 5 December 2007 in a Westminster Hall Commons debate.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2007-12-05/debates/07120550000001/Christianophobia |title=Christianophobia |publisher=Hansard |accessdate = 19 September 2022}}</ref> Likewise, the issue was raised by the European Parliament in a resolution on 21 January 2026, which regretted that a European coordinator to combat Christianophobia had not yet been appointed, despite its recognition of ongoing "severe persecution".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-10-2026-0014_EN.html |title=European Parliament: Texts adopted |access-date=25 March 2026}}</ref>

Some people, such as actor Rainn Wilson, who is not a Christian himself, have argued that Hollywood has often expressed anti-Christian bias.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergeson |first1=Samantha |title=Rainn Wilson Calls Out 'Anti-Christian Bias' in 'The Last of Us' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/rainn-wilson-the-last-of-us-has-anti-christian-bias-1234819134/ |website=IndieWire |date=13 March 2023}}</ref> Actor Matthew McConaughey has stated that he has seen Christians in Hollywood hiding their faith for the sake of their careers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dowd |first1=Cooper |title=Matthew McConaughey Addresses Anti-Christian Bias in Hollywood |url=https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/matthew-mcconaughey-addresses-anti-christian-bias-in-hollywood.html |work=Movieguide |date=27 October 2020}}</ref>

Starting in June 2021, over 68 Christian churches were desecrated, damaged, or destroyed across Canada.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hopper |first=Tristin |date=February 14, 2024 |title=First Reading: The Canadian church arsons never stopped |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadian-church-arsons-never-stopped |work=The National Post}}</ref> Officials speculated that the fires and other acts of vandalism were reactions to the reported discovery of unmarked graves at Canadian Indian residential school sites (primarily run by Christian churches) in May 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reith |first=Terry |date=January 10, 2024 |title=At least 33 Canadian churches have burned to the ground since May 2021. So far, 24 are confirmed arsons |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/church-fires-canada-1.7055838 |work=CBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='Unacceptable and wrong': Trudeau says vandalizing churches can hurt those seeking 'solace' |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7997859/residential-schools-trudeau-church-burning-arson-vandalism/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Globalnews.ca |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxKMNTMPhhs |title='Unacceptable and wrong': PM Trudeau condemns church vandalism |publisher=Global News |language=en |access-date=2024-05-01 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

The Trump administration has considered anti-Christian bias a significant issue within the US federal government. Trump announced in February 2025 that he would create a task force on targeting anti-Christian bias within federal agencies, and tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi with leading it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bose |last2=Chiacu |first=Nandita |first2=Doina |date=2025-02-06 |title=Trump to create religious office in White House, target 'anti-Christian bias' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-will-sign-order-targeting-anti-christian-bias-2025-02-06/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |work=Reuters}}</ref> Despite Trump's claims of eradicating anti-Christian bias, the Interfaith Alliance has recorded dozens of "attacks on faith communities" by the Trump administration, most of which have targeted Christian groups, especially Catholics and Lutherans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trump Attacks on Faith Communities Tracker |url=https://www.interfaithalliance.org/post/tracker |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=interfaithalliance.org |language=en}}</ref>

The popular rise of religious Zionism in recent decades has resulted in increased systematic violence against Christians in Israel, including attacks such as harassment, aggression, and physical assault on Christians,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-31 |title=Attacks on Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem: Annual Report 2025 |url=https://rossingcenter.org/attacks-on-christians-in-israel-and-east-jerusalem-annual-report-2025/ |access-date=2026-05-21|website=Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue}}</ref> particularly in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mraffko |first=Clothilde |date=February 4, 2023 |title=In Jerusalem, attacks on Christians are on the rise |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/02/04/in-jerusalem-attacks-on-christians-are-on-the-rise_6014400_4.html |work=Le Monde}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Izso |first=Lauren |last2=Dahman |first2=Ibrahim |last3=Hazboun |first3=Ibrahim|date=February 4, 2024 |title=Ultra-Orthodox man seen spitting at Christian priest in Jerusalem |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/04/middleeast/ultraorthodox-spitting-jerusalem-intl |work=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 3, 2026 |title=Anti-Christian aggressions on the rise in Jerusalem |url=https://www.france24.com/en/anti-christian-aggressions-has-been-on-the-rise-in-jerusalem |work=France 24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2026 |title='I refuse to hide my cross': Jerusalem's Christians describe a climate of fear |url=https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/article-896653 |work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Israeli settler and military attacks in the Palestinian territories have increasingly targeted Palestinian Christians and churches.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Borger |first=Julian|date=2026-04-05 |title=A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/israeli-settlers-driving-christians-out-west-bank |access-date=2026-05-21 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cetera|first=Roberto |date=July 9, 2025 |title=West Bank: Jewish settlers attack Taibeh residents |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-07/israel-west-bank-jewish-settlers-christians-palestinians-war.html |work=Vatican News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 17, 2025 |title=Israeli forces strike Catholic Parish in Gaza |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2025-07/the-parish-priest-father-gabriel-romanelli.html|work=Vatican News}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Persecution of Christians}}

Category:Anti-Christian sentiment Category:Anti-Catholicism Category:Anti-Eastern Orthodoxy Category:Anti-Protestantism