Book Review: ‘The Global War on Christians’
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Over the past century, some of the worst persecutors of Christians have been fanatically secular, driven by Marxist-Leninist ideology.
On Oct. 31, 2010, a dozen Islamist gunmen stormed the Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation, in Baghdad. Striking during a service, they butchered some 60 priests and worshipers, notionally in revenge for insults to Islam. Ghastly as that crime might be in its own right, atrocities of this kind are quite commonplace around the world. Mobs sack churches in Egypt, Nigerian suicide bombers target worshiping congregations, and Eritrea has its hellish concentration camps for Christians. “Christians today,” writes John L. Allen Jr. , “indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet.” So widespread and systematic are the attacks, he explains, that they amount to a global war, which he proclaims “the transcendent human rights concern” in the modern world.
the reality of that global violence is undeniable. His study makes a profound impact on the reader. His narrative is by turns stirring, infuriating and heartbreaking.
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