The world's most persecuted religion

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[b]

- Jesus Christ, Lord of all that exists

Prescient guy, that Jesus:

A new study has discovered that of all the religions in the world, Christians are the group facing the most persecution, with levels so bad they’re nearly qualifying as genocide.

According to the BBC, a recently released report found that Christians faced more persecution than the other group and indicated that the reason this isn’t more widely known is due to the fact that it’s politically incorrect to talk about it.

The report warned that Christianity is in danger of disappearing from some parts of the world, with the frequency and severity only getting worse as time goes on, and quickly approaching genocidal levels:

The interim report said the main impact of “genocidal acts against Christians is exodus” and that Christianity faced being “wiped out” from parts of the Middle East.

It warned the religion “is at risk of disappearing” in some parts of the world, pointing to figures which claimed Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq they had fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000.

“Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity,” the Bishop wrote.

“In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN.”

When I was still a secular agnostic checking out Christianity from a level of general curiosity, it struck me as odd that Christ would put such emphasis on hate and persecution. What kind of threat did he really pose? Communication technology was really nonexistent, so his influence couldn't have been that great.

But I came to see that it indeed was. Certainly enough that the Pharisees and other authorities in Jerusalem during Holy Week said, "Okay, while he's in town, let's make our move."

But why?

Later I came to see that it was the playing out of spiritual warfare, as everything really is. The Enemy cannot stand the existence of God. And the Enemy's ultimate frustration is that he cannot finally vanquish God.

But in the meantime, he can cause a lot of trouble. Hence the need to always have the full armor at our disposal.