Why is Persecution of Christians On the Rise? Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Dec 10, 2021

Just by looking at the news for this past week, you can see the rise of overt hostility toward Christianity. Consider these headlines:

• Statue defaced at Immaculate Conception basilica in DC

• Mexican clerics convicted for statements on marriage, human life

• Australian archbishop raps new restrictions on freedoms of religious institutions

• Supreme Court skeptical of Maine law barring state funds for religious schools

• Hindu nationalists attack Catholic school in India

• Nuns, deacons arrested in Ethiopia

• Hate crimes against Christians on the rise in Europe, report finds

I’m sure you get the picture. You probably were already familiar with it. But what are the underlying causes?

A Counter-Witness

In some cases over the centuries, hostility toward Christians has arisen because of popular loyalty to false gods or—as we know from the riot of the silversmiths in Ephesus recounted in Acts 19—simply because of the financial advantages of promoting pagan worship. More often, of course, the root cause of Christian persecution has been Christian witness to the moral life. This cause is heavily accentuated in secular societies, and there is an important sense in which all pagan societies have been deeply secular because they do not worship a God who deifies through grace and cares about how we behave morally. …

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