The worst victims of Christian persecution? Look beyond America, author says.
America's experience doesn't come close to what happens in the rest of the world, a reporter and author says.
As one of the most widely respected U.S. reporters covering the Catholic Church, John Allen travels around the world following popes. Allen, who has been with the National Catholic Reporter since 1997, said he became more and more struck by the sense of discomfort and sometimes fear and violence Christians experience in many spots outside the United States. That drove him to write
“The Global War on Christians,” which came out this fall. Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein spoke with Allen about what he thinks is driving this and how it contrasts with religious tensions in the United States.
Q: Why did you do this book?
A: For my beat, I travel with popes. Anytime we’d go outside the West, I’d always bump into victims of Christian persecution. At first, I thought this was tragic but kind of rare. My idea of suffering was eating fish sticks on Friday. But then I realized: These are not outlier cases; this is a pattern. Why didn’t I know that?