Editing Religious persecution (section)

===Persecution of Christians===
{{Main|Persecution of Christians|History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance|Sectarian violence among Christians}}
{{See also|Violence against Christians in India|Armenian genocide|Seyfo|Greek genocide|Hamidian massacres|Persecution of Christians by ISIL|Persecution of Copts}}
[[File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer - Walters 37113.jpg|thumb|According to tradition, early Christians were fed to lions in the [[Colosseum]] of Rome.]]
{{cleanup rewrite|section=yes|date=January 2021}}
From the beginnings of Christianity as a [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|movement within Judaism]], [[Early Christians]] were persecuted for their [[Faith in Christianity|faith]] at the hands of both [[Persecution of Christians by the Jews|Jews]] and the [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|Roman Empire]], which controlled much of the [[Early centers of Christianity|areas where Christianity was first distributed]]. This continued from the [[Christianity in the 1st century|first century]] until the early [[Christianity in the 4th century|fourth]], when the religion was legalized by the [[Edict of Milan]], eventually becoming the [[State church of the Roman Empire]]. Many Christians fled persecution in the Roman empire by emigrating to the Persian empire where for a century and a half after Constantine's conversion, they were persecuted under the Sassanids, with thousands losing their lives.<ref name="Kling">{{cite book |last1=Kling |first1=David W. |title=A History of Christian Conversion |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=9780199717590 }}</ref>{{rp|76}} Christianity continued to spread through "merchants, slaves, traders, captives and contacts with Jewish communities" as well as missionaries who were often killed for their efforts.<ref name="Kling"/>{{rp|97, 131, 224–225, 551}} This killing continued into the [[Early modern period]] beginning in the fifteenth century, to the [[Late modern period]] of the twentieth century, and into the [[Contemporary history|contemporary period]] today.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=William Pakenham |title=Christian Missions: six discourses delivered before the University of Dublin; being the Donnellan Lectures for 1861 |date=1862 |publisher=The British Library |pages=133–134, including footnotes}}</ref><ref>Buckland, A. R. "Missionary Martyrs of the Nineteenth Century." Quiver 831 (1901): 1–5.</ref><ref>Carbonneau, Robert. "Resurrecting the Dead: Memorial Gravesites and Faith Stories of Twentieth-Century Catholic Missionaries and Laity in West Hunan, China." US Catholic Historian 24.3 (2006): 19–37.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Guidry |first1=Christopher R.|last2=Crossing |first2=Peter F.|title=World Christian Trends Ad30-ad2200 (hb) Volume 2 of World Christian Trends, AD 30-AD 2200: Interpreting the Annual Christian Megacensus, Todd Michael Johnson |date=2001 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn=9780878086085}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Jonathan |title=The Unfree Exercise of Religion: A World Survey of Discrimination against Religious Minorities |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781316546277 |page=9}}</ref>

[[File:Kharput Greek-Orthodox refugees - C.D.Morris - National Geographic, Nov. 1925.jpg|thumb|[[Greeks|Greek]] [[Greek Orthodox Church|Christians]] in 1922, fleeing their homes from [[Elazığ|Kharput]] to [[Trabzon|Trebizond]]. In the 1910s and 1920s the [[Armenian genocide|Armenian]], [[Greek genocide|Greek]], and [[Assyrian genocide|Assyrian]] [[Genocides in history#Ottoman Empire/Turkey|genocides]] were perpetrated by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]]<ref>{{cite news|title = 8 facts about the Armenian genocide 100 years ago |url = http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/world/armenian-mass-killings/index.html|website = CNN.com|access-date = 13 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = 100 Years Ago, 1.5 Million Armenians Were Systematically Killed. Today, It's Still Not A 'Genocide'|url = https://huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/armenian-genocide-controversy_n_7121008.html|website = The Huffington Post|date = 23 April 2015|access-date = 13 December 2015}}</ref>]]
In contemporary society, Christians are persecuted in [[Iran]] and other parts of the Middle East, for example, for [[Proselytism|proselytising]], which is illegal there.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Iran must ensure rights of Christian minority and fair trial for the accused– UN experts|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/02/iran-must-ensure-rights-christian-minority-and-fair-trial-accused-un-experts?LangID=E&NewsID=22629| date= 2 February 2018 | type= press release |website=UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ensor|first=Josie|date=2018-12-10|title=Iran arrests more than 100 Christians in growing crackdown on minority|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/10/iran-arrests-100-christians-growing-crackdown-minority/|access-date=2023-01-02|issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>[[Economist Intelligence Unit]] (Great Britain), ''Country Profile: Iran'', The Unit (2001), p. 17</ref> Of the 100–200&nbsp;million Christians alleged to be under assault, the majority are persecuted in Muslim-majority nations.<ref name=Thornton>{{cite journal|url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/152651|title=Christian Tragedy in the Muslim World|first=Bruce |last=Thornton|date=25 July 2013|journal=Defining Ideas|publisher=Hoover institution |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728125232/http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/152651|archive-date=28 July 2013}}</ref> Every year, the Christian non-profit organization [[Open Doors]] publishes the World Watch List—a list of the top 50 countries which it designates as the most dangerous for Christians.

The 2018 World Watch List has the following countries as its top ten: [[North Korea]], and [[Eritrea]], whose Christian and Muslim religions are controlled by the state, and [[Afghanistan]], [[Myanmar]], [[Somalia]], [[Sudan]], [[Pakistan]], [[Libya]], [[Iraq]], [[Yemen]], India and [[Iran]], which are all predominantly non-Christian.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Watch List|url=https://www.opendoors.org.au/persecuted-christians/world-watch-list|website=Open Doors Australia|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613114702/https://www.opendoors.org.au/persecuted-christians/world-watch-list|archive-date=13 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Due to the large number of Christian majority countries, differing groups of Christians are harassed and persecuted in Christian countries such as Eritrea<ref name="Eritrea">{{cite web |title=2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Eritrea |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/eritrea/ |website=OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2019 Report |publisher=U.S. Department of State |access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> and Mexico<ref name="Mexico">{{cite web |title=2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Mexico |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mexico/ |website=U.S. Department of State OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Report |publisher=U.S. Department of State |access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> more often than in Muslim countries, although not in greater numbers.<ref name="Kishi">{{cite web |last1=KISHI |first1=KATAYOUN |title=Christians faced widespread harassment in 2015, but mostly in Christian-majority countries |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/09/christians-faced-widespread-harassment-in-2015-but-mostly-in-christian-majority-countries/ |website=PEW Research Center Facttank News in the numbers |publisher=Pew |access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>
 
There are low to moderate restrictions on religious freedom in three-quarters of the world's countries, with high and very high restrictions in a quarter of them, according to the State Department's report on religious freedom and persecution delivered annually to Congress.<ref>{{Cite web|editor =Robert W. Boehme| display-editors=etal| title=2018 Report on International Religious Freedom| url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/|access-date=2023-01-02|publisher=United States Department of State|work=Office of International Religious Freedom |language=en-US}}</ref> The Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://ishr.org/about/ishr-at-a-glance/ |website=International Society for Human Rights at a Glance |publisher=International Society for Human Rights}}</ref>—the International Society for Human Rights—in Frankfurt, Germany is a non-governmental organization with 30,000 members from 38 countries who monitor human rights. In September 2009, then chairman Martin Lessenthin,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lessenthin |first1=Martin |title=Martin Lessenthin Executive and press spokesman for the ISHR |url=https://www.igfm.de/igfm-sprecher-martin-lessenthin/ |publisher=International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008143241/https://www.igfm.de/igfm-sprecher-martin-lessenthin/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> issued a report estimating that 80% of acts of religious persecution around the world were aimed at Christians at that time.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vallely |first1=Paul |title=Christians: The world's most persecuted people |date=28 July 2014 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/christians-world-s-most-persecuted-people-9630774.html |publisher=Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sherwood |first1=Harriet |title=Christianity under global threat due to persecution, says report |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/13/christianity-under-global-threat-persecution-says-report |work=The Guardian|date=13 October 2015 }}</ref> According to the [[World Evangelical Alliance]], over 200&nbsp;million Christians are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldevangelicals.org/lausanne/data/resources/IJRF_2008_Vol_1_Issue_1.pdf|author=Godfrey Yogarajah|title=Disinformation, discrimination, destruction and growth: A case study on persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka|publisher=worldevangelicals.org|volume=1|issue=1|year=2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002080241/http://www.worldevangelicals.org/lausanne/data/resources/IJRF_2008_Vol_1_Issue_1.pdf|archive-date=2 October 2011}}</ref>

A report released by the UK's [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]], and a report by the PEW organization studying worldwide restrictions of religious freedom, both have Christians suffering in the highest number of countries, rising from 125 in 2015 to 144 as of 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Persecution of Christians review: Foreign Secretary's speech following the final report|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/persecution-of-christians-review-foreign-secretarys-speech-following-the-final-report|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Foreign & Commonwealth Office|date=8 July 2019 |last= Hunt | first= Jeremy | author-link= Jeremy Hunt}}</ref><ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Travis|date=2019-07-15|title=A Closer Look at How Religious Restrictions Have Risen Around the World|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/07/15/a-closer-look-at-how-religious-restrictions-have-risen-around-the-world/|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|language=en-US}}</ref> PEW has published a caution concerning the interpretation of these numbers: "The Center's recent report&nbsp;... does not attempt to estimate the number of victims in each country... it does not speak to the intensity of harassment..."<ref name="auto2"/>

In December 2016, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at [[Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary]] in Massachusetts, published a statement that "between 2005 and 2015 there were 900,000 Christian martyrs worldwide—an average of 90,000 per year, marking a [[Christians|Christian]] as persecuted every 8 minutes."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Persecution of Christians in 2016|url=https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=060e80f6eebfc8804f8049bad&id=c0d75f13c6&e=88b938d3be|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Center for the Study of Global Christianity | date= 2017}}{{pb}}{{ cite web | title = Status of Global Christianity, 2017, in the Context of 1900–2050 | url= https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/StatusofGlobalChristianity2017-1.pdf | work= Center for the Study of Global Christianity | date= 2017}}</ref> However, the BBC has reported that others such as Open Doors and the [[International Society for Human Rights]] have disputed that number's accuracy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24864587|title=Are there really 100,000 new Christian martyrs every year?|author=Ruth Alexander|date=12 November 2013|work=BBC News|access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref name="McMillan">{{cite web|url=https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/number-of-christian-martyrs-continues-to-cause-debate/|title=Number of Christian martyrs continues to cause debate|author=Open Doors|date=14 November 2013|publisher=Open Doors|access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref> Gina Zurlo, the CSGC's assistant director, explained that two-thirds of the 90,000 died in tribal conflicts, and nearly half were victims of the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-20|title='90,000 Christian martyrs annually' claim disputed|url=https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2017/01/90000-christian-martyrs-annually-claim-disputed/|access-date=2023-01-02|website=World Watch Monitor|language=en-US}}</ref> Klaus Wetzel, an internationally recognized expert on religious persecution, explains that Gordon-Conwell defines Christian martyrdom in the widest possible sense, while Wetzel and Open doors and others such as [[The International Institute for Religious Freedom]] (IIRF) use a more restricted definition: "those who are killed, ''who would not have been killed'', if they had not been Christians."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Christenverfolgung auf einen Blick|url=https://www.igfm.de/christenverfolgung-auf-einen-blick/|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte (IGFM)|language=de-DE}}</ref> Open Doors documents that anti-Christian sentiment is presently based on direct evidence and makes conservative estimates based on indirect evidence.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180614080323/https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/about-the-ranking/]|How the scoring works</ref> This approach dramatically lowers the numerical count. Open Doors says that, while numbers fluctuate every year, they estimate 11 Christians are currently dying for their faith somewhere in the world every day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/11-christians-killed-every-day-for-their-decision-to-follow-jesus/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316180829/https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/11-christians-killed-every-day-for-their-decision-to-follow-jesus/|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 March 2019|title=11 Christians Killed Every Day for Their Decision to Follow Jesus |work= Open Doors USA}}</ref>

====Persecution of Copts====
{{Main|Persecution of Copts}}
{{Category see also|Persecution of Copts}}
The persecution of Copts is a historical and ongoing issue in [[Egypt]] against [[Coptic Orthodox Christianity]] and its followers. It is also a prominent example of the poor status of [[Christians in the Middle East]] despite the religion being native to the region. [[Copt]]s are the [[Christ (title)|Christ]] followers in Egypt, usually [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]], who currently make up around 10% of the population of Egypt—the largest religious minority of that country.{{Efn|In 2017, the ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that "the vast majority of Egypt's estimated 9.5 million Christians, approximately 10% of the country's population, are Orthodox Copts."<ref name=RoccaKholaif>{{Cite web|last2=Kholaif|first2=Francis X. |last1=Rocca |first1= Dahlia|title=Pope Francis Calls on Egypt's Catholics to Embrace Forgiveness|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-calls-on-egypts-catholics-to-embrace-forgiveness-1493464066|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Wall Street Journal|date=29 April 2017 | url-access= subscription}}</ref> In 2019, the Associated Press cited an estimate of 10 million Copts in Egypt.<ref name=Elhennawy>{{Cite web|date=14 November 2019|title=Egyptian woman fights unequal Islamic inheritance laws|url=https://apnews.com/article/religion-ap-top-news-laws-international-news-islam-a115f4d4a86c4f9b8cdb0802ccf3e5e5|access-date=2023-01-02|website=AP News|first=Noha | last= Elhennawy}}</ref> In 2015, the ''Wall Street Journal'' reported: "The Egyptian government estimates about 5 million Copts, but the Coptic Orthodox Church says 15–18 million. Reliable numbers are hard to find but estimates suggest they make up somewhere between 6% and 18% of the population."<ref name=WSJ2015>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/02/16/5-five-things-to-know-about-egypts-coptic-christians/|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=16 February 2015|title=Five Things to Know About Egypt's Coptic Christians| last= Fitch | first=Asa | type= blog | url-access= subscription}}</ref> The ''[[CIA World Factbook]]'' reported a 2015 estimate that 10% of the Egyptian population is Christian (including both Copts and non-Copts).<ref name=CIA2015>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/egypt/|title=Egypt |work=The World Factbook |date=11 February 2022 |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]}}</ref>}} Copts have cited instances of persecution throughout their history and [[Human Rights Watch]] has noted "growing religious intolerance" and sectarian violence against Coptic Christians in recent years, as well as a failure by the Egyptian government to effectively investigate properly and prosecute those responsible.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-01-24|title=Egypt and Libya: A Year of Serious Abuses|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/01/24/egypt-and-libya-year-serious-abuses|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Egypt's Persecuted Christians">{{cite news | last = Zaki | first = Moheb | title = Egypt's Persecuted Christians | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date = 18 May 2010 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703745904575248301172607696 | access-date = 4 June 2010 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100603203131/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703745904575248301172607696.html | archive-date = 3 June 2010 | url-access= subscription }}</ref>

The [[Muslim conquest of Egypt]] took place in AD 639, during the [[Byzantine Empire]]. Despite the political upheaval, Egypt remained a mainly Christian, but Copts lost their majority status after the 14th century,<ref name="FA">{{cite periodical|last1=Shea|first1=Nina|title=Do Copts have a future in Egypt|journal=Foreign Affairs|date=June 2017|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/egypt/2017-06-20/do-copts-have-future-egypt|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620201311/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/egypt/2017-06-20/do-copts-have-future-egypt|archive-date=20 June 2017|url-access=subscription}}</ref> as a result of the intermittent persecution and the destruction of the Christian churches there,<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle East, Region in Transition: Egypt| first=Laura S. |last= Etheredge|year= 2011| isbn= 9789774160936| page =161|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing}}</ref> accompanied by heavy taxes for those who refused to convert.<ref>{{cite book| page= 72 | title= History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria III, Agathon to Michael I (766)| translator= Basil Evetts | series= Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 1 | date=1910}}{{pb}}Cited in {{Cite periodical | doi= 10.1553/medievalworlds_no6_2017s196 | work= Medieval Worlds | number= 6 |date= 2017 | pages= 196–216 | last= Simonsohn | first= Uri |title=Conversion, Exemption, and Manipulation: Social Benefits and Conversion to Islam in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages |url=https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00372f27.pdf|quote= ʿUmar is depicted as having ordered that "the poll-tax should be taken from all men who would not become Muslims" | quote-pages=201–202}}</ref> From the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt]] onwards, the Coptic Christians were persecuted by different Muslims regimes,<ref>{{Cite web| date= October 2017 | author=((Minority Rights Group International)) |title=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Egypt : Copts of Egypt |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d2b2d.html|access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref> such as the [[Umayyad Caliphate]],<ref>H. Patrick Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World. Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 219.</ref> [[Abbasid Caliphate]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Goddard|first=Hugh|title=A History of Christian–Muslim Relations|date=2000|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=1566633400 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq2oLEvHzl8C&pg=PA71 |page=71|access-date=<!-- print source: 20 January 2016 -->}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Frank |last=Feder |chapter=The Bashmurite Revolts in the Delta and the ‘Bashmuric Dialect’ |title=Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta |editor-first1=Gawdat |editor-last1=Gabra |editor-first2=Hany N. |editor-last2=Takla |year=2017 |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |pages=33–35}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |first=Ira M. |last=Lapidus |title=The Conversion of Egypt to Islam |journal=Israel Oriental Studies |volume=2 |year=1972 |page=257}}</ref> [[Fatimid Caliphate]],<ref name="Robert Ousterhout 1989 pp. 66-78">Robert Ousterhout, "Rebuilding the Temple: Constantine Monomachus and the Holy Sepulchre" in ''The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'', Vol. 48, No. 1 (March 1989), pp.66–78</ref><ref name="Saunders2002">{{cite book|author=John Joseph Saunders|title=A History of Medieval Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_d2KAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|date=11 March 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-93005-0|page=109}}</ref><ref name="Rustow2014">{{cite book|author=[[Marina Rustow]]|title=Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGWsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT219|date=3 October 2014|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-5529-2|page=219}}</ref> [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Teule|first1=Herman G. B.|editor1-last=Thomas|editor1-first=David|editor2-last=Mallett|editor2-first=Alex|title=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, Volume 5 (1350–1500)|date=2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004252783|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgy7SN3ZixsC&pg=PA11|chapter=Introduction: Constantinople and Granada, Christian-Muslim Interaction 1350-1516 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt, 1218–1250| first= Kurt J.|last=Werthmuller |year= 2010| isbn= 9780805440737| page = 76|publisher= American Univ in Cairo Press}}</ref> and [[Ottoman Empire]]; the persecution of Coptic Christians included closing and demolishing churches and [[forced conversion]] to [[Islam]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cave Church of Paul the Hermit at the Monastery of St. Pau| first=William |last=Lyster|year= 2013| isbn= 9789774160936|publisher=Yale University Press|quote= Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah (r. 996—1021), however, who became the greatest persecutor of Copts.... within the church that also appears to coincide with a period of forced rapid conversion to Islam}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641–1517)| first=Mark N. |last=  Swanson|year= 2010| isbn= 9789774160936| page =54|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|quote= By late 1012 the persecution had moved into high gear with demolitions of churches and the forced conversion of Christian ...}}</ref><ref>ha-Mizraḥit ha-Yiśreʼelit, Ḥevrah (1988). Asian and African Studies, Volume 22. Jerusalem Academic Press. Muslim historians note the destruction of dozens of churches and the forced conversion of dozens of people to Islam under al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in Egypt ...These events also reflect the Muslim attitude toward forced conversion and toward converts.</ref>

Since 2011 hundreds of Egyptian Copts have been killed in sectarian clashes, and many homes, Churches and businesses have been destroyed. In just one province ([[Minya Governorate|Minya]]), 77 cases of sectarian attacks on Copts between 2011 and 2016 have been documented by the [[Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights]].<ref name="Eltahawy-nyt-12-16">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/opinion/egypts-cruelty-to-christians.html|title=Egypt's Cruelty to Christians|date=22 December 2016|work=The New York Times|last1=Eltahawy|first1=Mona|access-date=22 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222173411/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/opinion/egypts-cruelty-to-christians.html|archive-date=22 December 2016 | url-access= subscription| type= opinion}}</ref> The abduction and disappearance of Coptic Christian women and girls also remains a serious ongoing problem.<ref>{{cite book|author=((United States Congress Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe))|title=Escalating Violence Against Coptic Women and Girls: Will the New Egypt be More Dangerous than the Old? : Hearing before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session|date=18 July 2012|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington, DC|url=https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo55657|access-date=8 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2012/10/15/sectarian-tensions-rise-in-wake-of-crime-boss-death/|author1=Basil El-Dabh |title= Sectarian tensions rise in wake of crime boss death|date=15 October 2012 | work = Daily News Egypt |access-date=2 January 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019020027/https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2012/10/15/sectarian-tensions-rise-in-wake-of-crime-boss-death/|archive-date=19 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.premier.org.uk/content/view/full/928769|title=Newlywed becomes 8th Egyptian Christian woman to be kidnapped since April|author=Eno Adeogun |date=9 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014141429/https://www.premier.org.uk/content/view/full/928769 | archive-date= 14 October 2019 | url-status= dead}}</ref>

====Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses====
{{Main|Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses}}
[[File:Jehovas Zeugen - Länder ohne berichtete Aktivitat.png|thumb|250px|Countries where Jehovah's Witnesses' activities are banned]]
Political and religious animosity against Jehovah's Witnesses has at times led to [[mob action]] and government oppression in various countries. Their stance regarding political neutrality and their refusal to serve in the military has led to imprisonment of members who [[Conscientious objector|refused conscription]] during [[World War II]] and at other times where [[national service]] has been compulsory. Their religious activities are currently banned or restricted in some countries,<ref>{{cite news |title=Countries Where Jehovah's Witnesses' Activities Are Banned |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/countries-where-jehovahs-witnesses-activities-are-banned/29757419.html |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=7 February 2019}}</ref> including China, [[Vietnam]], and many [[Muslim world|Islamic states]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom |publisher=[[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]] |year=1993 |page=490 |url=https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101993030 |via=Watchtower Online Library |access-date=25 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses |publisher=[[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]] |year=1991 |page=222 |url=https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/301991017 |via=Watchtower Online Library |access-date=25 October 2020}}</ref>

* In 1933, there were approximately 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in [[Nazi Germany]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Penton |first=James |author-link=James Penton |title=Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: sectarian politics under persecution|url=https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse0000pent_f0s7|url-access=registration |location=[[Toronto]] |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0802086785 |page=[https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse0000pent_f0s7/page/376 376]}}</ref> of whom about 10,000 were imprisoned. [[Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany|Jehovah's Witnesses were brutally persecuted by the Nazis]], because they [[Conscientious objector|refused military service]] and allegiance to [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s [[Nazi Party|National Socialist Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Blainey |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Blainey |year=2011 |title=[[A Short History of Christianity]] |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |pages=495–496 |isbn=9780281076208}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Chu |first=Jolene |date=September 2004 |title=God's things and Caesar's: Jehovah's Witnesses and political neutrality |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=319–342 |doi=10.1080/1462352042000265837 |s2cid=71908533}}</ref><ref name="Wrobel 2006">{{cite journal |last=Wrobel |first=Johannes S. |date=August 2006 |url=https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rss/34-2_089.pdf |title=Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist concentration camps, 1933–45 |journal=Religion, State & Society |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=89–125 |doi=10.1080/09637490600624691 |s2cid=145110013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521084542/https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rss/34-2_089.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=25 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Knox |first=Zoe |year=2018 |chapter=Politics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtBJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Jehovah's Witnesses and the Secular World: From the 1870s to the Present |location=London |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |series=Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000 |pages=61–106 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-39605-1_3 |isbn=978-1-137-39604-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1979405 |title=Insight on the News - "Holocaust" Questions |date=1 June 1979 |magazine=[[The Watchtower]] |publisher=[[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]] |page=20 |via=Watchtower Online Library |access-date=25 October 2020}}</ref> Of those, 2,000 were sent to [[Nazi concentration camps]], where they were identified by [[purple triangle]]s;<ref name="Wrobel 2006"/> as many as 1,200 died, including 250 who were executed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Garbe|first=Detlef|title=Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2008|location=Madison, Wisconsin|page=484|isbn=978-0-299-20794-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Jehovah's Witnesses|url=https://www.holocaust-trc.org/jehovahs-witnesses/|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Holocaust Teacher Resource Center|language=en-US}}</ref>
* In [[Canada in World War II|Canada during World War II]], Jehovah's Witnesses were interned in camps<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=William|title=State and Salvation|location=Toronto|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1989}}</ref> along with [[Political dissent|political dissidents]] and people of Chinese and Japanese descent.<ref>{{cite news|last=Yaffee|first=Barbara|title=Witnesses Seek Apology for Wartime Persecution|work=The Globe and Mail|date=9 September 1984|page=4}}</ref> Jehovah's Witnesses faced discrimination in [[Quebec]] until the [[Quiet Revolution]], including bans on distributing [[Jehovah's Witnesses practices#Evangelism|literature]] or holding [[Jehovah's Witnesses practices#Worship|meetings]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1953/1953canlii3/1953canlii3.html|title=Saumur v Quebec (City of)|last=Supreme Court of Canada|series=[1953] 2 SCR 299|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706012152/http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1953/1953canlii3/1953canlii3.html|archive-date=6 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1959/1959canlii50/1959canlii50.html|title=Roncarelli v Duplessis|last=Supreme Court of Canada|series=[1959] SCR 121|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112043742/http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1959/1959canlii50/1959canlii50.html|archive-date=12 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In 1951, about 9,300 Jehovah's Witnesses in the [[Soviet Union]] were deported to [[Siberia]] as part of [[Operation North]] in April 1951.<ref name="passat">Валерий Пасат ."Трудные страницы истории Молдовы (1940–1950)". Москва: Изд. Terra, 1994 {{in lang|ru}}</ref>
* In April 2017, the [[Supreme Court of Russia]] labeled Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist organization, banned its activities in Russia and issued an order to confiscate the organization's assets.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-religion-jehovah-s-idUSKBN17M1ZT|title=Russian court bans Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist|publisher=delfi.lt |access-date=20 April 2017|newspaper=Reuters|date=20 April 2017}}</ref>

Authors including [[William J. Whalen|William Whalen]], Shawn Francis Peters and former Witnesses [[Barbara Grizzuti Harrison]], Alan Rogerson and William Schnell have claimed the arrests and mob violence in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s were the consequence of what appeared to be a deliberate course of provocation of authorities and other religious groups by Jehovah's Witnesses. Whalen, Harrison and Schnell have suggested [[Joseph Franklin Rutherford|Rutherford]] invited and cultivated opposition for publicity purposes in a bid to attract dispossessed members of society, and to convince members that persecution from the outside world was evidence of the truth of their struggle to serve God.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peters|first=Shawn Francis|title=Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/judgingjehovahsw0000pete|url-access=registration|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/judgingjehovahsw0000pete/page/82 82], 116–9|isbn=978-0-7006-1008-2}}</ref><ref>Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, ''Visions of Glory'', 1978, chapter 6.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Whalen|first=William J.|title=Armageddon Around the Corner: A Report on Jehovah's Witnesses|publisher=John Day Company|year=1962|location=New York|page=190}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schnell|first=William|title=30 Years a Watchtower Slave|publisher=Baker Book House, Grand Rapids|year=1971|pages=104–106|isbn=978-0-8010-6384-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rogerson|first=Alan|title=Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses|publisher=Constable & Co, London|year=1969|page=59|isbn=978-0094559400}}</ref> Watch Tower Society literature of the period directed that Witnesses should "never seek a controversy" nor resist arrest, but also advised members not to co-operate with police officers or courts that ordered them to stop preaching, and to prefer jail rather than pay fines.<ref>{{cite book|title=Advice for Kingdom Publishers|publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society|year=1939|pages=5–6, 14}}</ref>