A Christian martyr every 5 minutes: The Church of England Newspaper, June 17, 2011 p 1.

Indonesian Christian girls martyred in 2005

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Christians are dying for their faith at the rate of one every five minutes, Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne told an EU Conference in Hungary last week.

In a panel discussion on religious persecution, Dr. Introvigne, a representative of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians, urged the global community not to be silent over the persecution of Christians.

“If these figures are not cried out to the world, if this massacre is not stopped,” he said, “if it is not recognized that the persecution against Christians is the first worldwide emergency with regard to religious discrimination and violence, dialogue between religions will only produce wonderful symposia but no concrete results.”

Dr. Introvigne’s remarks came at the Conference on the Christian-Jewish-Muslim Interfaith Dialogue organized by the European Union Hungarian Presidency at the Royal Castle of Gödöllo on June 2-3.

The January 2011 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research reported the number of Christian martyrs per year peaked at around 160,000 in the year 2000, but since the cessation of hostilities in the Sudan it had fallen to around 100,000 per year.

A second source cited by the Italian sociologist, The Price of Freedom Denied, published by sociologists Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke, estimated the number of Christian martyrs per year was higher, ranging from 130,000 and 160,000.

His estimate of 105,000 Christian martyrs in 2011, “between 287 and 288 martyrs per day: twelve per hour, or one every five minutes,” was a conservative estimate that could be adjusted up or down.  “At any rate, figures are horribly high. This is the situation I wanted to alert the audience to in Gödöllo,” he said.

Dr. Introvigne told The Church of England Newspaper “there is always a delicate balance between raising awareness and upsetting countries which can persecute Christians ever more.”

However he added “that in Europe the risk is not to speak enough about the issue, not to speak too much.”