Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Modern Day Martyrs

Every now and then I hear of claims by christians that a large number of them are martyred every year right down to the present day.  Generally, I have paid little attention to these claims because the numbers cited were always ridiculously high.  Usually the claim is that tens of thousands of christians are killed for their religion every year.  If that many christians were actually being killed for their religion, then I am sure we would all be well aware of the circumstances because it would be big media story.  Imagine how many newspapers, magazines, etc., could be sold in a religious country like the U.S. if they contained stories about christians being killed for their religion in such large numbers.

Well, I am happy to report that someone has looked into these claims and found that, just as I expected, the numbers are wildly exaggerated.  As is usually the case with claims by religious people, the exaggeration is based on dishonest accounting driven by an emotional desire to make sure others don't think they are bad people.  (The very essence of the religious mindset, no?)

An article reporting on these findings can be found on the BBC's website.

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