Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Persecution of Christians" in English language version.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Political Science, Faculty Member Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Political Science, Faculty Member
Both Christians and Jews "engaged in a contest and reflection about the new-fangled practice of martyrdom,"191 even unto suicide...and Augustine spoke of "the mania for self-destruction" of early Christians.192 But the Christians, following Tertullian's dicta that "martyrdom is required by God," forced their own martyrdom so they could die in an ecstatic trance: "Although their tortures were gruesome, the martyrs did not suffer, enjoying their analgesic state."195
192. Arthur J. Droge and James D. Tabor, A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom Among Christians and Jews in Antiquity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, p. 5.
193. Arthur F. Ide, Martyrdom of Women: A Study of Death Psychology in the Early Christian Church to 301 CE. Garland: Tangelwuld, 1985, p. 21.
194. Ibid., p. 136.
195. Ibid., pp. 146, 138.
The vast majority of the ordinary citizens - about 30,000 - were marched off to the slave markets of Edirne, Bursa and Ankara.
Some 30,000 Christians were either enslaved or sold.
There is no doubt that in the long run Nazi leaders such as Hitler and Himmler intended to eradicate Christianity just as ruthlessly as they intended to eradicate any other rival ideology, even if in the short term they had to be content to make compromises with it.Mosse, George Lachmann (2003). Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-299-19304-1.
Had the Nazis won the war, their ecclesiastical policies would have gone beyond those of the German Christians, to the utter destruction of both the Protestant and Catholic Churches.Bendersky, Joseph W. (2007). A Concise History of Nazi Germany. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-7425-5363-7.
Consequently, it was Hitler's long range goal to eliminate the churches once he had consolidated his control over his European empire.Fischel, Jack R. (2010). Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust. Scarecrow Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-8108-7485-5.
The objective was to either destroy Christianity and restore the German gods of antiquity or turn Jesus into an Aryan.Dill, Marshall (1970). Germany: A Modern History. University of Michigan Press. p. 365. ISBN 0472071017.
It seems no exaggeration to insist that the greatest challenge the Nazis had to face was their effort to eradicate Christianity in Germany or at least subjugate it to their general world outlook.
Forced Conversion under Atheistic Regimes: It might be added that the most modern example of forced "conversions" came not from any theocratic state, but from a professedly atheist government – that of the Soviet Union under the Communists.
Created in 1925, the League of the Militant Godless was the nominally independent organization established by the Communist Party to promote atheism.
Estimates of the total number of Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.
If the tax levied on the Christians in the Albanian communities in the 16th century amounted to about 45 akçes, in the middle of the 17th century it ran up to 780 akçes a year. In order to save the clans from hunger and ruin, the Albanian elders advised the people in the villages to adopt Islam...Nevertheless, the willingness of the Gegs to support the campaigns of the Catholic West against the Empire, did not abate.... men in Albania, Christians, but also Muslims, were ready to take up arms, given the smallest help from the Catholic West.... the complex dual religious identity of the Albanians become clear. Emblematic is the case of the Crypto-Christians inhabiting the inaccessible geographical area...
Estimates of the total number of Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.
The pasha of Ipek forcibly moved the Catholic inhabitants of northern Albania into the plains of southern Serbia after a failed Serb revolt forced many Serbs to flee to the Habsburg Empire in 1689. The transferred villagers were forced to convert to Islam.
If all these Christians were in a single country, it would have the second-largest Christian population in the world, after the United States.
Both Christians and Jews "engaged in a contest and reflection about the new-fangled practice of martyrdom,"191 even unto suicide...and Augustine spoke of "the mania for self-destruction" of early Christians.192 But the Christians, following Tertullian's dicta that "martyrdom is required by God," forced their own martyrdom so they could die in an ecstatic trance: "Although their tortures were gruesome, the martyrs did not suffer, enjoying their analgesic state."195
192. Arthur J. Droge and James D. Tabor, A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom Among Christians and Jews in Antiquity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, p. 5.
193. Arthur F. Ide, Martyrdom of Women: A Study of Death Psychology in the Early Christian Church to 301 CE. Garland: Tangelwuld, 1985, p. 21.
194. Ibid., p. 136.
195. Ibid., pp. 146, 138.
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