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Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos worships his god.")">Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.") Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
and/or aspects of the Christian religion's practices. These terms encompass "every form of discrimination and intolerance against Christians". The presence of anti-Christian sentiment has frequently led to the
persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point ...
throughout history.


Antiquity

Evidence shows that anti-Christian sentiment was already present as early as the Roman Empire during the first century AD. The steady growth of the Christian movement was viewed with suspicion by both the authorities and the people of
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
leading to the
persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire During their early history, Christians were persecuted, tortured, mutilated, raped, and massacred in a genocide, throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century AD and ending in the 4th century. As Christianity spread through the ...
. During the second century, Christianity was viewed as a negative movement in two ways: both due to accusations made against adherents of the Christian faith in accordance with the principles held by the Roman population, and because of the supplementary controversy aroused during the intellectual age. Anti-Christian sentiment is alluded to in the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, and appears to have been anticipated thus by
Jesus of Nazareth Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religi ...
, being documented by the writers of the
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
s. Furthermore, anti-Christian sentiment of the first century was not expressed by the Roman authorities alone, but also by the Jews. As Christianity was, at that time, a sect which was largely emerging from
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
, much of this sentiment was the result of anger from the well established Jewish faith towards a new and revolutionary faith.
Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...
, who persecuted Christians before himself becoming a Christian, highlighted the
Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...
as a 'stumbling block' to the Jews: the belief that the
messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
would have died on a cross was offensive to some of the Jews because they awaited a messiah who had different characteristics.


Middle Ages

On the subject of historical anti-Christian sentiments of
early Muslims From 613 to 619 Common Era, CE, the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad gathered in his hometown of Mecca a small following of those who embraced his message of Islam and thus became Muslims. The first person who professed ...
, professor Sidney H. Griffith explains that "The
cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...
and the
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
s publicly declared those very points of Christian faith which the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, in the Muslim view, explicitly denied: that
Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
was the
Son of God Historically, many rulers have assumed titles such as the son of God, the son of a god or the son of heaven. The term "Son of God" is used in the Hebrew Bible as another way to refer to humans who have a special relationship with God. In Exo ...
and that he died on the cross." For that reason, "the Christian practice of venerating the cross and the icons of Christ and the
saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...
often aroused the disdain of Muslims". Because of that, there was an ongoing "campaign to erase the public symbols of Christianity
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and Christianity in Syria">Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
], especially the previously ubiquitous sign of the cross. There are archaeological evidences of the destruction and defacement of Christian images [and crosses] in the early Islamic period due to the conflict with Muslims they aroused." The prominent Andalusian jurist Ibn Rushd decreed that "golden crosses must be broken up before being distributed" (as plunder). "As for their sacred books Bibles">Christian_Bible.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Christian Bible">Bibles one must make them disappear", he added. (He later clarified that unless all words can be erased from every page in order to resell the blank book, all Christian scripture must be burned.) An anti-Christian treatise published in Al-Andalus was titled "Hammers [for breaking] crosses." The Persian poet Mu'izzi urged the grandson of Alp Arslan to root out and wipe out all Christians in the world in an act of genocide:
Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...
, who journeyed throughout the East in the 13th century and made an observation of the people of
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...
, stated that "The inhabitants are all
Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...
s uslims and utterly detest the Christians." and "indeed, it is a fact that all the Saracens in the world are agreed in wishing ill to all the Christians in the world".


Early modern period

At the time of the Reformation, anti-Christian sentiment grew with the rise of
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
. During the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
, a period of the French Revolution, radical revolutionaries and their supporters desired a cultural revolution that would rid the French state of all Christian influence. In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed or forced to leave France. Later in 1792, "refractory priests" were targeted and replaced with their secular counterpart from the Jacobin club. Anti-Christian sentiments increased during 1793 and a campaign of dechristianization occurred, and new forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic
Cult of Reason The Cult of Reason () was France's first established State religion, state-sponsored secular religion, atheistic religion, intended as a replacement for Catholicism, Roman Catholicism during the French Revolution. After holding sway for barely ...
. The drownings at Nantes targeted many Catholic priests and nuns. The first drownings happened on the night of 16 November 1793. The victims were 160 arrested Catholic priests that were labeled " refractory clergy" by the
National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
.


Late modern period

William Kingdon Clifford William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 18453 March 1879) was a British mathematician and philosopher. Building on the work of Hermann Grassmann, he introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, a special case of the Clifford algebra named in his ...
was outspoken about Christianity as a drag on
progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...
. He was personified by Mr. Saunders in the novel ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' by W. H. Mallock in 1878. For example, ‘All our doubts on this matter,’ said Mr. Saunders, ‘are simply due to that dense pestiferous fog of crazed sentiment that still hides our view, but which the present generation has sternly set its face to dispel and conquer. Science will drain the marshy grounds of the human mind, so that the deadly malaria of Christianity, which has already destroyed two civilisations, shall never be fatal to a third.’ When British writer Charles Montagu Doughty journeyed around Arabia, the local Bedouins said to him, "Thou wast safe in thine own country, though mightest have continued there; but since thou art come into the land of the Moslemin uslims God has delivered thee into our hands to die—so perish all the Nasara hristians And be burned in hell with your father, Sheytan atan" Doughty also records how Muslims in Arabia would, while circling around the Kaaba, supplicate Allah to "curse and destroy" the Jews and Christians. Many Christians were persecuted and/or killed during the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide.
Benny Morris Benny Morris (; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. Morris was initially associated with the ...
and Dror Ze'evi argue that the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
and other contemporaneous persecution of Christians in the Ottoman Empire ( Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide) constitute an extermination campaign, or
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
, carried out by the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
against its Christian subjects. The Affair of the Cards was a political scandal which broke out in 1904 in France, during the
Third French Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France duri ...
. From 1900 to 1904, the prefectural administrations, the Masonic lodges of the Grand Orient de France and other intelligence networks established data sheets and created a secret surveillance system of all army officers in order to ensure that Christians would be excluded from promotions and advancement in the military hierarchy, and " free-thinking" officers would be promoted instead. The Cristero War was a widespread struggle in central and western
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
in response to the implementation of secularist and anticlerical articles. The rebellion was instigated as a response to an executive decree by Mexican President
Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (born Francisco Plutarco Elías Campuzano; 25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as the 47th President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After the assassination of Ál ...
to strictly enforce Article 130 of the Constitution, a decision known as Calles Law. Calles sought to eliminate the power of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
in Mexico, its affiliated organizations and to suppress popular religiosity. To help enforce the law, Calles seized Church properties, expelled foreign priests, and closed monasteries, convents, and religious schools.Warnock, John W. ''The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed'
p. 27
(1995 Black Rose Books, Ltd) Some have characterized Calles as the leader of an
atheist state State atheism or atheist state is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into Forms of government, political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments ...
and his program as being one to eradicate religion in Mexico. Tomás Garrido Canabal led persecutions against the Church in his state,
Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...
, killing many priests and laymen and driving the remainder underground. The
First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic (; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the History of Portugal (1834-1910), period of constitutional monarchy ma ...
was intensely anti-clerical. Under the leadership of Afonso Costa, the Minister of Justice, the revolution immediately targeted the Catholic Church; the provisional government began devoting its entire attention to an anti-religious policy. On 8 October the religious orders in Portugal were expelled, and their property was confiscated. On 10 October – five days after the inauguration of the Republic – the new government decreed that all convents, monasteries and religious orders were to be suppressed. All residents of religious institutions were expelled and their goods were confiscated. The
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
were forced to forfeit their Portuguese citizenship. A series of anti-Catholic laws and decrees followed each other in rapid succession. The Red Terror in Spain committed various acts of violence that included the
desecration Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Overview Many consider acts of desecration t ...
and burning of monasteries, convents, and churches. The failed coup of July 1936 set loose a violent onslaught on those that revolutionaries in the Republican zone identified as enemies; "where the rebellion failed, for several months afterwards merely to be identified as a priest, a
religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
, or simply a militant Christian or member of some apostolic or pious organization, was enough for a person to be executed without trial". Although
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
never officially proclaimed a
Kirchenkampf ''Kirchenkampf'' (, lit. 'church struggle') is a German term which pertains to the situation of the Christianity in Germany, Christian churches in Germany during the Nazi Germany, Nazi period (1933–1945). Sometimes used ambiguously, the term ma ...
against Christian churches, top Nazis freely expressed their contempt for Christian teachings in private conversations. Nazi ideology conflicted with traditional Christian beliefs in various respects – Nazis criticized Christian notions of "meekness and guilt" on the basis that they "repressed the violent instincts necessary to prevent inferior races from dominating Aryans". Aggressive anti-church radicals like Alfred Rosenberg and
Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler ...
saw the conflict with the churches as a priority concern, and anti-church and anti-clerical sentiments were strong among grassroots party activists.
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
himself disdained Christianity, as
Alan Bullock Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influenced m ...
noted: Throughout the
history of the Soviet Union The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...
(1917–1991), there were periods when Soviet authorities brutally suppressed and persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents depending on State interests. The state advocated the destruction of
religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
, and to achieve this goal, it officially denounced religious beliefs as superstitious and backward. Froese, Paul. "'I am an atheist and a Muslim': Islam, communism, and ideological competition." Journal of Church and State 47.3 (2005) The Communist Party destroyed churches, ridiculed, harassed, incarcerated and executed religious leaders, flooded the schools and media with anti-religious teachings, and it introduced a belief system called " scientific atheism", with its own rituals, promises and proselytizers.Paul Froese. Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an Atheistic Monopoly Failed. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 35–50Haskins, Ekaterina V. "Russia's postcommunist past: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the reimagining of national identity." History and Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past 21.1 (2009) According to some sources, the total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range around 12 to 20 million. At least 106,300 Russian clergymen were executed between 1937 and 1941.


Contemporary

Persecution of Christians in the post–Cold War era has been taking place in Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Middle East since 1989. Christians are persecuted widely across the
Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...
. Native Christian communities are subjected to persecution in several Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt and Pakistan. The persecution of Christians in North Korea is ongoing and systematic. According to the Christian organization Open Doors, North Korea persecutes Christians more than any other country in the world. The issue of Christianophobia was considered by the UK parliament on 5 December 2007 in a Westminster Hall Commons debate. Some people, such as actor Rainn Wilson, who is not a Christian himself, have argued that Hollywood has often expressed anti-Christian bias. Actor
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
has stated that he has seen Christians in Hollywood hiding their faith for the sake of their careers. Starting in June 2021, over 68 Christian churches were desecrated, damaged, or destroyed across Canada. Officials speculated that the fires and other acts of vandalism were reactions to the reported discovery of unmarked graves at Canadian Indian residential school sites (primarily run by Christian churches) in May 2021. The Trump administration has considered anti-Christian bias a significant issue within the
US federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...
. Trump announced in February 2025 that he would create a task force on targeting anti-Christian bias within federal agencies, and tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi with leading it. Despite Trump's claims of eradicating anti-Christian bias, the Interfaith Alliance has recorded dozens of "attacks on faith communities" by the Trump administration, most of which have targeted Christian groups, especially Catholics and Lutherans.


See also

* Persecution of Christians in the post–Cold War era *
Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire During their early history, Christians were persecuted, tortured, mutilated, raped, and massacred in a genocide, throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century AD and ending in the 4th century. As Christianity spread through the ...
* Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union * Criticism of Christianity * Christianity and colonialism *
Persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point ...
* Eagle catching fish * Anti-Catholicism * Anti-Mormonism * Anti-Protestantism * Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians * Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses *
Black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
* Violence against Christians in India


References

{{Persecution of Christians Anti-Catholicism Anti-Eastern Orthodoxy Anti-Protestantism