G
Ghamph
Guest
If a God existed, he wouldn't allow this, unless he is a cold hearted
sadistic freak.
Religious Martyrs
David Barrett, Todd Johnson, Justin Long
o World Christian Encyclopedia (2001): This book is the standard
reference work for religious statistics of all kinds, and both Britannica
and the World Almanac cite from it. It has a single page
[http://gem-werc.org/gd/gd16.pdf] estimating the number of martyrs since the
origin of each religion:
+ Muslim martyrs: 80M
+ Christian martyrs: 70M
# 20th Century: 45.4M
# At the hands of...
Atheists: 31,689,000
Muslims 9,121,000
Ethnoreligionists: 7,469,000
Christians: 5,538,000
Quasi-religionists 2,712,000
Mahayana Buddhists: 1,651,000
Hindus: 676,000
Zoroastrians: 384,000
+ Hindu martyrs: 20M
+ Buddhist martyrs: 10M
+ Jewish: 9M
+ Ethnoreligious: 6M
+ Sikh: 2M
+ Baha'i: 1M
+ Other religious martyrs: 5M
o The book defines martyrs as
1. Believers in Christ (U.O.N.)
2. Who have lost their lives
3. Prematurely
4. In situations of witness
5. As a result of human hostility.
o World Christian Trends by Barrett et al: Apparently this book
gives more details about martyrdom statistics, but so far, I haven't found
it in a library (even our local seminary), and I can't afford to buy it
myself. (But see http://gem-werc.org/gd/listings.pdf) Here are some of the
major episodes that I've been able to scrounge from websites and articles.
Some of my sources have been somewhat ambiguous in their wording, so I
honestly don't know whether they mean to say that the Amerindians and
Baghdadians, for example, are meant as Christian martyrs or Muslim or
Shamanist, or whether the various subclasses who died at Soviet or Nazi
hands are already included in the largest number or meant to be added to it.
+ Martyrdom at Soviet hands:
# 1921-50: 15M Christians in prison camps
# 1950-80: 5M Christians in prison camps
# Orthodox: 14.5M k. by Stalin, 2.7M of them martyrs
(1929-37)
# Roman Catholics (1925): 1.2M martyrs
+ By Mongols
# 1214: Genghiz Khan massacres 6M Christians: 4M
martyrs
# 1214: Diocese of Herat sacked by Genghiz Khan: 1M
# 1258: massacre in Baghdad by Hulaku Khan: 1.1M
# 1358: Tamerlane destroys 15-million-strong
Nestorians: 4M martyrs
+ Conquistadors kill 15 million Amerindians: 2M martyrs
(1560)
+ Christians executed by Nazis in death camps: 1M
# Nazis exterminate 0.5M Gypsies
+ Khmer Rouge slaughter 2M (1975)
+ Kurds massacre 20,000 Nestorians (1843)
+ Massacre of 40,000 Vietnamese Catholics (1970)
The Ottawa Citizen (20 Dec. 1998)
o 15M Christians d. in Soviet prison camps because of their faith.
o citing Paul Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out
+ ca. 400,000 Chinese Christians died during the Cultural
Revolution.
+ ca. 100,000 Christians k by Idi Amin (out of 300,000 total
k.)
+ Up to 500,000 Rwandan Christians died as witnesses to
their faith (out of 700,000 total k.) (1994)
The Ottawa Citizen (6 Feb. 1993)
o Citing D. Barret, Our Globe and How to Reach It
+ 40M Christians martyred throughout history.
+ ca. 24M by secular governments and atheists
+ ca. 8M k. by other Christians
sadistic freak.
Religious Martyrs
David Barrett, Todd Johnson, Justin Long
o World Christian Encyclopedia (2001): This book is the standard
reference work for religious statistics of all kinds, and both Britannica
and the World Almanac cite from it. It has a single page
[http://gem-werc.org/gd/gd16.pdf] estimating the number of martyrs since the
origin of each religion:
+ Muslim martyrs: 80M
+ Christian martyrs: 70M
# 20th Century: 45.4M
# At the hands of...
Atheists: 31,689,000
Muslims 9,121,000
Ethnoreligionists: 7,469,000
Christians: 5,538,000
Quasi-religionists 2,712,000
Mahayana Buddhists: 1,651,000
Hindus: 676,000
Zoroastrians: 384,000
+ Hindu martyrs: 20M
+ Buddhist martyrs: 10M
+ Jewish: 9M
+ Ethnoreligious: 6M
+ Sikh: 2M
+ Baha'i: 1M
+ Other religious martyrs: 5M
o The book defines martyrs as
1. Believers in Christ (U.O.N.)
2. Who have lost their lives
3. Prematurely
4. In situations of witness
5. As a result of human hostility.
o World Christian Trends by Barrett et al: Apparently this book
gives more details about martyrdom statistics, but so far, I haven't found
it in a library (even our local seminary), and I can't afford to buy it
myself. (But see http://gem-werc.org/gd/listings.pdf) Here are some of the
major episodes that I've been able to scrounge from websites and articles.
Some of my sources have been somewhat ambiguous in their wording, so I
honestly don't know whether they mean to say that the Amerindians and
Baghdadians, for example, are meant as Christian martyrs or Muslim or
Shamanist, or whether the various subclasses who died at Soviet or Nazi
hands are already included in the largest number or meant to be added to it.
+ Martyrdom at Soviet hands:
# 1921-50: 15M Christians in prison camps
# 1950-80: 5M Christians in prison camps
# Orthodox: 14.5M k. by Stalin, 2.7M of them martyrs
(1929-37)
# Roman Catholics (1925): 1.2M martyrs
+ By Mongols
# 1214: Genghiz Khan massacres 6M Christians: 4M
martyrs
# 1214: Diocese of Herat sacked by Genghiz Khan: 1M
# 1258: massacre in Baghdad by Hulaku Khan: 1.1M
# 1358: Tamerlane destroys 15-million-strong
Nestorians: 4M martyrs
+ Conquistadors kill 15 million Amerindians: 2M martyrs
(1560)
+ Christians executed by Nazis in death camps: 1M
# Nazis exterminate 0.5M Gypsies
+ Khmer Rouge slaughter 2M (1975)
+ Kurds massacre 20,000 Nestorians (1843)
+ Massacre of 40,000 Vietnamese Catholics (1970)
The Ottawa Citizen (20 Dec. 1998)
o 15M Christians d. in Soviet prison camps because of their faith.
o citing Paul Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out
+ ca. 400,000 Chinese Christians died during the Cultural
Revolution.
+ ca. 100,000 Christians k by Idi Amin (out of 300,000 total
k.)
+ Up to 500,000 Rwandan Christians died as witnesses to
their faith (out of 700,000 total k.) (1994)
The Ottawa Citizen (6 Feb. 1993)
o Citing D. Barret, Our Globe and How to Reach It
+ 40M Christians martyred throughout history.
+ ca. 24M by secular governments and atheists
+ ca. 8M k. by other Christians