Editing Christophobia (section)

[[File:Christophobia.jpg|thumb|304px]]{{Quote|It was the nineteenth year of [[Diocletian]]'s reign and the month Dystrus, called March by the Romans, and the festival of the Saviour's Passion was approaching, when an imperial decree was published everywhere, ordering the churches to be razed to the ground and the Scriptures destroyed by fire, and giving notice that those in places of honour would lose their places, and domestic staff, if they continued to profess Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty. Such was the first edict against us. Soon afterwards other decrees arrived in rapid succession, ordering that the presidents of the churches in every place should all be first committed to prison and then coerced by every possible means into offering sacrifice.|The Christian historian Eusebius on [[Diocletian]]'s purge of Christians.}}
The '''Christophobia''' (also sometimes referred to as Anti-Christian Sentiment) is hostility and prejudice against christians and christian culture. can be historically traced from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_1st_century first century] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_era Christian era] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_21st_century present day]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity Early Christians] were persecuted for their faith at the hands of both the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_by_the_Jews Jews] from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_of_early_Christianity_and_Judaism whose religion Christianity arose] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire Romans] who controlled many of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_centers_of_Christianity lands across which early Christianity was spread]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_4th_century Early in the fourth century], a form of the religion was legalized by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Milan Edict of Milan], and it eventually became the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire State church of the Roman Empire]. Christians also faced oppression from Muslims within the Middle East in ancient times to modern times.

Christian missionaries as well as converts to Christianity have been the target of persecution ever since the emergence of Christianity, sometimes to the point of being martyred for their faith.

The schisms of the Middle Ages and especially the Protestant Reformation, sometimes provoked severe conflicts between Christian denominations to the point of persecuting each other.

In the 20th century, Christians were persecuted by various governments including the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam Islamic] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire Ottoman Empire] in the form of the [[Armenian Genocide]], the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Genocide Assyrian Genocide] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Genocide Greek Genocide], as well as by atheistic states such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union Soviet Union], Communist Albania and North Korea.