As America contends with the seemingly never-ending problems that 2020 presents, some news topics go to the forefront while others are put on the back burner. One overlooked issue is the persecution of Christians and Jews by radical Islamists — the mainstream media seem hesitant to give much attention to this unfortunate phenomenon. Indeed, though the modern world seems to be enjoying great advancements with regard to religious tolerance, some regions of the world are more religiously equal than others.
The oppression of Christians and Jews, especially in the Middle East, is nothing new. Over the past century, Christians, once a respectable force in the region, have drastically decreased in proportion to Muslims in the face of great social and physical pressure, dropping from 25 percent to 5 percent of the population. Likewise, Jews have experienced dramatic attrition in the Middle East: Just 4,315 Jews remain in the Arab world today, down from 880,000 in 1948. This exodus is attributable not only to the mere desire to live in Israel but to the fact that many Jews have been forced out of their homes by ridicule, discrimination, and extremist violence. In all, many Muslim-majority nations have permitted — indeed, encouraged — substantial religious persecution to develop within their borders, leading to a lack of free worship, geopolitical unrest, and, in many cases, an outright tyranny of the majority. Though members of all religions have fled the Middle East since the 1950s as a result of scarce economic opportunities and widespread warfare, it is inarguable that the Christian and Jewish minorities of the region have faced disproportionate hardships — no mere coincidence. And the persecution continues, threatening to further displace these religious minorities from their ancestral homes and to uproot their long-standing relics, places of worship, and ways of life.
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