Imagine living a life where you aren’t allowed to choose where you go to church, whom you worship, or what religion you are. Unfortunately, billions of people do live that life. Since the time of Jesus, Christians have fought for the right to freely practice their faith. Christians are still persecuted in nearly sixty countries and forced to worship God in secret. These sacrifices made throughout the centuries illustrate the need for religious freedom, which gives people the ability to live the way God has intended for them.
Beginning during the reign of the Roman Empire, Christianity was immediately opposed by the Romans. Christianity became illegal and anyone found to be Christian was sentenced to death. The Romans had gruesome deaths planned for illegal Christians, but that did not stop them from
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In the 1920s, Catholics’ freedoms were once again threatened, this time in Mexico. The Church was hardly allowed to exist, and people were imprisoned for wearing or saying anything religious. For a nation that was 95% Catholic, this suppression was unbearable. Catholics had no choice but to fight back.
A group of Catholic warriors, the Cristeros, started a rebellion against the Mexican government in 1926. This rebellion turned into a raging three- year war. The United States helped negotiate peace between the Mexican government and the Catholics, but not before 90,000 people died in the Cristero War. Furthermore, religious freedom in Mexico was not fully restored for another seventy years.
Religious persecution is not a thing of the past. Not only were Christians persecuted in Rome two thousand years ago, but they are also being harassed all around the world to this day. Christians continue to fight to preserve religious freedom not only for themselves but also for all