Kaitlyn Grubbs

Mr. Evans
April 2016
Religion 10
Struggles of the Church
The Christian Church has been through many difficulties during its existence. Like other
religions, including Jewish, these people were persecuted for their beliefs. The Christians, since
their religion had founded, has had to go through many different forms of persecution. Though
the church had expanded to a great size, there are still ways that the church is being persecuted
up until the present day. Beginning with the early church through the present day, there will be an
overview on the types of struggles that the church has had to overcome.
From the beginning of the church and into its early years, there have been many struggles
that it had to face. In the beginning there was turmoil between members of the church who had
clashing beliefs, as they were all converts to Christianity. The early church also had problems
with those who practices Judaism. Since the Christians denounced the belief in other gods, nonChristians thought that the other gods would be outraged in the Christians belief. False
accusations caused against the Christians, such as cannibalism and incest, would lead to
persecutions which were publicly held. These struggles placed on the Christian church would
end in 313 when Christianity was legalized due to persistent efforts to evangelize.
During 1789, the French Revolution began which would lead to some difficulties with the
Church. From 1790 through 1794, there was a result in the closing monasteries, a Civil
Constitution of the Clergy, and a civil election of bishops and priests. Due to
this happening, the Church would be forced to go underground. There was
also an instance where Pope Pius VI sided against the revolution and was

later taken as a prisoner. This occurred when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded

Italy, making Pope Pius VI a prisoner of France. The later result would be the
death of the pope. This was direct persecution against the Christian Church.
While the church was still underground, one of the people who was
oppressed was William Joseph Chaminade. At that same time as the
oppression, there was a ban of worship and churches, along with a
movement which was referred to as De-Christianization. Chaminade would
be exiled to Saragossa, Spain but would not give up, as he traveled to France
in 1800 and began to Re-Christianize the area. This was brought on by the
end of Napoleon, restoring the church which still had many restrictions. The
church did not get back any land which it lost and only some schools were
still allowed to teach the faith.
In the present day, the church is still being persecuted. The amount of believers has
increased to a great size, but there are still many people who are against it. In the Middle East,
there is a group called ISIS, which fights any non-Sunni Muslims. Connecting back to the
Christian Church, there has been many accounts featured recently in the news about ISIS killing
Christians. There have been many attacks on Christians, as well as other faiths and religions. As
ISIS also attacks various countries and cities, the church must hold strong to their beliefs that
God will protect them throughout everything that it currently happening in the world around it.
The church is also subject to being seen negatively. Beginning in 2001, a light was shone on
sexual abuse scandals. The church since then has worked to end the sexual abuse, but, at the
time, some priests resigned or even were put in prison.

Since the founding of the Catholic Church, it has gone through a variety of struggles. A
common factor is the persecution of Christians which can be noted throughout the churchs
history. From the very beginning to the present day, the church has a negative connotations to
many non-Christians and has been subjected to many different difficulties posed by those who
are not in agreement with the church and its teachings. The persecutions on the Christians were,
and still are, publicly done except they have more people aware of them now due to social
networking which is able to be accessed all across the world. Each different struggle that the
church has faced has been distinct in its own way. The church has undergone so many difficulties
that some may find it surprising that the religion has lasted as long as it has.