Meanwhile, in Pakistan several days ago, Muslims fired upon Christians in an attempt to seize their lands; in Nigeria, Muslims kidnapped over one hundred Christians; and in Egypt, two Muslim brothers murdered a Christian shopkeeper because of his faith.

The Muslim persecution of Christians has rarely been as virulent or widespread as it is today, yet it gets little attention. That’s why a new book by Casey Chalk, The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands (Sophia Institute Press), is a breath of fresh air and a welcome dose of realism in an international public discourse increasingly dominated by sloganeering and propaganda.

Chalk explained to me that this much-needed book had its genesis in encounters he had with Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in Bangkok, Thailand, where he and his wife moved in 2014. “The very first Sunday that we attended Mass,” he told me, “I immediately noticed a substantial number of South Asians. We soon befriended several Pakistani families at our parish, and became intimately familiar with their stories of persecution, suffering, and loss.

While in Thailand, and since returning to the United States in 2017, I’ve written articles about their plight for many Christian and conservative publications. Sophia Institute Press graciously agreed to help turn their stories — and my reflections on the broader global problem they represent — into The Persecuted.”

It’s more than just gracious. It’s urgent, as most Americans are completely unfamiliar with the plight of these Christians, which has been criminally underreported. Yet “the Pakistani Christians I now count as friends,” Chalk recounts, “have endured terrible trauma. Some have been shot at, others set on fire by angry militant mobs, and others beaten within an inch of their lives. Many have female family members or friends who have been abducted by extremists and forcibly married to Muslim men, something local authorities rarely do anything about.”