The world is standing silently by while Christians in Muslim countries are being killed, and their murderers are being honored, according to one columnist.

"Today, Christians, regardless of affiliation, are being systematically harassed, persecuted, and murdered throughout the Middle East, the region of the globe from which Christianity first emerged," American Thinker's Cheryl Halpern wrote. 
 
The former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides some of the funding for National Public Radio and PBS, noted that "churches have been bombed and those attending Christian services have been killed." 

"Christian homes have been ransacked and cemeteries have been destroyed," she added.

Muslims who've converted to the Christian faith are considered apostates, she explained, and subjected to severe punishment.

"This can only be called religious cleansing on a vast scale," she charged.

Halpern says political and religious leaders must stand up to Islamic governments that tolerate and promote that kind of persecution.