Christians are being driven out of their "historic heartlands" by extremists using torture and murder, the British minister for faith warned today.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said there is a "global crisis" which could lead to Christianity becoming extinct in areas in which it has flourished for generations.
She cited plummeting populations in war-torn countries such as Iraq and Syria, where "horrific bloodshed has masked the haemorrhaging of its Christian population".
Ms Warsi, who was the first Muslim woman to serve as a British minister, wrote in the Telegraph: "There are parts of the world today where to be a Christian is to put your life in danger.
"From continent to continent, Christians are facing discrimination, ostracism, torture, even murder, simply for the faith they follow. Perpetrators range from states to terrorists to people's neighbour."
The Conservative MP for Dewsbury warned of a growing trend toward "collective punishment" as relationships between and within faiths become "ever more volatile".
"Collective punishment is becoming more common, with people being attacked for the alleged crimes, connections or connotations of their coreligionists, often in response to events taking place thousands of miles away," she wrote.
Ahead of a speech at Washington's Georgetown University today, Ms Warsi called for an international consensus to harness the unity which remains in tact between observers of different faiths.
"I do not buy the argument that faiths are on a violent collision course, that division and sectarianism are inevitable.
"Yes, the battle lines have been drawn on religious divisions in the past. But history shows this is not inevitable; communities can and do co-exist.
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"I want try to build an international consensus, bringing together law enforcers, politicians, charities, journalists, the judiciary and more to develop a strategy for putting this vision for universal religious freedom into practice, and to start making an impact on people’s everyday lives."
