[10] According to Elizabeth Castelli,[11] some set the starting point of the Christian persecution complex in the middle of the 20th century, following a series of court rulings that declared public places to be out of bounds for religious activity, e.g. state-sanctioned morning prayer in schools.
[12] The persecution complex became readily apparent in the United States in the 1990s with the adoption of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 as the official foreign policy.
Moreover, it routinely deploys the archetypal figure of the martyr as a source of unquestioned religious and political authority".
[14] The application of the contraceptive mandate to closely held corporations with religious objections was struck down by the Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Hornback noted that the Christian persecution complex is widespread among nationalists in Europe, who feel that they are defending the continent from a new Islamic invasion.
[18] As of 2019, some nationalistic dispensationalists have promoted a narrative of Western persecution of Christians, in order to claim a position of marginalization and disadvantage.