For Italian Protestants, the going has never been very easy. The followers of 12th Century Protestant Peter Waldo were hunted in the hills for 650 years; in a single day, 150 of them were burned alive. Things are not that bad now. But the 80,000-odd Protestants in postFascist Italy find their prospects for religious liberty looking worse instead of better. In the current Christian Century, Journalist Robert Root reports the situation under the pessimistic title, "Twilight of Religious Liberty":
"Protestants in Italy are enjoying the last weeks of liberty to proclaim their faith...