Persecution Statistics
This may be the most dangerous time in history to be a Christian throughout the world. Persecution statistics document increasing persecution of Christians in more countries than ever before.
At least 327 million Christians face persecution according to Aid to the Church in Need which released its latest report on Religious Freedom in the World in November 2018. This means that about 7 percent of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians estimated by Pew Research Center in 2015.
Open Doors USA did a propose a World Watch List of the most dangerous countries throughout the world where there is a high level of persecution (such as torture, rape, sex-slavery, forced conversion, murder, and genocide). There was an increase of 14 percent in the estimate persecution rate over the prior year.
Sixty percent of those undergoing persecution are women and children. Anti-Christian persecution is believed to rise “sharply” in 2019 according to Release International in the United Kingdom.
Numbers of Persecuted Christians
The United States State Department office of International Religious Freedom reports that
a majority of the global population (83%) lives in places with “high” or “very high” religious restrictions, mostly targeting religious minorities.
The United Kingdom reported in 2019 that one-third of the world’s believers are persecuted, 80 percent of these are Christian.
Pew Research reported in July 2018 that Christians experienced persecution in 144 countries – a record high, being an increase of 34 percent form the 107 countries reported in 2007.
The Center for the Study of Global Christianity produced an annual report in 2017 showing that nearly 1 million Christians were martyred between 2005 and 2015. What is even more disturbing is that more Christians have died for their faith over the past 100 years than in all prior centuries combined.
Cause of Persecution
There are many causes for religious persecution but the most common are,
- Religious nationalism in places like India and Burma,
- Authoritarian regimes like China and North Korea,
- Lawlessness and secularism as in Mexico where 22 priests have been kidnapped and killed in the past three years
- Sharia is the majority cause, producing 68 percent of the anti-Christian religious persecution, which is fundamentalist Islam’s brutally repressive and supremacist Islamic law. This is true in 8 of the top 10 countries on the Open Door’s list, representing 34 of the top 50 most repressive countries.
The United States State Department office of International Religious Freedom reports that
a majority of the global population (83%) lives in places with “high” or “very high” religious restrictions, mostly targeting religious minorities.
The United Kingdom reported in 2019 that one-third of the world’s believers are persecuted, 80 percent of these are Christian.
Pew Research reported in July 2018 that Christians experienced persecution in 144 countries – a record high, being an increase of 34 percent form the 107 countries reported in 2007.
The Center for the Study of Global Christianity produced an annual report in 2017 showing that nearly 1 million Christians were martyred between 2005 and 2015. What is even more disturbing is that more Christians have died for their faith over the past 100 years than in all prior centuries combined.
The Worst Countries
Image by Ichigo121212 from Pixabay
Several countries have the most persecution of their religious minorities – especially Christians.
North Korea. Christians are singled out as the worst threat to the government’s totalitarian rule. The regime has produced a sophisticated surveillance scheme to pursue and imprison Christians practicing their faith in secret. Those who are caught and their families are incarcerated whether or not they are religious. It is obviously hoped that this threat to the extended family might discourage religious observance.
The State Department estimates there are about 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners languishing in North Korea’s harsh labor camps, and about 50,000 of these detainees are thought to be Christian. Inmates are detained indefinitely face hard labor along with starvation, torture and arbitrary execution. Those who have escaped North Korea report that Christians are often singled out for more harsh treatment.
China. Christians face harsh persecution in China in a different way. The Bible you have may have been rewritten by the Chinese government to remove any “objectionable” material, your church demolished, and your pastor imprisoned. All religious faiths are persecuted in China in an attempt to “sinicize” religious belief – attempting to diminish and eventually to erase the independent practice of religion.
More than 5,000 Christians and 1,000 church leaders were imprisoned in 2018 due to their faith or religious practices.
Eritrea. Believers are regularly arrested and detained for their religious beliefs, often without due process of law. Security forces continue to arrest evangelicals and Pentecostals for participating in religious ceremonies and prayer meetings.
Christians are often forced to sign promises that they will no longer attend meetings or worship services at their own churches. Many believers have been detained for over ten years just for practicing their religious beliefs.
Iran. There are several communities of Christians throughout Iran that have been worshiping for centuries including traditional Armenian and Assyrian/Chaldean ethnic church. Newer Protestant churches have also been gaining converts in the country.
Evangelical Christians are especially persecuted as they conduct services in Persian and proselytize to those outside their community. Pastors of house churches are charged with apostasy and national security crimes and face long prison terms and execution.
Nigeria. Christian persecution has been getting much worse in Nigeria as the Muslims from the northern parts of the country attempt ethnic-cleansing campaigns. Religious communities in many areas are targeted. The polarization of the country into religious factions makes people afraid to venture outside of their communities or to have any business dealings with those of other faiths.
Sudan. Sudan has been a particularly difficult country for Christians resulting in the fracture of the country into North and South with the south being Christian. There has been a long civil war fought in Sudan resulting in the partition of the country. The majority of the population of South Sudan adheres to Christianity but is still an extremely poor country destroyed by war. South Sudan ranked the lowest in the latest UN World Happiness Report.
Vietnam. Vietnam is still a repressive Communist country trying to figure its way into the world community. Christians are expected to worship only with the government-sponsored Evangelical Chruch of Vietnam while house churches are repressed.
In numerous instances, local officials harass members of independent religious groups to renounce their faith sometimes using threats of physical assault or banishment from the community.
Summary
These instances represent only a tiny minority of the anti-Christian sentiment in many parts of the world.
This bias is most evident in countries where fundamentalist Islam is prominent, but also in countries where government repression attempt to regular all parts of its population to ensure adherence to its repressive regime.
Christianity has always been seen as a threat to any totalitarian government – for good reason. History shows that Christianity will survive these regimes, and will be present long after the regime has perished. Modern Christianity teaches its adherents they are only passing through this world, and their primary adherence is to God and not to the government; this always presents a threat to a government as it makes Christians much more difficult to control.
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