Showing posts with label Christian Persecution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Persecution. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Top 50 Countries Where It's Most Difficult To Be A Christian

Article Source:christianitytoday.com 




New research reveals one more reason to remember 2014: for the greatest number of religious freedom violations against Christians worldwide in recent memory—even in Christian-majority countries. Of the worst 50 nations, 4 out of 5 share the same primary cause. And, while the number of martyrdoms did double from 2013, the main driver of persecution in 2014 wasn't violence.
Open Doors released today its latest World Watch List (WWL). The annual list ranks the top 50 countries "where Christians face the most persecution," aiming to create "effective anger" on believers' behalf.
“This year, the threshold was higher for a country to make the list, indicating that worldwide levels of persecution have increased,” stated Open Doors in announcing its analysis of the "significant trends" in 2014 that drove persecution higher worldwide, "even in places where it has not been reported in the past."
So while countries such as Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fell significantly in rank on this year's watch list (Sri Lanka dropped 15 spots to No. 44, and the UAE dropped 14 spots to No. 49), their level of persecution dropped only slightly from last year's list (by four points and two points, respectively, on a 100-point scale). And while three countries—Bahrain, Morocco, and Niger—were removed from the list this year, the level of persecution in each remained virtually the same from 2013 to 2014.
Overall in 2014, pressure on Christians increased in 29 countries, decreased in 11, and remained stable in 7. Three countries—Mexico, Turkey, and Azerbaijan—were added to the watch list this year. [See infographic below.]
Open Doors researchers measure persecution by “the degree of freedom a Christian has to live out his or her faith in five spheres of life (private, family, community, national, and church life),” as well as by tallying acts of violence.
Researchers calculate that 4,344 Christians were "killed for faith-related reasons" in 2014, which is "more than double the 2,123 killed in 2013, and more than triple the 1,201 killed the year before that," reports World Watch Monitor (WWM). (Measuring martyrdoms has drawn debate in recent years, and Open Doors is usually on the conservative end of estimates.) By far the largest number of deaths occurred in Nigeria, where 2,484 Christians were killed; the next deadliest country for Christians was the Central African Republic (CAR), with 1,088 deaths. The remaining three deadliest countries were Syria (271 deaths), Kenya (119 deaths), and North Korea (100 deaths).
In addition, 1,062 churches were "attacked for faith-related reasons" in 2014. The majority of attacks took place in five countries: China (258 churches), Vietnam (116 churches), Nigeria (108 churches), Syria (107 churches), and the Central African Republic (100 churches). Last year's highest-profile incident: a government campaign to “de-Christianize” the skyline of one of China’s most Christian cities. (The Pew Research Center also recently tallied the countries with the most governmentdestruction of religious property.)
But it wasn’t increased violence that primarily drove persecution to record levels in 2014, but rather increased “cultural marginalization,” according to Open Doors. In other words, the "more subtle 'squeeze' dimensions of persecution" which make "daily life ... harder and harder" for Christians. A substantial study by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 75 percent of the world’s population now lives in countries with high levels of social hostility involving religion. [CT compared how both groups rank the world's worst persecutors.]
“Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination, and violence,” said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. “The 2015 World Watch List reveals that a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They are being forced to be more secretive about their faith.”
One of those Christian-majority countries is Kenya, which made the biggest leap on the list—from No. 43 on last year’s list to No. 19—even though about 83 percent of Kenyans are Christians. A rash of religious violence over the summer spiked tensions and left 100 dead.
And in Nigeria, where approximately half the population is Christian, murders and kidnappings by the militant group Boko Haram (most notably of 165 Christian schoolgirls) helped the West African nation reach the top 10 for the first time, rising from No. 14 last year to No. 10 this year. (CT noted how Boko Haram's terrorism ischanging Nigeria’s churches.)
African countries saw the largest increase in persecution in 2014. Along with Kenya in the 2015 report, Mali and the Central African Republic saw the highest increases in persecution in the 2013 and 2014 reports, respectively. This year, Djibouti, Tanzania, Somalia, and Comoros all rose more than seven spots on the list. “Many other countries in this region are boiling below the top 50 also, and may feature in the future,” noted Open Doors.
The primary culprit in Africa and worldwide: “Islamic extremism,” which was the "main persecution engine" in 40 of the 50 countries on the 2015 watch list, including 18 of the top 20 countries (only 6 of which are in the Middle East).
The No. 2 driver of persecution was "dictatorial paranoia," or "where leaders seek to control religious expression," noted Open Doors. "It is the main persecution engine in 10 countries, including North Korea, and shows up as a secondary persecution engine in 16 more countries."
And while "organized corruption"' is the main driver of persecution in only Colombia and Mexico, it is No. 3 (after "Islamic extremism" and "dictatorial paranoia") "when its status as a secondary engine is taken into account," noted Open Doors. "Christians increasingly have to pay a heavy economic price to remain faithful to Christ."
Overall, persecution increased more rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world, according to Open Doors. Djibouti moved from No. 46 in 2014 to No. 24 this year—the second-biggest leap after Kenya. Tanzania jumped 16 spots to No. 33, and the island nation of Comoros rose 10 spots to No. 32. Eritrea rose from No. 12 to No. 9, and Sudan—where Meriam Ibrahim was imprisoned and sentenced to death for her faith, but was later released and gained asylum in the United States—rose from No. 11 to No. 6.
The top five rankings remained virtually the same as last year, with North Korea at No. 1, followed by Somalia, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The "biggest surprise" of the year: Malaysia, especially the fight over Allah Bibles.
Three of the top five countries are in the Middle East, where targeted attacks have emptied many regions of Christians, reports Open Doors. Many fled from theadvance of the Islamic State in 2014; in fact, more than 70 percent of Christians have left Iraq since 2003, and more than 700,000 Christians have fled from Syria since 2011, according to Open Doors. Only a remnant remain.
Holding steady for the 13th year as the worst place for Christians to live is North Korea, where Open Doors reports up to 70,000 Christians are held in prison camps for their faith. The country garnered media attention in 2014 with the Novemberrelease of American missionary Kenneth Bae after two years in prison, thedetainment of American Jeffrey Fowles for leaving behind a Bible, and the arrest andrelease of 75-year-old Australian missionary John Short. (South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jong-Uk is still imprisoned after receiving a life sentence in June for allegedly working with underground churches.)
Overall in Asia, Open Doors had been "reporting improving conditions for Christians in the Far East in recent years," noted WWM, but "the trend reversed course in 2014, when every country on the list but Laos and Sri Lanka received a higher persecution score. China, India and Malaysia registered the largest increases. Twelve countries from East Asia and the Far East are among the top 50."
Persecution in India, which rose to its highest ranking ever (No. 21), has ramped up since Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist and the only politician ever banned from the US for religious freedom violations, was elected as prime minister in May. Modi’s silence on the more than 600 attacks on non-Hindus that occurred during his first 100 days in office, as well as conversion efforts like the planned Christmas reconversion of 5,000 Christians and Muslims to Hinduism, have been controversial enough to stymie India’s parliament.
“The goal of the World Watch List is to keep Christian persecution on the radar of those enjoying the privileges of freedom,” said Curry. “The perpetrators of persecution need to know that the world is watching and stands in opposition to persecution. And for the persecuted, we want them to know that they are not forgotten.”
And Open Doors did identify some "good news trends" amid the dark headlines:
  • "Ancient enmities between Christians in the Middle East are slowly dissolving in the white heat of violence and persecution."
  • "New co-operative relationships are being forged between Muslim and Christian in the Middle East caldron that could have wonderful long term benefits."
  • "China is still undecided about how to deal with the church. ... If Christianity can sound, look and be Chinese enough, we might just see the church continuing to be invited to play a fuller role in the building of the new China."
  • Western governments are engaging with religious communities in working against extremists like never before."
“There is in many government departments (though not all) a new sophistication in realizing that good religion has the best chance of driving out bad religion,” wrote Ron Boyd-McMillan, Open Doors' research director. “At the very least, there is a new openness and thirst for the information and wisdom of Christians working in these regions among those who are tasked with ensuring national security. That has not happened before to the extent it has in 2014.”
Boyd-McMillan noted: "As Li Tien En, a famous house church Christian in China used to say, 'Persecution is two parts opportunity, one part crisis—God always brings opportunities out of a crisis.' There is a new unity occurring among ancient communities of faith, and we may see again that an exodus is not always bad for the spread of the Gospel."
WWM offers a detailed report on the 2015 World Watch List, as well as a trend analysis, the complete scores of each country, further details on the top 20 countriesand the remaining 30, and an examination of religious violence.
CT reported last year's World Watch List (which revealed the methodology behind the rankings for the first time), which found that persecution in 2013 increased in 34 countries, decreased in 5, and remained stable in 14. CT examined the WWL rankings in 20092012, and 2013, including a spotlight on where it's hardest to believe, and charted how Open Doors and Pew Research Center rankings compare.
CT also noted how the State Department and USCIRF disagree on which countries deserves censure for mistreating religious minorities. The State Department’s list of “countries of particular concern” includes: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. In April 2014, USCIRF recommended the addition of Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

ISIS "Declares War on Christians"

Article Source: Virtual Jerusalem 







Islamic State (ISIS) has published a new edition of the propaganda booklet Dabiq, which is again signaling its primary enemy - Christianity. 

On the cover page of the booklet is a photo of the Vatican bearing the ISIS flag, along with the terror group's desires to conquer Rome and "break the cross." 

According to some Islamic traditions, the founder of Islam Mohammed predicted that the occupation of the three cities of Istanbul, Jerusalem and Rome pave the way for the appearance of the Mahdi, the Islamic Messiah. 
The declaration surfaces amid growing concern over the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

The cause sparked a joint conference between the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in Jerusalem earlier this week, and an impassioned speech on regional issues by an Israeli Christian Arab leader to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last month. 

"Across the Middle East, in the last ten years, 100,000 Christians have been murdered each year. That means that every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith," Father Gabriel Nadaf, who has campaigned for Christian Arab rights and for local Christians to support Israel, told the UNHRC in September.

"Those who can escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists have fled... Those who remain, exist as second if not third class citizens to their Muslim rulers."

Some 12 million Christians were estimated to have lived in the Middle East in total, according to a July estimate in the Guardian, but that number has been thought to have decreased drastically since ISIS's summer takeover in Iraq.

The Christian community has faced dire persecution in a variety of Middle Eastern countries over the past 2-3 years, with a systemic crackdown on religious dissidents intensifying as the region shifted more toward radical Islam. 

In Egypt, Coptic Christians have been targeted by violence from the Muslim Brotherhood ad Salafi groups. In Syria, Al-Qaeda linked rebels have threatened to kill Christians who do not join the fight against President Bashar Al-Assad.

Iran has persecuted Christians relentlessly as well, recently making headlines for burning the lips of a Christian man caught eating 
during the Ramadan fast. 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

CHRISTIAN HOLOCAUST UNDERWAY IN IRAQ, USA AND WORLD LOOK ON

Article Source Breitbart.com



When U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003, there were at least 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Over the last ten years, significantly in the last few months with the emergence of ISIS, that figure has dropped to about 400,000.

In a region where Christians predate Muslims by centuries, over one million Christians have been killed or have had to flee because of jihadi persecution, while America is basically standing by and watching. This is the sad news that Breitbart’s National Security Editor and one of the world’s leading experts on asymmetric warfare, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, brought to Breitbart News Saturday, hosted by Editor in Chief Alex Marlow on Sirius XM Patriot Radio.
Dr. Gorka explained that “in the last 48 hours, ISIS, which is now called the Islamic State in Mosul, has painted the letter “N” for Nazarene on the houses of all the surviving Christians in the city. ISIS has basically given an ultimatum to all the Christians left: You can either flee or convert to Islam, or we will kill you.”
Gorka points out that, over the last 20 years, America has stood up around the world to save Muslims. “Whether it was to save the Muslims in Bosnia or the Albanians, Kosovars, and Muslims in Serbia, it is now time for a humanitarian operation to save the remaining Christians in Iraq,” he said. “It is time for the American people and our representatives to do something for our co-religionists remaining in the Middle East.”
Marlow observed that the blatant religious cleansing is horrifying and asked Gorka: “Why is it that the mainstream press is not interested in the story?” Gorka first responded by saying "Let's face it, this is a Christian version of the Holocaust and nothing less.” 
The Middle East expert went on to explain that the mainstream media is in full support of the White House narrative “that the President single-handedly killed Osama Bin Laden, and that Al Qaeda is now on the ropes; therefore, jihad must be shriveling up around the world.” This myopic strategy of only targeting Al Qaeda has provided great opportunities for other jihadists and has given rise to ISIS.
“On top of that,” Gorka asserts that, "the mainstream media are warped in terms of their world view.” According to Breitbart’s national security expert, the media is “post-modernist, sophisticated, and secularist. So when it comes to the idea of religious persecution, they say, ‘Well who really cares because I don’t believe in God. If you are not sophisticated enough to be a post-modernist secularist... tough on you!’”
Gorka didn't finish there with his scathing indictment of the mainstream media. He added that it is their racism that will let this genocide of Christians continue. “To the mainstream media,” Gorka charged, “the dark skin person always has to be the victim. Either the Hamas terrorist in Gaza, the Nicaraguan gang bangers coming across the border likened to juvenile political refugees... the idea that the white skin Christian or the Israelis as victims, that goes against every narrative this media wishes to pedal. They are necessarily so locked into their own ideological vision of the world.”
Marlow summed it up by saying, “Christians are politically targeted in America frequently; they are being physically targeted in Africa, Syria, and Iraq.” Gorka emphasized that, from his first hand experiences in Africa, Christians will always be blamed for starting any upheaval.

Monday, August 19, 2013

10 year old Christian Egyptian Girl Martyred- Shot Dead in Egypt






Hated for the name sake of Jesus Christ and Persecution








2 Timothy 3:12

King James Version (KJV)
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Matthew 10:21-22

King James Version (KJV)

21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Luke 21:12-16

King James Version (KJV)

12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Coptic Priest Killed in Egypt(Christian Persecution)


Story Source UPI.com


A coptic priest was shot and killed in northern Sinai in what some are calling "the first sectarian killing" since Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in a military coup.
Mina Aboud Sharween, a Christian priest, was attacked Saturday as we walked in the Masaeed area in El Arish, which is closed to the Gaza strip, in the early afternoon.
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has reportedly criticized Egypt's spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros, for approving the outing of the president and attending a ceremony lead by the head of the army General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, where Egypt's constitution was suspended.
Adly Mansour has since been sworn in as Egypt's interim president. Morsi suporters have vowed to stay on the streets until the former president is reinstated.
Saturday's shooting came in response to the arrest of several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday.




Friday, April 12, 2013

Washington Christian Florist Being Sued By State After Refusing Flowers for Gay Wedding

Source: By The Blaze




Barronelle Stutzman Florist Owner Stands by her Christian belief. 


Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against a business that refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding. Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts, located in Richland, is the focus of the legal drama, after its owner cited Christian views and apologized for an apparent inability to offer up flowers for the nuptials.


SeattlePI.com reports that the choice to file a lawsuit came after Ferguson attempted to get owner Barronelle Stutzman to reconsider the refusal to provide wedding flowers to a customer named Robert Ingersoll. The incident began on March 1, when the client first learned of Stutzman’s views.
After a March 28 letter from the attorney general failed to sway the business owner, legal action has been taken. The outlet explains:
An employee at Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts said late Tuesday that Stutzman was not present, adding:  “None of us will have any comment.”  Last month, Stutzman told KEPR-TV in the Tri-Cities:
“He (Ingersoll) said he decided to get married and before he got through I grabbed his hand and said, ‘I am sorry.  I can’t do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.’  We hugged each other and he left, and I assumed it was the end of the story.”
Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed, were decade-long customers of Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts.  They went online with the refusal and the story went viral.  Stutzman refused to change her position, saying:  “It’s a personal conviction.  It’s not a matter of being right or wrong.  It’s my belief.”
 Ferguson’s office is seeking an injunction that would permanently require Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts to provide services to gays and lesbians. Should the company continue to avoid compliance, a $2,000 fine would be imposed for each failure to abide by the law.
“As attorney general, it is my job to enforce the laws of the state of Washington,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation. If a business provides a product or service to opposite-sex couples for their weddings, then it must provide same-sex couples the same product or service.”
Stutzman seems ready to fight, though, with her lawyer responding to the challenge and claiming that non-profit legal groups are ready to represent the florist’s interests in court.
As the AP notes, the state’s anti-discrimination laws were expanded in 2006 to include sexual orientation, which is why the incident is being handled in this manner.