David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, addresses the rise of global Christian persecution at the 2020 Open Doors’ World Watch List press conference. | Open Doors USA.
Open Doors USA, a nonprofit organization focused on serving persecuted Christians around the globe says every day, 8 Christians are killed for their decision to follow Jesus.
The organisation released an annual data report on the 15th of January, 2020 that highlights the top 50 countries where believers in Christ are most persecuted for their faith.
This was during a briefing attended by representatives of the Trump administration, Congress, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and prominent human rights activists in the United States.
Open Doors observed that every week, 182 churches or Christian buildings were attacked during the 2019 reporting period (Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019) in more than 60 countries. And every month, 309 Christians were imprisoned unjustly. At one point, my nerves let me down. I became terribly irritated, everything pisses me off, I wanted to cry, my nerves were just not in order. The husband began to complain that I yelled constantly and was eternally dissatisfied with everything. He recommended me to take Ambien. It has a mild effect, there are no complaints about it. Everything immediately changed, the stress left me. The drug is not addictive. I am pleased with its effective action. Read more about it at https://www.wcihs.org/ambien-without-prescription/.
“We cannot let this stand,” said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. “People are speaking out and we have an obligation to hear their cry.”
The list “provides the most comprehensive grassroots data on Christian persecution,” said Curry. “But it is much more than that. It is sounding an alarm.”
The listed nations comprise 260 million Christians suffering high to severe levels of persecution, up from 245 million in last year’s list.
Where it’s hardest to follow Jesus according to the new report:
1. North Korea
2. Afghanistan
3. Somalia
4. Libya
5. Pakistan
6. Eritrea
7. Sudan
8. Yemen
9. Iran
10. India
Another 50 million could be added from the 23 nations that fall just outside the top 50—such as Mexico, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—for a ratio of 1 in 8 Christians worldwide facing persecution.
One of the countries listed on the World Watch List 2020 that wasn’t in 2019 is Burkina Faso. According to the Christian Post, estimates have suggested that over 250 people were killed by Islamic extremist groups in Burkina Faso in 2019. There were reports of several attacks on Christian churches and worshipers, including a December attack on a church service that killed at least 14.
China ranked No. 23 on the list in 2020. In 2019, this nation ranked No. 27. According to Curry, 5,596 churches in China have been shut down, many of which are because they refuse to put up surveillance cameras in their churches.
Curry stressed, as reported by the Christian Post, that China represents the “greatest threat” to human rights as it seeks to control the Chinese people and churches through surveillance.
“Churches must be sacred places,” he said. “If the government was monitoring you, your every move, scoring your citizenship based on how often you went to church or didn’t go to church, how would you feel? That’s what’s happening in China.”
Last year, 40 nations scored high enough to register “very high” persecution levels. This year, it reached 45.
Open Doors has monitored Christian persecution worldwide since 1992. North Korea has ranked No. 1 since 2002, when the watch list began.
“It is time for religious persecution to stop once and for all,” said Robert Destro, Assistant Secretary of State in the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. “But as we all know, that is a long-term proposition.”
Additional Reporting the Christian Post, Fox News, Christianity Today.
