The World Watch List is a ranking of the top 50 countries where the persecution of Christians is most severe. (Open Doors USA)
ishtartv.com - foxnews.com
By Perry Chiaramonte
, February 02, 2017
In
the past year, the persecution of Christians has not only increased, but it has
also spread to more corners of the globe – with incidents occurring on every
continent, according to a new report.
The
advocacy group Open Doors USA recently released the latest edition of its
annual World Watch List, which ranks countries based on the treatment of their
Christian populations. The group said the increase in incidents considered
persecution was alarming and only getting worse.
"It
is appalling that Open Doors has to report that persecution has increased again
in 2016 and we are still at the worst levels of persecution in modern
times," David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, said to Fox
News. "The spread of persecution has gotten worse, now hitting nearly
every continent in the world. There were 23 Christians killed in Mexico
specifically because of their faith.”
The
report comes on the heels of another study by the Center for Studies on New Religions that
showed nearly 90,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2016 and that as
many as 600 million were prevented from practicing their faith through
intimidation, forced conversions, bodily harm or even death.
“These
numbers underscore what we already know," Robert Nicholson of the Philos
Project, an advocacy group for Christianity in the Middle East, told Fox
News at the time of the report’s release. "There are many places on
Earth where being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you can be. Those who
think of Christianity as a religion of the powerful need to see that in many
places it’s a religion of the powerless. And the powerless deserve to be
protected.”
Open
Doors said in its new report that some 215 million Christians around the globe
are facing some degree of persecution. But that number, it noted, could
actually be much higher.
“Our
report is conservative because it only calculates incidents that are reported
and can be validated,” Curry told Fox News. “It is likely that there are
thousands of incidents that are never reported and nobody knows because
Christians are often fearful to tell anyone – even their own family members."
Curry
said the group has seen an uptick in persecution in various countries
throughout Asia, driven by governments and Islamic extremism. Christians in
that part of the world have been targeted by nationalist religious movements --
Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist -- in such countries as Pakistan, India and Myanmar.
“Governmental
raids increased, church membership requirements were suddenly doubled overnight
resulting in churches being regarded as now illegal, among other things,” Curry
told Fox News. “This is one area of the world that we are keeping a careful eye
on because of the dramatic rise in persecution.”
Many
of these groups increasingly view Christianity as a foreign,
"colonial" import, and believe its practitioners are doing the
bidding of the West, experts say.
India
saw some of the highest increase in incidents as Hindu nationalists battered
Christian churches ever since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
May 2014. Since he has been in office, Modi has instilled Hindu nationalism,
and experts say that has had devastating consequences for Christians in India.
There
was an average of 40 incidents per month of Christian persecution last year in
the subcontinent, including pastors beaten, churches burned and Christians
harassed. Eight Christians were killed for their faith. Of the 64 million
Christians in India, approximately 39 million experience direct persecution,
according to the Open Doors study.
While
Christians continue to be targeted by ISIS radicals in Syria and Iraq, the
religion is also under threat in other sections of the Middle East – with
incidents of Christian persecution on the rise in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
and other Gulf nations.
Surprisingly,
North, Central and South America are also seeing increases of Christian persecution
– even though Christianity is by far the most practiced religion in the region.
In all, 23 Christian leaders in Mexico and another four in Colombia were killed
specifically for their faith.
While
Mexico is considered more than 80 percent Catholic, a number of priests have
come under attack and killed in the country the past few years.
In
January of last year, some 30 evangelical Christians in the state of Chiapas
were banished by village elders who then destroyed their homes, according to
supporters.
Curry
said he hopes the Open Doors list will bring more attention to the global
epidemic.
"It
is vital to remember that the Open Doors World Watch List is not just about
numbers. Rather, this represents a real life that was either taken or harmed.
It is someone's mother, father, brother, sister, friend, etc.,” he said. “This
is one of those issues that really are about life and death. It matters what we
do as Americans and it is time that we took a stand and said that we will not
allow this to happen anymore."
A Catholic nun walks outside the San Marco cathedral in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico February 14, 2016. (REUTERS/Carlos Jasso )
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