While North Korea still holds the Number One spot for Christian persecution, four out of the top five are Muslim majority countries. Every day, 13 Christians worldwide are killed because of their faith. Every day, 12 churches or Christian buildings are attacked. And every day, 12 Christians are unjustly arrested or imprisoned, and another 5 are abducted.
Christianity Today This year the top 10 worst persecutors are relatively unchanged. After North Korea is Afghanistan, followed by Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India. The listed nations contain 309 million Christians living in places with very high or extreme levels of persecution, up from 260 million in last year’s list.
Nigeria (Christian population is 50%) entered the top 10 for the first time, after maxing out Open Doors’s metric for violence. The nation, with Africa’s largest Christian population, ranks No. 9 overall but is second behind only Pakistan in terms of violence, and ranks No. 1 in the number of Christians killed for reasons related to their faith.
Sudan left the top 10 for the first time in six years, after abolishing the death penalty for apostasy and guaranteeing—on paper at least—freedom of religion in its new constitution after three decades of Islamic law. Yet it remains No. 13 on the list, as Open Doors researchers noted Christians from Muslim backgrounds still face attacks, ostracization, and discrimination from their families and communities, while Christian women face sexual violence.
India remains in the top 10 for the third year in a row because it “continues to see an increase in violence against religious minorities due to government-sanctioned Hindu extremism.” Meanwhile, China joined the top 20 for the first time in a decade, due to “ongoing and increasing surveillance and censorship of Christians and other religious minorities.”
Of the top 50 nations:
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12 have “extreme” levels of persecution and 38 have “very high” levels. Another 4 nations outside the top 50 also qualify as “very high”: Cuba, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, and Niger.
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19 are in Africa (6 in North Africa), 14 are in Asia, 10 are in the Middle East, 5 are in Central Asia, and 2 are in Latin America.
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34 have Islam as a main religion, 4 have Buddhism, 2 have Hinduism, 1 has atheism, 1 has agnosticism—and 10 have Christianity.
The 2021 list added four new countries: Mexico (No. 37), Democratic Republic of Congo (No. 40), Mozambique (No. 45), and Comoros (No. 50).
Mozambique rose 21 spots (up from No. 66) “due to extremist Islamic violence in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.” The Democratic Republic of Congo rose 17 spots (up from No. 57) “mainly due to attacks on Christians by the Islamist group ADF.”
Turkey rose 11 spots from No. 36 to No. 25 due to an increase in violence against Christians. And Bangladesh rose seven spots from No. 38 to No. 31 due to attacks on Christian converts among its Rohingya refugees.
However, other types of persecution can outweigh violence [as explained below]. For example, the Central African Republic fell 10 spots from No. 25 to No. 35, yet violence against Christians there remains extreme. And Kenya fell six spots from No. 43 to No. 49 though attacks there “increased significantly.”
Meanwhile, South Sudan ranks among the top 10 most violent nations tracked by Open Doors (at No. 9), yet doesn’t even make the top 50 watch list (at No. 69). Nine in 10 Christians killed for their faith were in Africa, the rest in Asia. Nigeria led the world with 3,530 martyrs confirmed by Open Doors for its 2021 list.
Abduction of Christians rose to 1,710, up 63 percent from the 1,052 tallied the year before, the first time the category was tracked by Open Doors. Nigeria tops the list, with 990.
Pakistan led the world in forced marriages, a new category tracked last year, with about 1,000 Christians married to non-Christians against their will. Asia accounted for 72 percent of the forced marriages tallied by Open Doors, with Africa—led by Nigeria—the remaining 28 percent.
Meanwhile, attacks and forced closures of churches numbered 4,488 worldwide, with the vast majority recorded in China, followed by Nigeria.
Open Doors categorizes the primary sources of Christian persecution:
Islamic oppression (29 countries): This is the main source of persecution that Christians face in more than half of the watchlist countries, including 5 of the 12 where Christian face “extreme” levels: Libya (No. 4), Pakistan (No. 5), Yemen (No. 7), Iran (No. 8), and Syria (No. 12). Most of the 29 are officially Muslim nations or have Muslim majorities; however, 7 actually have Christian majorities: Nigeria (No. 9), Central African Republic (No. 35), Ethiopia (No. 36), Democratic Republic of Congo (No. 40), Cameroon (No. 42), Mozambique (No. 45), and Kenya (No. 49).
Clan oppression (6 countries): This is the main source of persecution that Christians face in Afghanistan (No. 2), Somalia (No. 3), Laos (No. 22), Qatar (No 29), Nepal (No. 34), and Oman (No. 44).
Dictatorial paranoia (5 countries): This is the main source of persecution that Christians face in five countries, mostly in Central Asia with Muslim majorities: Uzbekistan (No. 21), Turkmenistan (No. 23), Tajikistan (No. 33), Brunei (No. 39), and Kazakhstan (No. 41).
Open Doors noted:
“Several hundred mostly Christian villages in Nigeria were either occupied or ransacked by armed Hausa-Fulani Muslim militant herdsmen; sometimes, fields and crops were destroyed as well. Boko Haram—and splinter group Islamic State of West Africa Province , an ISIS affiliate— continue to plague Nigeria and northern Cameroon.”
“In the Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert, Islamic extremism is fuelled by injustice and poverty. These extremist groups exploit governmental failures, and armed jihadists spread propaganda, push recruitment and conduct regular attacks. This year, some groups pledged to wage war against ‘infidels’ like Christians—they claim ‘Allah punishes us all’ with the pandemic because of the infidels.”
“In Burkina Faso, until recently known for its inter-religious harmony between Muslims and Christians, 1 million people—1 in 20 of the population—are displaced (and millions more are hungry) as a result of drought and violence. Last year, Burkina Faso dramatically entered the [WWL] for the first time. This year, Islamic extremists continue to target churches (14 killed in one attack, 24 in another).”
Open Doors believes it is reasonable to call Christianity the world’s most severely persecuted religion. Other assessments of religious freedom worldwide corroborate many of Open Doors’s findings. For example, the latest Pew Research Center analysis of governmental and societal hostilities toward religion found that Christians were harassed in 145 countries in 2018, more than any other religious group.
Richard says
Canada is doing its level best to persecute Christians. Arrests, locking churches and jailing pastors for so-called covid offenses. Also, Bill 3 just passed that makes it a crime for a pastor, priest or parent to talk to a child about transgenderism and homosexuality. 10 (ten) years in prison if you attempt to convince your own child it is not a good idea to take puberty blockers or cut off your genitals.
BareNakedIslam says
Richard, don’t you mean talk to the child “negatively” about those subjects? I guess we should call it Nazi Canada now?
Richard says
Yes, a TRUTHFUL, fact based conversation and one gets thrown in jail. Meanwhile, a teacher or anyone else with a ‘woke’ agenda is free to groom your child without fear of legal prosecution.
BareNakedIslam says
I think the grassroots revolution against this brainwashing is going to be millions of outraged parents who can’t afford to send their kids to private schools.
FaithfulServantsofChrist says
Even liberal Wikipedia acknowledges that fact (which says a lot).
On page 11 of the Annual USCIRF report, 29 countries are listed as violators of religious freedom and religious rights.
17 of the 29 countries are majority-Muslim countries.
3 of the 29 countries are countries with state-enforced atheism.
1 of the 29 countries is a majority-Buddhist country.
1 of the 29 countries is a majority-Hindu country.
Basically, the majority of the religious freedom abuses is conducted by majority Islamic countries.
Here is the report, you can read it for yourself: https://web.archive.org/web/20211229043806/https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF%202020%20Annual%20Report_Final_42920.pdf
Hartmut says
In 20-30 years from now western European countries like France and Germany will comfortably make that list too when looking at the demographics. Time to pack up and leave.
Joe says
Leave the pack down and fight. There’s a war on dammit. How can we give our countries over to such a sworn savage enemy? It’s incredible. The more these low Muslim savages and aliens promote themselves the more we step aside and down.
Hartmut says
It is the administrations of our own countries who side with the savages. Under violation of the constitution they abuse the legal system and law enforcement not against the foreign criminals – who are far from being genuine refugees – but the citizens who are fighting back.
Officials want democracy replaced by autocracy and the best way to do this is flooding the countries with Third World savages who confront the indigenous population and then cracking down on the latter instead.
Ghulam says
We’re all gonna die some day. This life is temporary.
So this is my message to any Christians smarting under Jihadis in Islamic lands. If you’re facing a little persecution, I say GRIN and BEAR it.
One of my favorite characters from history, Emperor Nero who I like to call the first Muslim, he fed so many of your kind to the lions. Those Christians didn’t complain back then – see that’s what I call a good Christian — turn the other cheek etc. Love thy enemy and all that nonsense. Good I like them that way.
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
“GRIN and BEAR it…” Imagine that a moslame being unperturbed by moslame persecution of the kafir al najjis?
Who said persecution was an act of jihad? Persecution of the unbeliever in islame is SOP according to the words and deeds of your holey pedophile prophet for profit himself as well as his sock puppet allah the barbarian.
Joe says
I imagine when the world eventually gets to the back stabbing Muslim traitor
fifth column there will be
real clarity about the mission.
bioya1 says
Islam is a death cult masquerading as a religion. It will be stomped out of the West much like the cockroach it is.
Az gal says
Muslums following the example of their blood thirsty prophet Mohammed.
Christians better toughen up. Even Jesus said to sell your cloak & buy a sword.
Daniel Erbstoesser says
Very soon this will be in the past because here by us will be the highest christian persecution and nowere else because our politicians impost millions of these christian followers to us and tell us that they are our friends and they are better than us because they have no hitler, but what the heck they have mohamet. Germany refuses to mention the christian persecution and it even supports the infidels (islam) in their quest to take over. The politics are sick since the left and women make the politics here. dont missunderstand me i love women but as all can see the trouble startet were the women took the high seats. We will seee were this brings us.
Notice says
Women brought down Rome.
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
Huh? No woman was ever anointed emperor of Rome or even elected to the Senate.
Daniel Erbstoesser says
Right no women were emperor of rome but rome or any other country or time dont count because this is now and this is happening and as all can see all high seats here in europe are filled with women and as i said it startet there with merkel and her friends or do you think that they are doing good things for us and our nations?.
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
Yes that’s one example.
But what about Macaroni in Fwance? Or BoJo the moslame appeasing clown in the United Kaliphate? Or the majority of the Dutch parliament? Or the majority of the parliament of the United Kaliphate? They’re all men.
Daniel Erbstoesser says
Right they are all men but who is the leader of the whole thing…yep women. The men can have the bullshit seats and the seat of power where the decisions are made , yep there the women sit such as eu president von der leien or the implimentet inland minister or the foreighn minister or the climate minister…yep all women. Dont misunderstand me im a man that wants experience and not the i am a woman and that is why im here, that wont get the job done, if man or woman the experience counts and not the gender. Our nations are being ruined from people that have no life experience or even finished school, but they know how to run a nation???.
Easterndmondbk says
Heart breaking. I love the Lord BNI, and this really awful.
Linda Rivera says
Instead of helping and rescuing horrifically persecuted Christians and bringing them into our countries, our ruthless governments MASSIVELY imported the Muslim persecutors of Christians.
God help the world’s Christians!
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
NORK’s are Communist ATHEISTS, something atheists the world over like to deny, obfuscate, evade the fact atheists are persecuting Christians (just like they persecuted Christians and Jews in the USSR). Christians are also persecuted in the PRC, but not to the degree they are in the DPRK.
Ramez says
“Christianity is not the creed of Asia and Africa at this moment solely because the seventh century Christians of Asia and Africa had trained themselves not to fight, whereas the Moslems were trained to fight.
Christianity has been saved in Europe till now, solely because the peoples of Europe have fought. If the peoples of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries, and on up to and including the seventeenth century, had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over, the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would have been at this moment Mohammedan and the Christian religion would have been exterminated.
Wherever the Mohammedans had complete sway, wherever the Christians had been unable to resist them by the sword, and Christianity has ultimately disappeared. From the hammer of Charles Martel to the sword of Sobieski, Christianity owed its safety in Europe to the fact that it was able to show that it could and would fight as well as the Mohammedan aggressors.
The Civilization of Europe, America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand exists today only by virtue of the victories of civilized man over the enemies of civilization; victories through the centuries from Charles Martel in the eighth century and those of John Sobieski in the seventeenth century. During the thousand years that included the careers of the Frankish soldier and the Polish king, the Christians of Asia and Africa proved unable to wage successful war with the Moslem conquerors; and in consequence Christianity practically vanished from the two continents; and today, nobody can find in them any “social values” whatsoever, in the sense in which we use the words, so far as the sphere of Mohammedan influences are concerned.
There are such “social values” today in Europe, America, Canada, Australia, and NZ only because during those thousand years, the Christians of Europe have possessed the warlike power to do what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do — that is, to beat back the Moslem invaders.” — Teddy Roosevelt, former POTUS
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia (that’s pathognomonic of rabies) in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. Indeed, no stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. Truly, the religion of Islam, above all others, was founded and propagated by the ‘Sword.’ Moreover, it provides monetary and carnal incentives to slaughter, and has already, throughout 3 continents, raised fighting breeds of men and fearless warriors, filled with a wild and merciless fanaticism; and had Christianity not been sheltered in the strong arms of science — the science against which it had vainly struggled — the Civilization of modern Europe might have fallen, as fell the Civilization of Ancient Rome.” — Winston Churchill, “The River War”
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
U ever wonder if leftist atheists and Communists have allied with moslames to exterminate Christians and Christianity?
The Communists of Iran thought the Ayatrollah Khomeni and his moslames their friends and allies, but once the Shah was deposed the Iranian Communists were rounded up and exterminated by their moslame “allies”.
Ramez says
The only time in human history Atheist Leftists fought Koranimals with firearms, at cyclic rates of fire, rockets, bombs, and missiles was the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and despite racking up a quite large body count, the Atheist troops of the Soviet Union fled Afghanistan within a decade.
It bears repeating that Atheists are, by and large, islamophilic cucks and sluts.
MuhahahahahahahahahaMAD says
Robert Spencer says there will be eventually be a showdown between the leftist atheists and moslames for control of the dying West — he thinks the leftist atheists will lose.
bleepingbobby says
Because Creator’s True Origin was covetted The Most and in The Most Vile Ways,
He is Light
( Masonry, Khazaryan Jews slave, pandemic, Capitalist Savagery, Racism,Race Superiority Sense, Pedophilia allowance towards Children of Light by White Christian, Destiny Rebuked which would easily solve all…!
Linda Rivera says
This year the top 10 worst persecutors are relatively unchanged. After North Korea is Afghanistan, followed by Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India.
All the countries’ Muslims Western governments EAGERLY import into our nations.
Very severe persecution, kidnaps, gang rapes, sex slavery, tortures, beheadings and barbaric genocides of Christians by Muslims is well known by Western governments and intelligence agencies, yet SATANIST Western governments continue to heavily colonize our nations with the cruel Armies of Barbarian Savage, Warlord Mohammad. And immediately give them everything free.
The most EVIL BETRAYAL of nations’ people in all of history.
Cleavis+Nowell says
Islam is clearly an ideological plaque that should be totally eradicated !!