Worldwide, 365 million Christians face persecution or discrimination because of their faith in Christ.
Every year, Open Doors United States unveils its annual World Watch List detailing the worst persecutors. This year’s report focuses on alarming persecution trends in Africa and a poor country not far from the United States.
Countries of usual concern top this year’s global watch list: North Korea is the top persecutor of Christians, followed by Somalia, Libya, Eritrea and Yemen, home to the Houthi militia backed by Iran, the terrorist group that attacks ships transiting the Red Sea. .
Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US, said the greatest concern is the rise in violence around the world against followers of Christ, particularly from Islamic and autocratic regimes in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Christians can become easy targets for those who seek to create instability in these environments,” Brown explained. “They can do this with impunity because they have faced no consequences for these actions. Because, again, Christians are often not protected or recognized by the governments of these regions.”
The report says 4,998 Christians died for their faith in 2023, but many deaths may go unreported. This compares to 5,621 the previous year.
Christians stand inside a church burned by an angry Muslim mob in Jaranwala, near Faisalabad, Pakistan, August 17, 2023. (AP Photo/KM Chaudary)
Although the overall number of deaths worldwide is declining, Open Doors found that more than 82% of Christians killed for reasons of faith were in Nigeria.
“Christians are suffering greatly because of their faith in Nigeria. The number of people who have been killed because of their faith exceeds all other countries in the world combined,” Brown insisted. “It’s really an area where there’s a lot of instability and there’s a lot of need to lift up our brothers and sisters in prayer.”
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And the most surprising thing about this year’s report? Nicaragua. The country is led by the Sandinista communists and Daniel Ortega. It climbed twenty places from number 50 in 2023 to number 30 on the 2024 list.
“This is a country that continues to see alarming trends where the government actually views the Christian population as a threat to the government, as a threat of takeover – and therefore persecution against believers in these areas,” said Brown.
However, on January 14, the Nicaraguan government announced the release of two imprisoned Catholic bishops and 15 priests. Among them was Mgr Rolando Álvarez, imprisoned for more than a year.
Global Christian Relief CEO David Curry said it was important for the world to educate itself about the persecution of Christians through the documentation and indexing of incidents.
“People often turn away from the fact that Christians are persecuted because, in our Western mentality, they simply don’t understand the magnitude of the problem,” he explained.
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Curry’s organization has created a new global database recording violent acts of religious persecution.
“It is time that we consider that this is a global problem, that extremists are targeting Jews, Christians and others because of their faith,” he insisted.
As for Brown? He hopes the 2024 Global Watch List will motivate people to pray.
“Many of our brothers and sisters are not necessarily seeking to flee this persecution, not seeking to escape this persecution, but simply seeking to be the hands and feet of Christ in this context of persecution, seeking prayer, encouragement that their testimony, their faith will not waver or fail in the face of such increasing difficulties. »
