2015 was the “worst year in modern history for Christian persecution,” according to Open Doors, a human rights organization that has been documenting the persecution of Christians since 1955.
According to its latest data, more than 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2015 — almost twice as many as in 2014. In addition, more than 2,400 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed — again, more than double the number of the previous year.
In the words of Open Doors’ CEO, David Curry:
The 2016 World Watch List [which ranks the 50 nations where Christians
are most persecuted] documents an unprecedented escalation of violence
against Christians, making this past year the most violent and sustained
attack on Christian faith in modern history. … This research has
concluded that after the brutal persecution of Christians in 2014, 2015
proved to be even worse with the persecution continuing to increase,
intensify and spread across the globe. … The level of exclusion,
discrimination and violence against Christians is unprecedented,
spreading and intensifying.
Who or what is behind these
unprecedented levels of persecution? Some of it is related to the
tendency of non-Western nations to associate Christianity with the “hated West.”
Four are Communist nations — Vietnam (ranked #20), Laos (#29), China
(#33), and North Korea (#1), where “Christianity is not only seen as
‘opium for the people,’ as is normal for all communist states, it is
also seen as deeply Western and despicable,” notes the report. Three are
reclaiming their religious heritage in contradistinction to what is
portrayed as a depraved West — Hindu India (#17), Buddhist Bhutan (#38)
and Myanmar (#23). And two — Mexico (#40) and Columbia (#46) — are
fueled by organized crime and drug cartels.“Islamic extremism” is cited as the source of persecution for the remaining 41 nations that make the list of 50 worst persecutors of Christians. North Korea aside, the rest of the eight nations where Christians experience the worst form of persecution (“extreme persecution”) are all Islamic. In 35 nations, Islamic extremism “has risen to a level akin to ethnic cleansing” of Christians.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/262177/how-us-foreign-policy-made-2015-worst-year-modern-raymond-ibrahim
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