Why is Christian persecution often met with indifference?

In 2007, British intelligence agency MI6 reported that 200 million Christians were in daily danger. That number has almost doubled.

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It has never been more dangerous to be a Christian than today. According to the newly released 2024 World Watch List – an authoritative survey by Open Doors, an organisation that supports persecuted Christians – 365 million Christians, or one in seven, are at high or extreme risk of persecution every day because of their faith.

In 2007, British intelligence agency MI6 reported that 200 million Christians were in daily danger. That number has almost doubled. Open Doors says physical attacks on Christians have risen almost 370 per cent in the past year.
North Korea tops the list as it has every year, bar one, since 2002, and Hindu-majority India – which has accelerated up the list in recent years – comes in 11th. Buddhist-majority Myanmar is 17th, China is 19th, and the rest of the top 20 are all Muslim-majority nations.

Here are the 20 most dangerous nations to be a Christian, in order: North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Algeria, Iraq, Myanmar, Maldives, China and Burkina Faso.

Open Doors defines persecution not just as violence or imprisonment, but any hostility experienced because of one’s identification. It can look different in every country, from rejection and isolation to being denied access to basic needs such as water, food, and healthcare. The danger may come from governments, or from extremists who act with impunity.

The charity reports a sevenfold increase in attacks on Christian churches, schools and hospitals in the past year, while physical attacks on Christians rose almost 370 per cent.

It irks me when some Western Christians claim they are persecuted – and religious freedom will be a big domestic issue this year – because it trivialises serious persecution.

Christians in Western democracies do face increased opposition, but they do not risk being tortured, murdered or dragged into the street and beaten while their houses are burnt to the ground. Nor is Islamophobia in the West, though certainly real, in any way comparable.

It is not only Christians who suffer. India’s 200 million Muslims face intense pressure, as do Muslims in Myanmar, Baha’is (and all religious minorities) in Iran, while Buddhists, Hindus, tribal religions, and atheists are at risk in many countries. But Christians are by far the biggest group.

Persecution of the latter got attention, but only briefly, in 2014 when Michelle Obama reacted strongly to the abduction of 276 Nigerian Christian schoolgirls by Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, and celebrities piled on board.

I don’t know why some suffering captures public attention when so much slips under the radar. But it is not to our credit.

Barney Zwartz is a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity. This article first appeared in The Sunday Age. 

Image provided by Open Doors Australia.