As Afghan Abdul Rahman seeks safety in Italy after dodging a death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, other Christians worldwide continue to face extreme persecution from countrymen who oppose their beliefs.
While Rahman’s case gained national media attention, thousands of others facing similar plights go unnoticed, according to organizations like Voice of the Martyrs, a nondenominational agency devoted to helping persecuted Christians.
Todd Nettleton, director of news services for the Oklahoma-based group, said Rahman’s case gained an unusual amount of media attention partly because of how it emerged. In Rahman’s case, the presiding judge explained the situation on national TV in Afghanistan, which garnered media attention. International protests soon followed.
Plus, Nettleton said, the already-tense situation in Afghanistan and presence of U.S. soldiers made Americans especially interested in the outcome of Rahman’s trial.
The new Afghan Constitution, drafted since the American invasion in 2001, protects religious freedom. But another section establishes Islam as the supreme law of the land. That ambiguity, coupled with local Afghan leaders wielding additional authority, leaves Christian converts vulnerable.
At least two other Afghan Christian converts have been jailed in recent days, according to Compass Direct news service, another Christian group that monitors persecution. However, the agency declined to disclose details about the cases.
Although Rahman escaped execution, other Christian converts do not, says Carl Moeller, president of California-based Open Doors.
“In most places where Christians face persecution for their faith, it’s by mobs or their family,” Moeller said. “Honor killing … is a cultural phenomenon. We know of hundreds of Christians who die … every year.”
Some persecution goes unpunished — especially in Muslim areas like Sudan and Saudi Arabia — because of the dishonor families face when a family member converts. To avoid that deep disgrace, non-Christian families or neighbors often take it upon themselves to kill the new Christian, said Moeller. Some cases of this type of persecution in recent years include:
• Twenty-three Christians were massacred in Indonesia as they fled from their village in mid-2000. Jihad troops had entered the region and announced over loudspeakers that they would kill all Christians who remained after a certain date.
• The pastor of a small Christian church in Pakistan was shot and killed in 2004. Two attackers burst into his family’s home as they were finishing watching the “Jesus” film. One of the attackers fired a shotgun point blank at the pastor’s face.
Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board, one of the world’s largest missionary-sending agencies, declined to comment on Rahman or other endangered converts. The agency does not get involved in persecution issues, a spokesman said.
Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz said, “One would think that in the 21st century the idea of religious freedom would be universally accepted. The fact is during this first decade of the new century there has been a tragic increase in religious persecution and denial of religious freedom.
“We are relieved that Rahman has been freed. But the serious question remains, ‘Does an individual have the right to change his or her religious belief?’”
Although the gravity of Rahman’s ordeal sparked international interest, Afghanistan doesn’t top most organizations’ lists of countries most dangerous for Christians. That distinction goes to such hotspots as North Korea, Saudi Arabia and China, according to private and government organizations.
China, for example, has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of State as a “country of particular concern.” In its 2003 annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom described the Chinese government as “a particularly severe violator of religious freedom. Persons continue to be confined, tortured, imprisoned and subject to other forms of ill treatment on account of their religion or belief.”
Because of famine in North Korea, Christians in China often harbor starving Koreans who cross the border. When newly converted refugees return to North Korea, they face arrest or death. As many as 100,000 Christians are in North Korean labor camps — one-fifth of the estimated Christian population — according to reports.
On a broader scale, experts estimate roughly 200 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest or even death for their faith, while 200-to-400 million more face discrimination and alienation on a regular basis. Besides North Korea, Saudi Arabia and China, most groups list Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Vietnam and Yemen as particularly dangerous for Christians.
But just because a nation doesn’t make the top 10 doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Indonesia remains a dangerous country for Christian converts as well. Open Doors reported more than 600 churches were destroyed and more than 20,000 people were killed in Muslim-Christian clashes in Indonesia in recent years. The most recent instance of Indonesian violence toward Christians occurred March 26, as hundreds of Muslims descended on Sunday services at a church building in Gunung Putri, West Java, according to Voice of the Martyrs. The mob forced Pastor Daniel Fekky to cease holding services in the building, which the mob claimed was “misused” according to Indonesian law.
And in Sudan alone, more than 2 million people have died by war, genocide and famine since 1983, Open Doors said. The number includes a large population of Christians, who are often the targets of church bombings, destruction of hospitals and schools, massacres and murders of church leaders.
In the face of such maltreatment, Moeller said, concerned Christians should pray for their foreign brothers and sisters.
Nettleton agreed. “I think the first thing that we can do is pray. That’s always the first step,” he said. “The next step is to educate yourself.” (ABP, TAB contributed)
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