The 2019 Open Doors World Watch List reveals disturbing revelations for the world’s two most populous countries — China and India — which have seen a dramatic increase in persecution against Christians.
China’s dramatic rise in 16 spots from No. 43 in 2018 to No. 27 in 2019 is one of the highest jumps on the list.
India enters the top 10 list for the first time, as Hindu nationalists continue to fuel a crackdown on Christians and churches, promoting the widespread oppression of religious minorities.
Exponential impact
As both China and India are home to more than a billion people, even an incremental rise in persecution has an outsized, exponential impact in these countries.
The heightened power of the Chinese government is being wielded to remove any challenges to the absolute authority of President Xi Jinping, even if those challenges are related to personal faith in a god other than the government. New regulations and government crackdowns have made open worship increasingly risky, particularly in certain regions of the country. Pastor Wang Yi’s recent arrest along with some 150 Christians is a recent indicator of the expanding level of control and religious persecution.
In India non-Hindus are increasingly regarded as outsiders in their own country. In some areas this has translated to brutal violence against Hindus who have converted to Christianity. The situation in India is volatile, and religious minorities in particular face extremely dangerous situations with mobs of violence breaking out and demanding death sentences.
At the top
North Korea, an authoritarian regime mandating worship of President Kim Jong-un, maintains its first place for the 18th consecutive year.
Others in the top 10, in descending order are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen and Iran.
Russia, which last appeared on the list in 2011, enters at No. 41.
Christians remain one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world. While persecution of Christians takes many forms it is defined as hostility experienced as a result of identification with Jesus Christ.
Christians throughout the world continue to risk imprisonment, loss of homes and assets, torture, beheadings, rape and even death as a result of their faith.
Worldwide the number of Christians suffering high to extremely high persecution is 14 percent more in 2019, Open Doors reported.
Dying for Christ
During the reporting period for this study, in the top 50 countries on the World Watch List, 4,136 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons; 2,625 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and/or imprisoned for their beliefs; and 1,266 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked — an increase in all three areas from the 2018 World Watch List.
In addition to persecution driven by communist authoritarianism, “Islamic radicalism continues to dominate and influence all spheres of life for Christians,” Open Doors USA President and CEO David Curry said at a Jan. 16 press conference announcing the findings.
“The distressing impact of billions of people living in an environment in which the government oppresses freedom of religion is unraveling day by day as millions of Christians are being attacked, imprisoned or killed,” Curry said.
“Religious freedom is the first freedom,” he said. “If you don’t have the right to make up your own mind, are you really free at all?”
Numerically the 245 million persecuted Christians counted in 2019 are about 14 percent more than the 215 million persecuted Christians counted back in 2018.
Globally one in nine Christians is highly persecuted — an increase from one in 12 in 2018. Each day of 2018, 11 Christians were killed.
Most of the killings — 3,731 — were in Nigeria, which ranks 12th on the list.
Pakistan and the Central African Republic round out the three countries where Christians experience the most physical violence.
Persecution against women and the spread of radical Islam across sub-Saharan Africa join authoritarianism as notable trends driving persecution worldwide.
Africa is a major epicenter of violence against Christians, with groups loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS) growing.
Among a few improvements for Christians in 2019, Iraq ranked number 13 this year after an eighth-place spot in 2018, evidence of the territorial defeat of ISIS. Malaysia improved from 23rd to 42nd.
Continued support
North Korea, despite its first-place rank for the 18th consecutive year, freed three imprisoned Korean-American Christians in 2018, including a pastor convicted erroneously as a spy.
In light of “ominous persecution trends,” Curry pledged Open Doors’ continued support of persecuted Christian believers throughout the world, and said the organization will “advocate on their behalf for human rights we take for granted in America.”
To view the full 2019 World Watch List and accompanying resources, visit OpenDoorsUSA.org. (RNS, BP)
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