Displaying items by tag: Christian persecution

Libya is overwhelming Muslim: only 0.5% of the population is Christian. It is effectively a lawless land where to be a Christian is to live a secret life of faith. Those who leave Islam to follow Jesus face immense pressure to renounce their faith. Their community ostracises them, and they can be left homeless, jobless and alone. Telling others about Jesus can lead to arrest and even violent punishment. Believers are further exposed to danger since Libya has no central government, so laws are not enforced uniformly. Targeted kidnappings and executions are always a possibility for believers. Women generally live secluded lives under strict family control, making it extremely difficult for women who convert from Islam to Christianity. If discovered, they can face house arrest, sexual assault, forced marriage and even so-called ‘honour-killing’. A Libyan man becoming a Christian can lose his job (men are the family providers), be mentally abused and excommunicated from the family.

Christians in Afghanistan are on the precipice of disaster. Women and children fear the utter brutality of Taliban rule. They are hiding in their homes for fear of what the Taliban will do to them. The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan in a catastrophe of epic proportions. The west is abandoning Afghan Christians, helpless women and children, and U.S. citizens. The Taliban are going door to door looking for Christians to kill and unmarried women to take captive. There are fears of the same genocidal persecution Christians suffered in Iraq and Syria. The American Centre for Law and Justice is mobilising to defend Christians' lives in Afghanistan. It is submitting reports for UN consideration and filing critical demands of the Biden administration (which will likely lead to a lawsuit). It wants international intervention to prevent needless bloodshed and human rights atrocities before it is too late.

On 28 January a contact in Nigeria discovered over 500 bullet shells used in the killing of eighteen Christians in Ancha village, located about two hours from the capital of Plateau State. Villagers said the attackers were Fulani militants dressed in black while others wore the uniform of the Nigerian army. Thirty soldiers with AK47s were stationed in a classroom in the community when the attack happened. The converted classroom served as a barracks for the soldiers. Despite being stationed inside the village, the soldiers did not defend it against the invading militants. Instead, they stood by and watched as houses were burnt, cars and food were destroyed, and villagers were killed. During the attack, the soldiers protected only their two vehicles and the converted classroom. This attack is just the latest in a years-long pattern of militant violence committed against Ancha and neighbouring villages. Often bullet shells found belong to the army.

Islamist extremists are gaining ground in sub-Saharan Africa, including Burkina Faso and Mali. Christians are bombed, killed, and kidnapped; schools are burnt. Jihadists have assaulted religious leaders and places of worship, and forced churches to close and meet in secret. The situation is set to grow worse as French troops withdraw from the area. Life for Christians in the Sahel region now resembles Nigeria, where Boko Haram terrorists, IS fighters and Fulani militants are active. For all three, Christian communities are their prime targets. Afghanistan and India are also countries of great concern. Since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, Christians have faced greater risks of violence and betrayal by family and neighbours. Major food shortages will increase pressure on them. Indian Hindu militants are attacking Christians, and some states have anti-conversion laws to prevent Christian outreach among the Dalits where many are turning to Christ.

Zafar Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian, was convicted of ‘blasphemy’ in 2017 and sentenced to life in jail. He has fought to clear his name since then, but an appeal court sentenced him to death on 3 January. It not only upheld his conviction but also ruled that the proper sentence for ‘blasphemy against Muhammad’ was death, not life imprisonment. The ruling was based on a 1991 constitutional court decision. Zafar’s legal representatives will appeal against both the death penalty and the original conviction. He was convicted of ‘blasphemy’ for allegedly sending texts insulting Muhammad on a phone that was not registered in his name. He has always denied the allegations. He has suffered a heart attack in prison, and there are serious concerns for his deteriorating physical and mental health. Pray for God to restore his mental and physical health.

How should we respond to a world that is increasingly estranged from Christian beliefs? This is a question that Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola are confronted with. Last year, Ms Räsänen was accused of “hate speech” for publicly voicing her deeply-held beliefs on marriage and human sexuality. The former minister of the interior, mother of five, and grandmother of seven now faces a daunting trial on 24 January in Helsinki. Rev. Dr Pohjola, who was consecrated as a Lutheran bishop in August 2021, assumes his new role at a very challenging time. He faces criminal prosecution with Ms Räsänen for publishing the pamphlet she wrote on human sexuality for his church congregation. Pray for a just outcome of their trial, that no one would be intimidated into silence, but that people would be encouraged to share their beliefs with confidence.

The Nigerian government says efforts are under way to release Leah Sharibu, the Christian teenager who was one of 110 girls abducted in 2018 by the Boko Haram group ISWAP. Her classmates were released, but Leah refused to convert to Islam and was declared a ‘slave for life’ by ISWAP while remaining in captivity. The federal government announced it is using the military to ensure Leah and all captives regain their freedom, and armed groups operating in Nigeria’s northwest are now called terrorists. Reacting to the announcement, Dr Kathaza Gondwe, advocacy director for CSW, said, ‘It is belated news as Nigeria’s president has been promising Leah's parents since 2018 that he would work quickly to ensure her release. But it's a welcomed development. We can only pray the government will honour this commitment.’ CSW believes that categorising ISWAP as terrorists will help in how the armed forces deal with them.

In Somalia, Islam is the state religion, and almost everyone is Muslim. The number of Christians is believed to be in the hundreds. Pray that each of our brothers and sisters will find continued strength and hope in Jesus ‘so that they will not grow weary or lose heart’ (Hebrews 12:3). In Libya Christians who want to stay safe must live a secret life of faith. This is made harder by there not being a centralised government. Laws are not widely enforced, making Christians further exposed to persecution. Pray for the provision of a government that strives to protect all its people. Secret Christians in Yemen live under constant threat because of their faith. Ask God to give them wisdom and boldness as they live out the gospel. Pray, too, for peace and stability in a country that has been engulfed in civil war for nearly a decade.

Throughout the Holy Land, Christians are targeted with frequent attacks by fringe radical groups. Since 2012 priests and clergy have been physically and verbally assaulted and Christian churches and holy sites regularly vandalised and desecrated. There has been ongoing intimidation of Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives. These tactics are being used in a systematic attempt to drive the Christian community out of Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land. Russel Rook, director of the Protecting Holy Land Christians campaign, reported Christians being spat at as they walked into a church. For priests, it is having a rock thrown at them and their church vandalised or firebombed. These dramatic, terrible things have caused the Christian population in the Holy Land to drop from 12% at the turn of the century to just 1% today. Persecution forces many to seek refuge elsewhere in the world. See

Buddhist nationalism is strong in Myanmar, and Buddhists continue to persecute the 4.4 million Christians. Christian converts are persecuted by families and communities for ‘betraying’ the Buddhist system. Communities aiming to stay ‘Buddhist only’ make life for Christian families impossible by not allowing them to use community resources such as water. Myanmar is also the scene of the longest civil war in the world, and believers are vulnerable to persecution by insurgent groups and the army. The Covid pandemic has brought added challenges, since many Christians are deliberately overlooked in the distribution of government aid. Also on Christmas Day the charred bodies of at least 35 civilians were found in a Christian village; they had apparently been shot by the army the day before and then burned. At least 23 church buildings and over 350 civilian homes were burned or destroyed in Chin state between August and December.