Christian persecution has worsened in at least 18 countries amid rising jihadism and totalitarianism, according to reports.
“Indicators strongly suggested that, over the period under review, the persecution of Christians continued to worsen in core countries of concern,” read the report titled “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report On Christians Oppressed For Their Faith 2020-22.”
Christian persecution rising around the world amid jihadism, totalitarianism: report https://t.co/fggWOJwBKc
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The report was released by Catholic group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on Nov. 16 and presented to the U.K. Parliament earlier this week.
The report said that Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are the regions where the persecution of Christians is most grave, citing the worsening global situation of “cultural misperception in the West that continues to deny that Christians remain the most widely persecuted faith group” as the cause.
ACN identified “religious nationalism and authoritarianism” as the driving animus against Christians in the offending nations, which included China, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Myanmar, Russia, North Korea, Vietnam, India, and Qatar.
“The suffering Church needs people to speak out for us. For the killing to stop, more organizations like ACN need to proclaim the truth of what is happening to Christians all over the world. If not, we will always remain persecuted and forgotten,” wrote Father Andrew Adeniyi Abayomi in the report, whose church in Nigeria was attacked by gunmen on Pentecost.
Open Doors USA, a similar religious freedom watchdog group, recently reported that approximately 360 million Christians are living in countries where they face persecution.
This comes as Americans’ faith in God is at an all-time low due to a lack of belief among young people and COVID-19 lockdowns.
A July survey from Gallup found that 81 percent of Americans believe in God, a six-point drop from 2017 and the lowest percentage ever recorded. The biggest drop in faith in terms of age groups was a 10 percent decline in 18 to 29-year-olds who say they believe in God.
Religious leaders in the U.S. such as Rev. Lawrence R. Rast Jr. claim that young people filling their lives with things besides God and anxiety from the ongoing pandemic have contributed to the decline.
“People are continuing to search and continuing to think about the larger questions, but the lack of dedicated spaces and time set aside for that leads to the chaos that we see around us presently,” said Rast Jr., who is the president of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
