The countries where it’s most dangerous to be a Christian in 2022

This post was written for Affinity by Hendrik Storm who is the International CEO of Barnabas Fund. Barnabas Fund works to provide hope and aid for the persecuted Church, from Christians, to Christians, through Christians, they are also an Agency Member of Affinity.

The return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 led to Afghanistan becoming an even more acutely dangerous land for its Christians, all of whom are converts from Islam or their children. Like the Christians of Somalia, they are being hunted down by those who seek to eliminate ‘apostates’ from the country completely.

Anti-Christian persecution can take many forms, comes from various sources, and affects different Christian communities in distinctive ways. This complexity means that it is a rather fruitless endeavour to try to rank countries in order of severity of Christian persecution. How do you compare Pakistan, with a Christian community of about five million, living their faith openly and freely albeit with discrimination, where at least four Christians have been killed in the last six months, with Mauritania where there have been no known deaths of Christians in recent decades, but the tiny number of indigenous Christians are secret believers whose lives would be in grave peril if their faith was known? What about Eritrea where some denominations are severely persecuted, their followers incarcerated in harsh labour camps and prisons where sometimes they die, while other Christians face almost no harassment? What about Nigeria where the violence against Christians in certain parts has been described as a ‘Christian genocide’? It is conservatively estimated that almost 10,000 Christians have been killed by Islamists since 2015 in the North and Middle Belt, but in the South, where Christians are dominant, there are no such incidents? 

Despite some liberalisation in other areas of life, Saudi Arabia – home to Islam’s most holy sites, Mecca and Medina and to ultra-strict Wahhabi Islam – remains extremely hostile to Christians. The fact of Christmas trees and decorations openly on sale in December 2021 may seem trivial, even irrelevant to the real Christian faith, but is actually a momentous move in a country that previously banned any public sign of a non-Islamic religion. Conversion from Islam is still a capital offence although no Christians have been executed for apostasy in recent years.

In Iran, too, the state can execute apostates, Rev. Hossein Soodmand was hanged for this in 1990. In the following few years, a handful of prominent Christian leaders died in mysterious circumstances, but since then the persecution of the rapidly growing number of Christian converts from Islam has mainly taken the form of imprisonment or internal exile on various pretexts.

Large numbers of Christians have died at the hands of the Buddhist-dominated government of Myanmar (Burma) in the last six decades. Attacks are still being launched by the military on the towns and villages of Christian-majority ethnic groups.

Last, but by no means least, we must mention communist North Korea, where Christians continue to face imprisonment, torture and death, where even praying or reading the Bible can lead to whole families being sent to cruel labour camps, where they may die from the hardships endured.

Barnabas Fund is thankful to the Lord that we can provide help to persecuted Christians in many countries around the world. Our aid has reached suffering Christians in more than 100 countries providing food parcels, medical supplies, schooling and higher education, disaster relief, vocational training and income-generation projects, practical support for the victims of violence, Bibles and other spiritual resources, and support for full-time Christian workers ministering in their own contexts. For more information, visit www.barnabasfund.org and www.food.gives.

 

Photo: A Christian boy in Pakistan / Barnabas Fund