Christians are the most persecuted people in the world today

[Foxfyre]

It doesn't make the news much in the mainstream media, but Christians across the globe are in more danger in more places than maybe ever before since the days of the pre-Constantine Roman Empire.

Even here in the United States and other predominantly "Christian" nations where Christians are more free than in most places in the world, Christianity itself seems to be under siege by those who see it as an oppressive presence in an increasingly 'progressive' society.

What should our Christian response be to ideological, militant religious, and political pressures that make it more difficult and/or dangerous to be a Christian in the 21st Century?

. . .Christians continued to be the most persecuted group across the globe in 2016, according to a study.

The upcoming report from Italian-based Center for Studies on New Religions, determined that 90,000 Christians were killed for their beliefs worldwide last year and nearly a third were at the hands of Islamic extremists like ISIS. Others were killed by state and non-state persecution, including in places like North Korea.

“U.S. policy has not had a strategy for specifically addressing the persecution of Christians,” Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, told FoxNews.com “For example, very few people are even aware that Iraqi Christians began organizing to defend themselves and needed our help."

The study also found that as many as 600 million Christians were prevented from practicing their faith in 2016.

The findings continue a disturbing trend from the previous year in which Christians around the world endured horrific acts of persecution, including imprisonment and beheadings.

“These numbers underscore what we already know," Robert Nicholson of the Philos Project said to Foxnews.com."There are many places on earth where being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you can be. . .​

Christians the most persecuted group in world for second year: Study

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Sad but true...

I pray for the persecuted church often. Not as much as I should though. The sad thing about it is "Christians" in America will consider not having coffee in the sanctuary, losing their favorite seat in church, or a long winded preached to be suffering.

This statistic makes me especially sick in view of the pretrib doctrine, which essentially says that God loves us so much he will withdraw the church before any serious persecution comes. It is like, OPEN YOUR EYES and see the world outside of your bubble. Christians all over the world fear for their life daily. It is a very pompous statement to say we don't have to endure because of (fill in the blank).

 

[Foxfyre]

Sad but true...

I pray for the persecuted church often. Not as much as I should though. The sad thing about it is "Christians" in America will consider not having coffee in the sanctuary, losing their favorite seat in church, or a long winded preached to be suffering.

This statistic makes me especially sick in view of the pretrib doctrine, which essentially says that God loves us so much he will withdraw the church before any serious persecution comes. It is like, OPEN YOUR EYES and see the world outside of your bubble. Christians all over the world fear for their life daily. It is a very pompous statement to say we don't have to endure because of (fill in the blank).

I sometimes wonder though about James teaching:
James 2:16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"

Is grieving for, caring, and praying for the persecuted church enough? And of course I don't mean those who are annoyed that the piano is out of tune or the coffee wasn't ready on time or the preacher was long winded when the football game is starting or whatever. I mean those who are truly being physically or materially threatened or harmed, sometimes in the most unconscionable ways, because of their faith.

Is there something more we Christians can do? Should do? Must do?

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Well I know of no truly persecuted believers in my area. So I cannot feed them or clothe them etc. prayer is all I can do but that is good enough, because what I can't do, God can.

 

[Foxfyre]

Well I know of no truly persecuted believers in my area. So I cannot feed them or clothe them etc. prayer is all I can do but that is good enough, because what I can't do, God can.

Thanks for the response. I am not sure that is all I can do though. Admittedly, all oppressed people are loved by God and we should care about everybody. But I do wonder why some seem more concerned by oppressed Muslim women or Palestinians or Syrian refugees and that is prominent on message boards, social media, and the MSM. But we don't hear that much about Christians in parts of the world where they are under sometimes deadly siege.

I can't shake the idea that I should do something about it--we should do something about it. But I don't know what.

Maybe consciousness raising via this thread is a start?

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Thanks for the response. I am not sure that is all I can do though. Admittedly, all oppressed people are loved by God and we should care about everybody. But I do wonder why some seem more concerned by oppressed Muslim women or Palestinians or Syrian refugees and that is prominent on message boards, social media, and the MSM. But we don't hear that much about Christians in parts of the world where they are under sometimes deadly siege.

I can't shake the idea that I should do something about it--we should do something about it. But I don't know what.

Maybe consciousness raising via this thread is a start?

It could be, but not sure how this board or even this forum is doing more for the persecuted than prayer does...

 

[Foxfyre]

It could be, but not sure how this board or even this forum is doing more for the persecuted than prayer does...

Me either I'm looking for inspiration or revelation I suppose. I just know that I felt I should post the OP. And now waiting to see if it goes anywhere.

 

[Kalevalatar]

The Christian population in Iraq alone has plummeted from 1.5 million in 2003 to current estimates of 275,000 and could be gone for good within just a few years, according to activists.

That's the US cultish Republican Bush administration's "freedom on the march" and "mission accomplished" for you.

 

[Foxfyre]

That's the US cultish Republican Bush administration's "freedom on the march" and "mission accomplished" for you.

You can blame President Bush if it seems appropriate to do so, but I am pretty sure he had no intent to harm Christians then or now.

Also, as a Christian, I cannot justify evil just because mistakes are made or somebody is angry at policy or actions of others.

Christians were not being so systematically persecuted in the Middle East when President Bush was in office and he has been out of office now for more than eight years. And according to the OP only 1/3rd of systemic Christian persecution is in the Middle East, and I doubt not even the most fervent leftists would say that President Bush is implicated in any way with the other 2/3rds

 

[Kalevalatar]

You can blame President Bush if it seems appropriate to do so, but I am pretty sure he had no intent to harm Christians then or now.

Anyone and everyone, indluding the Iraqi Christians themselves, warned President Bush that this would happen, yet President Bush decided to nevermind and not listen and let deaf and blind greed and the false god mammon take charge instead. And the American people, driven by mass hysteria, desperately wanted their country to go and destroy Iraq. Mission accomplished.

 

[Foxfyre]

Anyone and everyone, indluding the Iraqi Christians themselves, warned President Bush that this would happen, yet President Bush decided to nevermind and not listen and let deaf and blind greed and the false god mammon take charge instead. And the American people, driven by mass hysteria, desperately wanted their country to go and destroy Iraq. Mission accomplished.

Nobody knew what would happen until it happened. Were bad mistakes made? Absolutely. I personally think is futility and misguided to going to war with anybody that we don't intend to bring to full unconditional surrender because that is the ONLY way there can be any justification for us going to war.

Since World War II, we have engaged in fighting wars that we never win. We just fight at huge cost, most especially in human lives, and then at some point get tired of it and stop fighting. And every time we do that we leave tragedy and an enemy in our wake.

But I am 100% convinced that Bill Clinton wished no harm to Christians or members of any other religious group when he engaged in Bosnia and when he repeatedly bombed Iraq and other ME countries.

I am 100% convinced that Barack Obama wished no harm to Christians when he continued the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and destablized Lybia and engaged us in the mess in Syria.

I am 100% convinced that President Trump wished no harm to Christians when he ordered the obliteration of a Syrian base in the wake of illegal chemical weapon attacks.

And I am 100% convinced that President Bush wished no harm to Christians when he received the consent of Congress, almost 100% in agreement on the situation, when he ordered troops first to Afghanistan and then to Iraq.

Post mortems and hindsight or dragging other issues into it do nothing to change the situation that existed at the time it happened, and it does not become Christians who trash their leaders in the most unkind and malicious ways rather than object or criticize as Christians should.

 

[Kalevalatar]

Nobody knew what would happen until it happened. Were bad mistakes made? Absolutely.

That's just flat out incorrect. Everybody knew what would happen before it happened. The rest of the world save Tony Blair, Poland and Micronesia did not oppose the US-led destruction of Iraq on account that Hussein was a good man and deserved the benefit of doubt. Practically the whole world, including US traditional allies in Canada, Europe, Middle East, opposed the destruction of Iraq because the governments, intelligent services and political analysts around the world knew that Hussein was but a regional threat to Iran mostly and not much else, whereas post-Hussein Iraq would destabilize the whole Middle East and lead to geopolitical catastrophe with global consequences.

Arab leaders: a U.S. strike on Iraq would destabilize the entire region
Qatar official: War with Iraq would destabilize region
Saudi Arabia, Syria: war on Iraq would destabilize the region, lead to a human tragedy

Unlike the current White House administration, the W. Bush White House was staffed with decades long experience with men like Cheney and Rumsfeld who'd done business with Hussein since the 80's when Hussein was a dear ally of Washington. They knew what they were about to start. Everyone told them what would happen. With the Bush administration it wasn't a matter of ignorance and being ill-informed, stupid or clueless: They knew and decided not to care.

 

[Foxfyre]

That's just flat out incorrect. Everybody knew what would happen before it happened. The rest of the world save Tony Blair, Poland and Micronesia did not oppose the US-led destruction of Iraq on account that Hussein was a good man and deserved the benefit of doubt. Practically the whole world, including US traditional allies in Canada, Europe, Middle East, opposed the destruction of Iraq because the governments, intelligent services and political analysts around the world knew that Hussein was but a regional threat to Iran mostly and not much else, whereas post-Hussein Iraq would destabilize the whole Middle East and lead to geopolitical catastrophe with global consequences.

Arab leaders: a U.S. strike on Iraq would destabilize the entire region
Qatar official: War with Iraq would destabilize region
Saudi Arabia, Syria: war on Iraq would destabilize the region, lead to a human tragedy

Unlike the current White House administration, the W. Bush White House was staffed with decades long experience with men like Cheney and Rumsfeld who'd done business with Hussein since the 80's when Hussein was a dear ally of Washington. They knew what they were about to start. Everyone told them what would happen. With the Bush administration it wasn't a matter of ignorance and being ill-informed, stupid or clueless: They knew and decided not to care.

My recollection of history is quite a bit different than yours; I am less willing to accept that 'everybody knew what would happen re Christians', and I do not claim the great sense of clairvoyance and ability to know what others understand or know. So I will agree to disagree with you on this one.

 

[ViaCrucis]

It doesn't make the news much in the mainstream media, but Christians across the globe are in more danger in more places than maybe ever before since the days of the pre-Constantine Roman Empire.

Even here in the United States and other predominantly "Christian" nations where Christians are more free than in most places in the world, Christianity itself seems to be under siege by those who see it as an oppressive presence in an increasingly 'progressive' society.

What should our Christian response be to ideological, militant religious, and political pressures that make it more difficult and/or dangerous to be a Christian in the 21st Century?

. . .Christians continued to be the most persecuted group across the globe in 2016, according to a study.

The upcoming report from Italian-based Center for Studies on New Religions, determined that 90,000 Christians were killed for their beliefs worldwide last year and nearly a third were at the hands of Islamic extremists like ISIS. Others were killed by state and non-state persecution, including in places like North Korea.

“U.S. policy has not had a strategy for specifically addressing the persecution of Christians,” Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, told FoxNews.com “For example, very few people are even aware that Iraqi Christians began organizing to defend themselves and needed our help."

The study also found that as many as 600 million Christians were prevented from practicing their faith in 2016.

The findings continue a disturbing trend from the previous year in which Christians around the world endured horrific acts of persecution, including imprisonment and beheadings.

“These numbers underscore what we already know," Robert Nicholson of the Philos Project said to Foxnews.com."There are many places on earth where being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you can be. . .​

Christians the most persecuted group in world for second year: Study

As a Christian the idea that Christians and Christianity are/is persecuted in places like the United States is deeply and immensely offensive, and it is difficult for me to see it as anything other than a virulent attack on the name, memory, and the sacrifices of the holy martyrs.

It is not persecution when a government treats all religions, and non-religions, equally under the law.
It is not persecution when Christians are treated the same as members of other religions under the law.
It is not persecution when Christianity is not afforded special status, or Christians afforded special privileges under the law.
It is not persecution when Christians are expected to obey the same laws as everyone else.
It is not persecution when individual criticize your religion, or even say mean things about you or your religion.

And the list can go on.

It requires such a deep and fundamental failure to grasp just how privileged we have been, as Christians, in a predominantly Christian society, to imagine that we are being persecuted when others have the "audacity" to say that we shouldn't get special treatment.

How comfortable have we been that we equate telling business owners not to disobey anti-discrimination laws with being thrown to the wild beasts in the arena?

As a Christian, who has read the stories of the ancient martyrs, who is familiar with the history of the Roman persecutions, as well as other historic persecutions, it is deeply offensive to see their martyrdom treated so casually and so nonchalantly that well-to-do Christians living in a free and democratic society without any fear of recourse thinking they suffer the same as their spiritual fathers and mothers who spilled real blood and put their lives on the line just to practice their faith.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Foxfyre]

As a Christian the idea that Christians and Christianity are/is persecuted in places like the United States is deeply and immensely offensive, and it is difficult for me to see it as anything other than a virulent attack on the name, memory, and the sacrifices of the holy martyrs.

It is not persecution when a government treats all religions, and non-religions, equally under the law.
It is not persecution when Christians are treated the same as members of other religions under the law.
It is not persecution when Christianity is not afforded special status, or Christians afforded special privileges under the law.
It is not persecution when Christians are expected to obey the same laws as everyone else.
It is not persecution when individual criticize your religion, or even say mean things about you or your religion.

And the list can go on.

It requires such a deep and fundamental failure to grasp just how privileged we have been, as Christians, in a predominantly Christian society, to imagine that we are being persecuted when others have the "audacity" to say that we shouldn't get special treatment.

How comfortable have we been that we equate telling business owners not to disobey anti-discrimination laws with being thrown to the wild beasts in the arena?

As a Christian, who has read the stories of the ancient martyrs, who is familiar with the history of the Roman persecutions, as well as other historic persecutions, it is deeply offensive to see their martyrdom treated so casually and so nonchalantly that well-to-do Christians living in a free and democratic society without any fear of recourse thinking they suffer the same as their spiritual fathers and mothers who spilled real blood and put their lives on the line just to practice their faith.

-CryptoLutheran

There are different kinds of persecution and all don't involve crucifixion, throwing people to the lion's, or beheadings, etc. though such atrocities should never be minimalized as incidental or realtively unimportant.

And all persecution is not carried out or ordered by a government either.

To be offended because one person's persecution is less dramatic than another person's persecution really misses the point of the thread.

 

[FireDragon76]

The war in Syria actually harms the Christian minority there, since historically the Assad regime has given alot of protections to the Assyrian Church. The same was true in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's Iraq protected the historic Christian communities. There was no ISIS back then.

 

[JackRT]

Actually I think that the persecution of the Muslim people by extremist groups like ISIS overshadows Christian persecution. This is not to diminish the fact that there is real persecution of Christians today and much of that is by the same extremist groups.

 

[Foxfyre]

The war in Syria actually harms the Christian minority there, since historically the Assad regime has given alot of protections to the Assyrian Church. The same was true in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's Iraq protected the historic Christian communities. There was no ISIS back then.

Yes, the war has been terrible for many, including the Christian community in Syria.

One of the oldest Christian communities in the world is to be found in Syria. The Book of Acts records the Apostle Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. Depending on what source you consult, the Syrian Christian population was about 30% or so in the early 20th Century and Christians, Jews, and Muslims got along well at that time.

Now the Christian population is well under 10% and hundreds of thousands are among the refugees.

. . .Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been displaced by fighting or left the country. Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham said last year that more than 1,000 Christians had been killed, entire villages cleared, and dozens of churches and Christian centres damaged or destroyed.

This has led some Christians to express support for President Assad, particularly as sectarian violence has increased and jihadist militant groups calling for an Islamic state in Syria have grown in strength. . .​

Syria's beleaguered Christians - BBC News

 

[Kalevalatar]

My recollection of history is quite a bit different than yours;

Because of the utter failure of the "free" American media to do its job, instead becoming nothing but a willing propaganda tool for the Bush administration.

My recollection is different because I didn't have to rely on the US media.

 

[Foxfyre]

Because of the utter failure of the "free" American media to do its job, instead becoming nothing but a willing propaganda tool for the Bush administration.

My recollection is different because I didn't have to rely on the US media.

Good grief. You need better sources if you think the media was or is a propaganda tool for the Bush Administration.

As a student of, teacher of, and writer about history, most especially Christian history, immodestly perhaps I think I'm on pretty solid ground when it comes to ancient and modern Christian persecution.