For the 12th consecutive year, communist-ruled North Korea is still the worst place on earth to be a Christian. That’s according to the Open Doors 2014 World Watch List (WWL).
“The 2014 WWL is the most comprehensive study of the systematic persecution of Christians ever done. This methodology and study has proven to be very reliable. Often completely unaddressed in the West is the fact that Christians are the largest persecuted minority in the world,” said Open Doors USA President/CEO Dr. David Curry. “We want to draw attention to some of the regimes around the world and some of the circumstances and environments around the world, which are bringing increased persecution to Christians,” he continued.
Under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un with communist oppression as the primary source, conditions remain dangerous and there is no religious freedom to worship God in North Korea. A Christian can be executed or forced into a lifelong labor camp, along with several generations of his or her family, just for possessing a Bible or for spending time in prayer. Reports indicate that as conditions worsen, one labor camp alone could hold up to 6,000 Christians. Under the current oppressive regime, officials said between 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are suffering in horrific concentration, or prison camps, just because of their Christianity.
Following North Korea at the top of the list, the top 10 countries are Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen. Those are countries where Christians faced the most pressure and violence in 2013. “Countries on the WWL, such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East and North Africa are targeting Christians; imprisoning, punishing, and even in some cases murdering people who choose to express privately or publicly their Christian faith. The 2014 WWL is a wake-up call to Americans to become more aware of these atrocities and restrictions on religious freedom,” Curry said. Violent acts against Christians can also include rapes, kidnappings and church and home burnings.
Overwhelmingly, the main force driving the persecution of Christians in 36 of the top 50 countries is Islamic extremism, with the most violent region being the states of the African Sahel belt, a semi-arid zone extending from Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean eastward to Sudan and the Red Sea where a fifth of the world’s Christians meet one seventh of the world’s Muslims in perilous proximity. This reflects an intensification of the trend for the past 15 years that Islamic extremism is the worst persecutor of the worldwide Christian church.
Each year the WWL ranks countries by the intensity of persecution that Christians face for demonstrating their faith and brings attention to the world’s top 50 persecutors. Research is gathered from Open Doors’ persecution analysts, researchers and specialists, from its field operations and independent experts inside the different countries. Open Doors, an international ministry, has been devoted to supporting persecuted Christians across the globe for nearly 60 years.
Overall, persecution of Christians worldwide continues to increase. It is estimated that 100 million Christians are actively being persecuted.
“We want people to be able to study and to worship Jesus in freedom, if they so choose, that’s our goal,” Curry said.