A newly released report says that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, and violence against Christians continues to rise.

The 2010 report on religious freedom by Aid to the Church in Need said that religious freedom has declined globally and faces greater threat today than two years before—especially for Christians, according to Rome Reports.

The ACN, a Catholic organization, publishes a religious freedom report every two years. Its 2010 report said seven out of ten people, or some 200 million, are affected, Rome Reports said.

Social, political persecution

The ACN report includes information from 195 dossiers covering 194 countries, 21 of which have hardly any freedom of religion at all. Two kinds of religious persecution were noted: First, social persecution by members of other religions, and second, persecution by political policy, Rome Reports said.

Peter Sefton Williams, CAN chairman said social persecution is acute in some Muslim majority countries, mentioning “Places like Saudi Arabia where it’s impossible for any Christian or any non-Muslim group to organize and to have open public prayer. We think of places like Somalia, or we think of Sudan,” according to Rome Reports.

Williams said political discrimination and oppression of Christianity and other minority faiths prevails in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba, all communist countries, to name a few, according to Rome Reports.

Asia

The report cited a 2009 rise in both ethnic and religious violence in India. There is greater discrimination however in Pakistan, where the blasphemy law is used by Muslim fundamentalists against Christians and other minorities AsiaNews said.

Under the blasphemy law it is illegal to speak against the Quran or Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Most of those charged with blasphemy are poor and cannot pay for their defense. Penalty can range from imprisonment to death, according to Rome Reports.

So far Pakistan’s government has not executed anyone for blasphemy, although radicals have killed defendants extra-legally. But the case of Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi, who was recently sentenced to death, may set dangerous precedence, AsiaNews said.

In Afghanistan, the government cannot effectively promote freedom of religion. In Bangladesh Islam is the state religion and minority attacks have been plentifully recorded with no action taken by local security, according to AsiaNews.

The report said that in officially atheist China, “religious freedom is denied in all its facets,” and information is limited and hard to get. Of record is the arrest and detention in a concentration camp of Mgr. Julius Jia Zhiguo, an underground bishop from Hebei, for 15 months, AsiaNews reported.

Middle East

In Iraq, escalating ethnic cleansing of Christians and their systematic persecution was noted. Other countries mentioned were Lebanon, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, AsiaNews said.

Africa

Northern Africa was noted for both political and social persecution, particularly in Somalia citing this “both in the legislation of the majority of them and in the widespread mentality among the majority of the population,” The Way reported.

In Somalia Islam is the main religion and minority faiths undergo persecution and social marginalization. Another country mentioned for persecution of Christians and faith minorities is Egypt, despite its being a tourist destination, AsiaNews said.

Europe, the U.S.

The report also cited a decline in religious freedom in the U.S. and Europe due to secularism, especially in Spain where religious symbols are not allowed in public places, Rome Reports said.

According to Rome Reports, in France Islamic communities are discriminated against. In Germany, Catholics are discriminated against because of family issues including their prolife stance.

A new program was launched recently by a pastor in Texas, with hundreds in attendance including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and atheists to foster understanding between people of different faiths.

Pastor Bob Roberts Jr. kicked off Global Faith Forum at NorthWood Church, using a new communication approach which he described as “multifaith” as opposed to “interfaith,” The Christian Post said.

According to The Christian Post, a multifaith approach involves conversation that veers away from talking about other faiths, to having conversations with people of other faiths, The Christian Post reported.

Among the speakers at the forum are His Excellency Le Cong Phung, Vietnam ambassador to the United States; HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal, former Saudi Arabia ambassador to the United States; John Esposito of Georgetown University, Eboo Patel of Interfaith Youth Core, and Mark Galli of Christianity Today, among others, The Christian Post said.

Roberts said in a multifaith forum, participants can converse with other faiths in a way that they can still hold true to their convictions, without compromise. At the same time, it is hoped the crowd will be open, listen to each other and even better, build friendships, according to The Christian Post.

By contrast, an interfaith approach implies “dumbing down one’s faith to get along with those of other religious traditions,” according to The Christian Post. Roberts noted that there are theologically “irreconcilable differences in some of what I believe and what others believe. But, how we relate to others, and how we work together in the world is everything.”

The Christian Post noted that prejudice and stereotypes in a pluralistic world encumbers understanding. But they quote Roberts’ blog where he says, “there is a better way than hate and fear.”

Roberts wrote in his blog, “Everyone is saying that the tension between the U.S. and the rest of the world is bad, tension between the faiths is bad, and things are spinning out of control. We can complain, gripe, fear, worry – or we can act. This is an opportunity to gather and act.”

For Roberts, the important questions in the forum that he seeks answers to are not regarding salvation or who God is, but simply to open roads among different faiths, The Christian Post said.

Noting a general disfavor in the world towards evangelicals, Roberts said, “It’s time to begin to understand that and change that. The Great Commission demands it. The love of Jesus for all of humanity and his desire to see transformation demands it,” The Christian Post reported.

Prior to the forum, attendees were given advice on cultural mores of different faiths. For example, the different customs regarding shaking hands with a woman. They were also encouraged to have a conversation as opposed to an interview, and to mix small talk with any theological questions, The Christian Post said.

A Catholic religious leader said recently that education is crucial in order to resolve the growing unrest and the clash of faiths in Nigeria.

Fr. Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, a professor of philosophy and vice rector of the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, told Aid to the Church in Need that Muslim-Christian conflicts in Nigeria have deep historical roots, and politics, economics and ethnic differences interweave with faith, enhancing religious tensions.

Onah told ACN that education can address these roots. However, further complicating the matter of uneven distribution of education is the quality of education. For example, northern Nigerian Muslims believe Islamic education–limited to Arabic and Koranic teachings–is the only true instruction.

Radical Islamic groups like the Boko Haram claim that Western education teaches falsehoods. They find fertile ground for recruits among idle Muslim youth who roam the streets. Onah told ACN, “I think, part of the cause is the lack of proper catering to the programs that take care of the young people.”

A second factor that adds to religious conflicts is ethnicity. Onah told ACN that Nigeria historically had 350 nationalities which comprise the country today. “No attempt was made to create, of these ethnic nationalities, one people,” Onah said.

Onah noted that in Nigeria, ethnic affiliation is even stronger than religious affiliation and oftentimes, an ethnic clash is mistaken to be religious. He cites for example the clash of farmers and nomads, often mistaken to be primarily a religious issue, ACN said.

Nomads, who are largely Muslim, have traditionally had no concept of land ownership and their cattle graze anywhere. When they graze on a farmer’s land, crops are destroyed. Many farmers are Christian, Onah said.

Oftentimes there are no police in the area. The farmers therefore poison their crops so that as the cattle graze on their land, they die. Nomads respond by poisoning the dead cattle so that if the farmers eat them, they will die too, ACN reported.

Onah said with proper education and dialogue, cultural-ethnic groups will be able to understand one another and can peacefully resolve the problem. Onah told ACN, “These [ethnic] affiliations are things we have to try to overcome.”

Economic changes have also contributed to religious tensions with the existence of poverty throughout Nigeria and a growing number of young people who are disenchanted with government. This, Onah told ACN, is aggravated by politicians who enrich themselves while manipulating the poor and the youth.

Aggravating the internal political situation are the external political interests. Many Muslim groups, Onah told ACN, seek to dominate Nigeria including influences that come from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iran.

Nigeria is strategic for oil and its sizeable population of 150 million people. Onah told ACN, “Within, the Muslim world is not a homogenous group, so there is often infighting among the Muslims themselves before even spilling over to the non-Muslims.”

Onah said that education will help greatly to not only address the religious divide, but to attack its roots for a long-term resolution. He told ACN, “If we don’t know the cause, we would not even be able to begin to suggest solutions.”

North Korea ranked No. 1 recently out of 50 countries in the world where the worst persecution of Christians exist.

The Open Doors 2010 World Watch List showed that North Korea has the questionable “distinction” for having the “deadliest level of Christian persecution in the world.”

The four countries following North Korea are Iran (No. 2), Saudi Arabia (No. 3), Somalia (No. 4) and Maldives (No. 5). Other countries on the list include Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Iraq and Palestinian Territories.

The World Watch List ranks the countries by their level of oppression and is compiled through a specially-designed questionnaire which includes 50 questions covering various facets that comprise religious freedom.

In North Korea one can only worship its leader Kim Jong-Il and his patriarch, Kim Il-Sung. Any other religious activity is immediately viewed as insurrection, Open Doors said.

Forms of torture of Christians include being routinely tortured, beaten, mutilated, imprisoned for life, and murdered. Christians are also used for the testing of chemical and biological weapons. Punishment includes confinement and/or death of parents, siblings, children and grandchildren, Open Doors country profile said.

Efforts to track down Christians include the infiltration of underground prayer groups by police to identify and arrest Christians and sentence them to slave labor and starvation in prison camps, Open Doors said.

Self serving propaganda

The North Korean government also issues consistent self-serving propaganda that the enemies of its citizens are the U.S. and South Korea. However, a recent Peterson Institute survey showed that 60% percent of North Koreans are gaining information beyond government propaganda, Open Doors said.

North Korean government has responded to the news leaks through “combat campaigns” where almost every North Korean is forced to work as a slave on government farms for 100-150 days, Open Doors said.

During such times, anyone on the street for no valid reason is sent to a labor camp, which has resulted in fathers unable to support their families. Worst hit is Hwangae province where the bodies of dead children were commonly found on the streets, Open Doors said.

Economic meltdown

In November 2009 North Korea experienced further economic meltdown when the government instituted currency reform to stabilize prices and seal government control of the national market. When the program failed there was hyperinflation and daily necessities were in short supply nationwide, Open Doors said.

Public protest was quickly quelled by government even as more and more died from starvation. Hardest hit were the provinces Jakang, Hamkyung and Hwanghae. Disease was rampant and in Hamgyung local authorities even urged people to seek help from any relatives they may have in China, Open Doors said.

Defection not an option

Defection is not an option, as many North Korean Christians who try to escape to China face a tightly guarded border and any defectors caught are returned to North Korea to face certain death, Open Doors said.

With the rising number of defectors is a concurrent rise in house searches and a tightening of surveillance. Exacerbating the situation is a new order that Kim Jong-Il added last January as a supplementary penal code, which orders the immediate execution, or sentencing to death of defectors, Open Doors said.

Growing Christian church

Despite the above, Christianity is growing in the country and chances to learn the gospel are increasing particularly for those residing in cities near China. Open Doors says Christians are risking their lives to lend comfort and strength to each other, and they look forward to the day when their churches in North Korea are restored.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has recently appealed to the EU to investigate humanitarian crimes in North Korea. The EU is set to discuss the pending U.N. General Assembly Resolution on North Korea. For the story, go to http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/09/christian-solidarity-worldwide-appeals-to-eu-to-investigate-humanitarian-crimes-in-n-korea-13614.

Two Christian girls, aged 3 and 5 years old, were rescued recently after being held hostage in Yemen for 11 months, according to Compass Direct News .

The girls, Lydia hentschel, 3, and Anna, 5, were rescued through a collaboration of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni security forces in what was described as a “humanitarian gesture” the BBC reported.

They were kidnapped with their parents and two-year-old brother while on a picnic in the northern region of Saada in June last year, according to the BBC.

Also kidnapped were four other Christian foreigners.  Three of the adult hostages, a Korean and two German women, were murdered shortly afterwards, the BBC reported.

The foreigners worked in a hospital near Saada city.  No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and it is not known if they were kidnapped because of their faith, according to CDN.

The parents, Johannes Hentschel,  a mechanical engineer and Arab speaker, and Sabine, a nurse, sold their belongings seven years before and left their home in Lauske, Saxony for Yemen as part of a long-held dream, according to guardian.co.uk.

According to the Guardian, they worked at the Protestant al-Jumhuri state hospital in Yemen, employed by Worldwide Services, a Netherlands Christian charity.

They had planned to return to Germany this year for Anna to start school.

According to CDN, at present it is unknown where the girls’ parents and 2-year-old brother Simon are; as well as the Briton, only known as Anthony.  The Briton works as an engineer.  According to a report by the news magazine Spiegel, the Hentschels’s kidnappers had demanded $2m ransom for their release. The German foreign ministry refused to comment, according to the Guardian.

Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country and is struggling with a secessionist movement in the south, an on-off revolt in the north, and intensified al-Qaida militancy, according to the Guardian.

Over 200 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in the country in the last 15 years. Most have been released unharmed, the Guardian reported.

The U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted in its recent 2010 annual report that President Obama has fallen short of doing what he can to lobby for the protection of religious freedom in the world.

The report noted that until now, President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, a request that was made to him last month in a petition signed by lawmakers, scholars and human rights groups.

The same petition requested that the position be given equal level to other Ambassadors-At-Large who report directly to the Secretary of State, according to The Christian Post.

The USCIRF also noted that under Obama’s watch, no countries have been rated CPC, or “countries of particular concern” for having the worst religious violations.

Such a rating can prompt government action including trade restrictions, sanctions, embargoes, and withholding of military or financial aid, among others, The Christian Post said.

The same report said that the USCIRF, an independent US government commission, made these observations even as it said that with every year the issue becomes less and less important to the White House and the State Department.

The position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, for example, was created in 1998, but it had only been filled in its initial year, and has remained vacant since 1999.

The commission warned Obama that failure to fill the position sent a message to the international community that religious freedom is not an important issue to the American government, the Christian Post said.

The same report noted that USCIRF took issue with the fact that Obama rarely mentioned religious freedom when he visited Ankara and Cairo last year.

Furthermore, Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton replaced the words religious freedom with “freedom of worship.”

The commission said authoritarian governments could skirt the issue by noting that faiths that are okay with them can freely worship.

Credit:svilen001/sxc.hu

They could also permit only token houses of worship for minority faiths.

According to CNN, the USCIRF also reported that:

* Over 24 countries are religious freedom offenders and practice religious persecution.

* Forms of religious persecution may include imprisonment, murder, being fired from jobs, and being kicked out of universities; being forbidden to have bank accounts, driver’s licenses and even birth certificates, among others.

* 13 countries should be rated CPC or “countries of particular concern” because they have the worst religious violations. These countries include Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Suda, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

* 12 countries on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

* The report has five more countries under CPC rating than does the State Department’s 2009 report, which did not include Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan or Vietnam.

* 3 countries, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, should be closely monitored.

Specific Countries

* Egypt. Members of the Baha’I faith and minority Muslim sects are imprisoned, fired from jobs, kicked out of universities, and barred from having bank accounts, birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

* Nigeria. A decade of violence between Muslims and Christians in the Jos state recently culminated in 500 men, women and children hacked to death with machetes and dumped into wells.

* China. Cracked down on Uyghur Muslims in the west.

* Iran. Labeled domestic political opponents “enemies of God” which is a capital offense and can merit severing of the head.

* Eritrea. Harassment of Orthodox Church members and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

* Vietnam. Imprisonment of Buddhists and Protestants.

The USCIRF report urged the government to double its efforts to protect international religious freedom and to raise issues of abuse to the highest levels of the world community, the Christian Post said.

“Anything less betrays our history and values, and fails to leverage the extraordinary capacity we have as a nation to promote religious freedom and related human rights for all,” the report said.