WND Staff – January 16, 2020
More than 300 million Christians suffer high or extreme levels of persecution around the globe today, mostly in Muslim-majority nations, according to the new World Watch list by the organization Open Doors.
“The church is alive. The church is active. The church is growing. And that’s why the church is persecuted,” says Open Doors in its 2020 report. “The persecution of Christians is getting more severe than ever, affecting increasing numbers of believers around the world.”
In the top 50 countries on the World Watch List, a staggering 260 million Christians face high or extreme levels of persecution for their faith.
In the previous year, it was 245 million.
Open Doors estimates another 50 million Christians face high levels of persecution in a further 23 countries, including Mexico, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The worst offending country is the communist nation North Korea, followed by Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and India.
Syria, where Christians have been caught in the crossfire of a years-long civil war, is No. 11.
“Of the top 50, 45 countries have been designated ‘extreme’ or ‘very high,’ in terms of the levels of persecution Christians face,” says Open Doors. “That’s five more than last year.”
Nearly 3,000 Christians were murdered for their faith from Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 13, 2019.