Seventy-six percent of the world’s
population lives in countries that have high restrictions on religion. Twenty
percent of the population in 2012 were victims of religion terrorism or sectarian
violence. Studies show that Christians are the most oppressed religious group: mostly
because they are persecuted in 110 foreign countries. There is no reason for
this except that these countries’ governments are afraid of being “overthrown”
by these outsiders that follow a different religion than the majority of the
country. They also believe any religion other than theirs’ should not be
practiced. These reasons give no one the right to kill Christians just because
they practice a different religion. How would you feel living in one of these
countries where you risk your life because of your religion?
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
In an interview with Liana Aghjanian, she talks about one of
these foreign countries—Iran. A 28-year-old Christian man living in Iran, named
Mori, has to go to secret sessions underground in order to practice his
religion. Revolutionary guards raided one of these sessions in 2011, and many
people were arrested. Mori barely escaped and assumes the rest were all killed.
The dominating religion in this country is Islam. They all believe Christians
want to overthrow the country because of their different religions. Muslims
that turn into Christians are more likely to be harassed, arrested, or even
killed than people who grew up being Christian.
Another country where persecution of Christians is evident
is China. Here, many are arrested for making and selling “illegal” bibles. In
this country, the persecution makes the Christian churches grow instead of get
smaller. In China, Christians have three things they live by: never be afraid
to spread your faith, when you are done spreading your faith, hide; and be
prepared to die. When these Christians go to prison, they are often beaten and tortured
by fellow inmates. Many report these beatings to others, but China officials
deny any such cruelty against the Christians in their country. Sometimes the
people who confront these Chinese officials are taken in, and the officials lie
about the religious liberties that the Chinese have.
In Cuba, a Christian man and his wife’s house were broken
into, and all of their belongings were thrown into the street. The couple was
taken out of their home and it was then confiscated. This was done all because
the couple was accused of having Christian gatherings at their house. Since
they no longer have petroleum in their country, Cubans are forced to do this
because they cannot drive to actual churches. In this country, the number of
Christians is rising at an extremely high rate. Missions groups are now looking
for a way to get into Cuba and stop these break-ins from happening.
In India, a 52-year-old man was bound, decapitated with an
axe, and found in a pool of blood. He was known for being a Christian preacher.
In one case, a Hindu mob raped a nun after their leader was shot down, and they
blamed the Christians. The government of India does not officially persecute Christians;
however, it is made easy for people to do so. Many radical Hindus go out of
their way to torture Christians, burn down churches and bibles, and even murder
these brave human beings. Even so, there are still courageous Christians who
practice their beliefs and even seek out new followers.
Nigeria is known to be the deadliest place for Christians to
live out of all other foreign countries. In one incident, two Christians were
beaten until the attackers thought the victims were dead. These attackers were
Muslim Extremists who said they were just following the Islamic law. Many
Christians flock to the Southern part of Nigeria where it is less aggressive because
in the North, the Muslims are in complete control of government affairs. In one
terrifying incident, four people were killed and two churches were trashed. The
robbers tore out pews from these churches and burned them for the whole Muslim
community to see.
http://www.epm.org/resources/2009/Dec/18/17-countries-where-christians-are-persecuted/
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