Watchdog Finds Global Increase In Violence And Discrimination Against Christians
Christians around the world are facing increased violence and threats because of their faith, according to a new watchdog report shared with The Daily Wire.
Open Doors, an organization dedicated to aiding persecuted Christians, released its annual report on persecution on Wednesday, finding that 380 million believers worldwide face high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith. This was a steep increase from its 2024 report, which found that 365 million Christians faced intense levels of persecution.
The report found that in 2024, 4,476 Christians were killed for their faith, including 3,100 in Nigeria; 3,944 were sexually assaulted, or forcibly married; 54,780 Christians were physically or mentally abused; 209,771 were forced to leave their homes; and 4,744 were sentenced to prison for their beliefs.
For the last 32 years, the organization has ranked the top 50 worst countries for persecution of Christians. The top offender this year was again communist North Korea, where the state aggressively cracks down on religious expression. The other countries rounding out the top ten include Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
“At one level, it shouldn’t be a surprise at all there is persecution,” Open Doors President Ryan Brown told The Daily Wire. “When you take a look at the very birth of the church, if you read the New Testament, you see that the majority of the New Testament was written to those experiencing persecution or written by those experiencing persecution.”
Brown said that while persecution in Malaysia increased in the last year, it still fell out of the top 50 because the targeting of Christians had increased even more in other countries.
“The things that, even just a year ago, were severe enough to have a country on that list on top 50, this year it wasn’t enough,” Brown said. “That global picture actually worsened.”
When ranking countries, Open Doors considers a number of factors including government policies, community practices, and whether Christians are able to do things like go to church and own a Bible.
The two countries that were new to the top 50 this year were Chad and Kyrgyzstan, which saw the most dramatic increase in persecution of any country.
Brown also noted that violence against Christians is trending upward in sub-Saharan Africa, where Christians are often targeted by Islamic extremists. He urged people to join the “Arise Africa” campaign, which seeks to bring awareness to the widespread persecution in the region.
In Mexico, Brown said the situation for Christians had worsened because of cartel violence directed at churches upset they were undermining their illicit activities.
“As folks move away from drugs and become engaged in the church, it’s bad for their business,” he said. “So the church has come under direct attack from the cartels in Mexico.”
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Brown said the situation for Christians in Yemen has been “bleak” due to the country’s ongoing civil war.
“Civil war obviously creates all sorts of instability in these areas,” he said. “We have seen some of the Islamic militants, specifically the Houthi rebels, that have been more than willing to step into some of those vacuums and perpetuate the instability. One of the ways that they can do that most effectively is targeting Christians. They are often able to do so with impunity.”
The report features anecdotes from Christians around the world, including in Burkino Faso, where a man referred to as Pastor Sore said he had to flee with his family because of attacks from Islamic militants.
“When the terrorists come to churches and find Christians, they tell them that Christianity’s time is over, and they should turn to Islam,” he said. “They warn Christians to stop conducting services. After warning, when they come back later and find you in the church, they kill you.”
“I do believe that we are displaced, but Jesus is not and will never be displaced from our lives,” he added. “He is always with us.”
With the incoming Trump administration, Brown said he saw a “tremendous opportunity” to advance religious freedom abroad. He said that religious freedom helps create stability in countries and can aid in other foreign policy objectives.
“During Trump’s first term he articulated, and I think in many ways, demonstrated that freedom of religious belief would be central to a lot of their approaches to foreign policy,” he said, adding he hoped that policy would continue into his second term.
When running for president, Trump promised to protect persecuted Christians, specifically Armenians.
“Kamala Harris did NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically persecuted and forcibly displaced in Artsakh,” Trump posted on Truth Social in October. “Christians around the World will not be safe if Kamala Harris is President of the United States. When I am President, I will protect persecuted Christians, I will work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing, and we will restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”