Written by Katie Ascough

ACN’s 2017-19 edition of Persecuted and Forgotten? covers four case studies in depth: Rita Habib, the Daesh (ISIS) captive who returned home to Qaraqosh, Iraq; the attack on St Ignatius’s Church in Nigeria; the bombing of Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Philippines; and Asia Bibi, first woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan who was subsequently freed.

The report (due to be released in Ireland during the Week of Witness 25 Nov — 1 Dec) focuses on twelve countries infamous for high levels of Christian persecution: Burma (Myanmar), Central African Republic, China, Egypt, India, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Sudan. 

In the period July 2017 to July 2019 (inclusive), ACN found that Christian persecution improved for one of these countries, remained at a similar level for five, and worsened for six.

The area highlighted for having worsened the most was South and East Asia, which the report coins a ‘hot spot’ for persecution.

At a glance, the report found that persecution of Christians in core Middle East countries such as Syria and Iraq has declined greatly following a period of genocide earlier in the decade. The impact of this genocide — continuing migration, security crises, extreme poverty, and slow recovery — means that it may now be too late for some Middle East Christian communities to recover. In some towns and cities, the countdown to Christianity’s disappearance is ticking ever louder.

Church attacks in Sri Lanka and the Philippines show that there is now an unholy trinity of threats facing Christians in South and East Asia: Islamic extremism, popularist nationalism, and authoritarian regimes.

The international community, while showing unprecedented concern regarding persecution, is running out of time if it wants to save Christianity in many parts of the Middle East. Measures taken to date may not be enough to secure the future of the Church’s presence there.

An increasing unity of purpose between religio-nationalist groups and government represents a growing — and largely unrecognised — threat to Christians and other minorities in India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), and other core countries in South and East Asia.

From Nigeria in West Africa to Madagascar in the east, Christians in parts of Africa are threatened by Islamists seeking to eliminate the Church — either by use of force or by dishonest means, including bribing people to convert.

Around the world, Christians are a favoured target for violent militant extremists who operate without boundaries and who perceive local Christians as a legitimate alternative to a direct strike on the West.

These high-level findings, while harrowing and extreme in themselves, do not quite do justice to the gritty details of barbaric persecution outlined later in the report. Reading further into the real-life case studies and the specific occurrences of violence and oppression in the six worsening and, indeed, the five countries with ‘stable’ and consistent levels of persecution reveals a dark reality almost too extreme to imagine. 

Over the next few weeks, we will delve into the stories of these people and examine the state of persecution in these countries. As we do, I invite you to ponder what we in the West can do to make a difference for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

Aid to the Church in Need is Ireland’s leading charity for protecting the rights of Christians and supporting the suffering and persecuted Church. ACN supports more than 5,000 projects in around 150 countries each year, helping Christians live out their Faith wherever they are persecuted, oppressed, or in need.

Please take the time to find out more so that you can be their voice.

Thank you.