|
|
Topic: Global: Islamic extremism primary driver of persecution
|
|
Author
|
|
News Room
Admin Group
Joined: 07/25/2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6560
|
Posted: 01/20/2016 at 3:04pm
|
IP Logged
|
|
|
Global: Islamic extremism primary driver of
persecutionJoel News
Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months,
from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative
atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to
live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea leads the 2016 Open
Doors World Watch List, released 13 Jan. 2016.
Throughout the 49 other
countries on the list, the dominant and growing source of pressure on Christians
is Islamic extremism. It is the primary driver of persecution in the rest of the
top 10 countries on the list, and in 36 of the entire list of 50 countries. Many
of those countries share a common denominator: the self-proclaimed Islamic
State.
“Islamic State and its affiliates took their barbarity across
borders like never before: into Libya, Kenya, and Egypt, culminating in random
massacres in Paris on 13 November and in San Bernardino in the US on 2 December
2015,” wrote Open Doors Director of Strategic Trends Ron Boyd-MacMillan in an
analysis accompanying the World Watch List. “There is a feeling globally that no
one is safe from the reach of these newer jihadists, who can recruit, convert
and train anyone through the internet.”
'Islamists in Niger
destroyed almost all of its 70 churches.'
Niger returned to
the list, at No. 49. Early in 2015, following the IS-inspired attacks in Paris
against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the former French colony suffered
attacks by Islamists who destroyed almost all its 70 churches and killed 10
people. Plus, sharing a long border with Nigeria has meant an occasional
overspill of violence from the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency.
In the 12
months ending 31 Oct. 2015 - the period measured by the current Open Doors World
Watch List - Islamic State spread its influence in places it does not appear to
have a presence. Sympathizers in countries such as Nigeria and Libya have
aligned themselves to IS after carrying out atrocities among their own minority
Christian populations.
Open Doors also said that the government of the
Kurdish region of northern Iraq “is ordering land to be sold to Muslim families
in several predominantly Christian areas and towns.” The region has been a
comparative safe haven for thousands of Christian refugees fleeing IS from Mosul
and the Nineveh Plain. | |
Worries about expanding Islamic extremism have
prompted governments to clamp down on what they see as “extremism”, squeezing
Christians along with everyone else. Central Asian governments have expanded
surveillance of church activities, Boyd-MacMillan said, a move that typified
what he characterized as “the year of fear.”
The impact could be seen in
the results of the annual survey of Christian-life conditions that Open Doors
conducts to determine its rankings. The numerical scores assigned to each
country rose across the board; the 50th country on the 2013 list registered 35
points; No. 50 on this year’s 2016 list registered 53 points, a rise of almost
50 per cent over three years.
'Islamic extremism in the world
today has two hubs - one in the Middle East, the other in sub-Saharan
Africa.'
Pressure on Christians continues to rise in
Africa, a trend that emerged in 2012 as the Arab Spring spread across the Arab
world, and which looks set to continue. Sixteen of the 50 countries on the Open
Doors World Watch List are African, a number greater than the 14 countries from
the Middle East and Persian Gulf. When the list is expanded to 65 countries, a
further nine African nations are added. “Islamic extremism in the world today
has two hubs, one in the Middle East, the other in sub-Saharan Africa,”
Boyd-MacMillan said. “In numerical terms at least, though not in degree, the
persecution of Christians in this region dwarfs what is happening in the Middle
East.”
For the first time, India is among the list’s top 20, ranking No.
17. The world’s biggest democracy, governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party, is at the front of a surge of militant Hindu pressure on religious
minorities, most frequently Muslims and Christians. “Christian communities,
across many denominations, report an increase of harassment and violence in the
last year, including physical violence, arson, desecration of churches and
Bibles, and disruption of religious services,” the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom said about India in its 2015 annual report.
“Reportedly, local police seldom provide protection, refuse to accept
complaints, rarely investigate, and in a few cases encourage Christians to move
or hide their religion.”
The complete 2016 Open Doors World Watch List (pdf) The complete 2016 Open Doors World Watch List with a video and
prayer points
Source: Open Doors Via: Joel News
Copyright © 2016 Stichting Joel Ministries
The book of Acts today! Joel
News International offers a weekly high-quality selection of the most inspiring
stories on the advance of God's Kingdom in six continents. This e-zine inspires
thousands of active Christians in over 120 nations.
Sign up for Joel News www.joelnews.org | |
Edited by News Room on 01/20/2016 at 3:11pm
|
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first
login
If you are not already registered you must first
register
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|