Religious Persecution

1. Religious Persecution By Maria MacNeill

2. What is it? • Christians given direct orders to give up their faith and after not complying, they are forcibly made by government officials (who they must also pay for) to not practice Christianity • 105,000 Christians die for their faith each year, which is about one death every 5 minutes • "Around Christmas, pastors were rounded up and jailed and churches bulldozed. Hundreds of churches have been closed over the past few years. A few thousand Christians have tried to flee across the border to Cambodia, but the government there sends the refugees back to imprisonment in Vietnam." ("Southeast Asia's Persecuted Christians") • "Murders, kidnappings, intimidation and expulsions, impelled by a mixture of greed and fanaticism, have reduced that ancient, venerable community to total ruin. Of some 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq before the war, perhaps 400,000--mostly the poor and the old--remain." (Harris,Robin)

3. Where is it? • Religious persecution most prevalent in North Korea, followed by Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, China, and Vietnam • "Thanks to North Korea's self-imposed isolation and success in making Christianity look as though it has disappeared from its land. As a result, its Christians are left invisible, voiceless, nonexistent." (Aikman, David)

4. Why is it important? • "A Pew Forum study in 2011 estimated that Christians are persecuted, either by government or hostile social forces, in an incredible 131 of the world's 193 countries, and they constitute 70 percent of the world's population." (Aikman) • Persecuted Christians not getting help from outside countries due to the common belief that Christianity is dominant

5. Killing in Egypt • Coptic Christian church burned down in Aswan, Egypt and the authorities took no action • A group of young Christians then marched through Muslim neighborhoods in an act of protest, mobs of Muslims threw rocks • The military ran over the Christian marchers with army vehicles, twenty-five people dead

6. The Effects • "Even wearing a cross necklace- a simple sign of faith - was dangerous" (Devincenzo, Angelina). • 27 people killed in a church bombing in Alexandria, Egypt - 3 hours from the home of LilianKobrossy • The Kobrossy family in particular were forced to leave their home - many threats

7. Overall… • Thousands of deaths every day throughout the world • Mass destruction of our world • Affects all people