One in Seven Christians Faces Heavy Persecution in 2024
Imagine you are part of a small Bible study group of seven people, including yourself. Now imagine that during one of your nighttime meetings, with the curtains drawn, there is a sharp knock at the door. You and your companions look at one another—suddenly frozen with fear. “Open up!” cries a gruff voice from outside the house. “It’s the police! Open the door, or we will break it in!”
Quickly, you jump up and run to the door. Opening it, you see several what appear to be scowling police officers brandishing guns. One of the men shines a flashlight into your eyes. They quickly push past you and plant themselves in the room. In the few seconds your friends had, they hid their Bibles under the couch and chair cushions—but not very well.
“What took you so long?” asks the same voice you heard before. It belongs to the heavy-set man in charge. His thick, well-muscled arms and chest suggest a casual brute strength. Not waiting for your answer, he asks another question, then another: “Is this a Bible study? Are you the leader?”
When you nod, he takes you roughly by the arm, snatches your Bible (in your rush to the door you had forgotten to put it down), and says, “You’re going to the police station to answer a few questions.” Then, just before the squad takes you into the night, the one in charge turns to your terrified group and says, “Don’t wait up for your teacher. Go home—now! We will be in touch with all of you.”
Shaking, the other six Christians go home to their families. But for how long?
While this story is imaginary, it illustrates a shocking truth that most of the world isn’t aware of: one in every seven Christians around the globe is living under heavy persecution for his or her faith. That’s 365 million people—more than everyone in the United States of America combined.
The kind of persecution we’re talking about could be imprisonment. Beatings. Loss of a job. Even martyrdom.
In some regions, the persecution is even more widespread. In Africa, not one in seven but one in five Christians faces this kind of persecution. In Asia, it’s two in five—40 percent!
Open Doors and its latest World Watch List, from which these figures come,¹ reports the following annual statistics on global persecution of Christians:
4,125 Christians detained;
4,998 Christians murdered; and
14,766 churches and Christian properties attacked.
All this is unimaginable to us. But it’s the truth. The religious freedom we enjoy and celebrate on Independence day in America is severely constricted, under attack, or nonexistent in much of the world.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, says that “almost 4.9 billion people live in countries with serious or very serious violations of religious freedom.” Gallagher notes that religious freedom, “although not the only aspect of human rights, is probably the most fundamental.”²
In Saudi Arabia, legal residents are required to carry identity cards designating them as “Muslim” or “non-Muslim.”
Some are even identified as “Christian,” relegated to permanent second-class status. Conversion from Islam is officially punishable by death,³ and because of religiously inspired misogyny, Saudi women find it extremely difficult to resist or object to domestic violence and sexual abuse in their marriages.⁴
So this Independence Day, let us pray for all who do not have religious freedom—both Christian and non-Christian, men and women.
Freedom of religion, of course, is a precious right in the United States. The text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution begins:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…⁵
Religious liberty has therefore been called “the first freedom.” As Gallagher observes, “the violation of the right to religious freedom has the effect of undermining not only one right but also the entire category of human rights.”⁶
While Crescent Project is not a religious-liberty advocacy group per se, we strongly support freedom of religion as a God-given right. We desire that all people have the freedom to consider the hope and life-changing claims of Jesus Christ, who said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Thank you for your prayers and financial support, which enable us to share the truth of Christ all around the world.
¹https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/
²https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257923/vatican-official-hundreds-of-millions-of-christians-face-high-levels-of-persecution
³Saudi_Arabia-Media_Advocacy_Dossier-ODI-2024.pdf
⁴https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/saudi-arabia/
⁵https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/
⁶https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257923/vatican-official-hundreds-of-millions-of-christians-face-high-levels-of-persecution
