Peanut Gallery: In America, we pretty much take religious freedom for granted – not so for Christians around the world. Open Doors (USA) has just released its 2013 world rankings of persecution by country.
North Korea is still the worst, but the situation in Africa is deteriorating – see Mali. And the civil war in Syria has placed Christians in great jeopardy.
This link (click here) will take you to the Open Doors(USA) website with rankings and background information on each country.
What can you do? Pray, pray and pray again. Please check out this video that explains how your 5 minute weekly prayer can make a difference.
You can sign up here for weekly 5 min prayer updates… eventually you will pray for all 50 countries in 2013.
Special thanks to rodiagnusdei for bringing this update to our attention. Please check out their website here. Their original post is re-blogged below.
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Information and watch list from the non denominational group http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org. Rankings released January 8,2013 –
North Korea – For the eleventh year running, this is the most difficult place on earth to be a Christian. In a country of 24.5 million, there are just 400,000 Christians. North Korea is one of the remaining Communist states, and it is vehemently opposed to religion of any kind. Christians are classified as hostile and face arrest, detention, torture, even public execution. There is a system of labor camps including the renowned prison No. 15, which reportedly houses 6,000 Christians alone. But despite severe oppression, there is a growing underground church movement of an estimated 400,000 Christians. We have written on North Korea several times in the past year. At the bottom are some noteworthy articles you can read in order to become more familiar with the brutal hardship that is endured by the Christians of North Korea. You can also read about North Korea’s hidden gulag, below all of the links, and visit the website that published The Hidden Gulag Report.
African countries surge – Open Doors reports that persecution of Christians in Africa vastly increased in 2012. Mali is a newcomer on the list and holds the No. 7 position. Tanzania (No. 24), Kenya (No. 40), Uganda (47) and Niger (No. 50) also moved onto the World Watch List and Ethiopia is one of the strongest risers (from No. 38 to No. 15) on the list. In addition, the small African country of Eritrea made the Top 10 for the first time at No. 10. Libya climbed from No. 26 to No. 17.
Syria made the largest jump on the World Watch List. The country is No. 11 on the list, compared to No. 36 in 2012.
Christians are persecuted in at least 60 countries for their faith. They suffer interrogation, arrest and even death in some of the most dangerous and restrictive countries in the world. For 58 years Open Doors has supported and strengthened believers worldwide through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development and prayer and presence ministry. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 ( 888-524-2535 ) or go to our Website at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.
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