Americas new peculiar institution
By
March 5, 2021
Open Doors USA is an organization which monitors Christian persecution around the world and advocates for believers in Jesus the Christ who are under persecution. The organization also spreads the Word by distributing Bibles in countries across the globe.
According to the Open Doors USA website, in the past year: over 340 million Christians lived in places where they experienced high levels of persecution and discrimination; 4,761 Christians were killed for their faith; 4,488 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked; 4,277 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned.
Open Doors USA maintains a watch list of the top fifty countries where persecution of Christians is the worst. North Korea heads the list, where it is believed that 50-70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned.
Members of the clergy conduct Easter mass in an empty church and streamed online as part of social distancing measures amidst the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in Jakarta on April 12, 2020. | ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images
Indonesia has named an evangelical Christian as the new national police chief, marking the first time in nearly 50 years that a member of the religious minority has held the post in the Muslim-majority nation.
According to UCA News, Commissioner General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, 52, was sworn in on Jan. 27 as police chief, succeeding Gen. Idham Azis who retired on Feb.1. A Protestant, Listyo is the first Christian to hold the post in nearly 50 years and only the third since Indonesia declared independence in August 1945.
Largest Muslim population nation names Christian as police chief christianpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from christianpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Houthi followers shout slogans during a demonstration against Saudi-led airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, July 18, 2016. | (Photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)
The U.S. government s decision to remove the terror designation from the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis could lead to heightened Christian persecution, according to the head of a prominent international Christian human rights organization.
After the Biden administration removed the Houthi organization, known as Ansar Allah, from the list of foreign terrorist organizations early last month, two Saudi-influenced newspapers reported Yemen’s Houthi militia is threatening Christians with extended detainment.
David Curry, the president of the Christian persecution watchdog organization Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post in a recent interview that removing the terror designation applied by the Trump administration in 2018 is a “mistake” that will only “embolden” Houthi militia.
A Pakistani Christian woman lights candles in front of a picture of slain Christian minister Shahbaz Bhatti at The Heart Cathedral Church in Lahore on March 6, 2011. Bhatti, who was an outspoken campaigner against Pakistan s Islamic blasphemy laws, died in a hail of bullets on March 2, as he left his mother s home in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. | AFP via Getty Images/Arif Ali
A defender of religious freedom and Christian martyr, Shahbaz Bhatti’s legacy lives on 10 years after his death, though religious oppression in Pakistan has heightened in the decade following his assassination.
International religious freedom advocates, legislators and religious leaders from across the globe on Tuesday participated in a virtual observance of the 10th anniversary of Bhatti’s death to honor the legacy of the first-ever Pakistani minister for minorities affairs and discussed the future of religious liberty for minorities in Pakistan.