The 50 top persecutors of Christians

Last updated on: March 29, 2012 at 6:06 am

March 29, 2012 by Gene Veith

Take a look at this list of the top 50 countries that persecute Christians: World Watch List Countries | World Watch List.

By my count, 37 of them are Islamic. 8 are Communist or recently-Communist that have kept their persecuting habits. 3 are Buddhist. 1 is Hindu.

The worst is North Korea. The next worse is our client state of Afghanistan. Then our close personal friend Saudi Arabia. Then Somalia. Then Iran.

Just about all of the Muslim states are somewhere on the list. I can’t think of a single Muslim nation that doesn’t persecute Christians to some extent. That includes Turkey, which comes in at #31.

No predominantly Christian society persecutes Christians of different persuasions, with the possible exception of Belarus, where the Orthodox Church is the only one permitted, though I chalk this one up to former Communist habits.

In some of the countries, such as India (#32), the persecution is not legally sanctioned but happens from mobs and cultural practices.

Can you draw any other conclusions from this list?

HT: Doug Bandow, one of my writers in my old editing days at WORLD, who offers some good discussion of the list at the American Spectator.