{"id":20558,"date":"2015-01-12T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=20558"},"modified":"2015-01-10T15:16:19","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T20:16:19","slug":"persecution-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"Persecution rates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Open Doors has released statistics about the persecution of Christians in 2014:\u00a0 how many Christians were killed because of their faith (double what it was last year, and triple what it was the year before that); the number of attacks on churches; and the different ways Christians are being persecuted (including \u201ccultural marginalization\u201d).\u00a0 It also lists the top reasons (#1: militant Islam; #2: dictator paranoia; #3: organized corruption).\u00a0 Also of interest is a ranking of the countries according to their intolerance of Christianity.<\/p>\n

From \u2018Not Forgotten\u2019: The Top 50 Countries Where It\u2019s Most Difficult To Be A Christian | Gleanings | ChristianityToday.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Researchers calculate that 4,344 Christians were \u201ckilled for faith-related reasons\u201d in 2014, which is \u201cmore than double the 2,123 killed in 2013, and more than triple the 1,201 killed the year before that,\u201d reports World Watch Monitor (WWM). (Measuring martyrdoms has drawn debate in recent years, and Open Doors is usually on the conservative end of estimates.) By far the largest number of deaths occurred in Nigeria, where 2,484 Christians were killed; the next deadliest country for Christians was the Central African Republic (CAR), with 1,088 deaths. The remaining three deadliest countries were Syria (271 deaths), Kenya (119 deaths), and North Korea (100 deaths).<\/p>\n

\n

In addition, 1,062 churches were \u201cattacked for faith-related reasons\u201d in 2014. The majority of attacks took place in five countries: China (258 churches), Vietnam (116 churches), Nigeria (108 churches), Syria (107 churches), and the Central African Republic (100 churches). Last year\u2019s highest-profile incident: a government campaign to \u201cde-Christianize\u201d the skyline of one of China\u2019s most Christian cities. (The Pew Research Center also recently tallied the countries with the most government destruction of religious property.)<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t increased violence that primarily drove persecution to record levels in 2014, but rather increased \u201ccultural marginalization,\u201d according to Open Doors. In other words, the \u201cmore subtle \u2018squeeze\u2019 dimensions of persecution\u201d which make \u201cdaily life \u2026 harder and harder\u201d for Christians. A substantial study by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 75 percent of the world\u2019s population now lives in countries with high levels of social hostility involving religion. [CT compared how both groups rank the world\u2019s worst persecutors.]<\/p>\n

\u201cEven Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination, and violence,\u201d said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. \u201cThe 2015 World Watch List reveals that a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They are being forced to be more secretive about their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open Doors has released statistics about the persecution of Christians in 2014:\u00a0 how many Christians were killed because of their faith (double what it was last year, and triple what it was the year before that); the number of attacks on churches; and the different ways Christians are being persecuted (including \u201ccultural marginalization\u201d).\u00a0 It also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,23],"tags":[447],"class_list":["post-20558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-international","tag-christian-persecution"],"yoast_head":"\nPersecution rates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Open Doors has released statistics about the persecution of Christians in 2014:\u00a0 how many Christians were killed because of their faith (double what it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Persecution rates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Open Doors has released statistics about the persecution of Christians in 2014:\u00a0 how many Christians were killed because of their faith (double what it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-12T11:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-10T20:16:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/\",\"name\":\"Persecution rates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-12T11:00:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-10T20:16:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Open Doors has released statistics about the persecution of Christians in 2014:\u00a0 how many Christians were killed because of their faith (double what it\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/persecution-rates\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Persecution rates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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