News
August 8, 2019
China: The words ‘God’ and ‘Bible’ banned in textbooks
In banning these words, the Chinese government is clearly trying to limit the possibility of Christianity taking hold among schoolchildren. It has...
July 27, 2019
China upholds 7-year prison sentence for US pastor who built schools for 2,000 children
This news item concerns a Protestant pastor who has been sentenced to prison for the crime of crossing the China-Myanmar border — a crime that...
July 14, 2019
China: Christians warned not to speak about persecution
This article is about authorities’ suppression of Roman Catholic churches, but it carries ominous implications also for the Orthodox Christians...
July 9, 2019
China: Christians flee the country amid crackdown on Church – “No longer safe for us”
The Chinese government treats Christianity as if it were an alien element and a threat to the traditional culture of the people. In reality,...
July 4, 2019
China: Officials crack down on Christian funerals and weddings
This is a matter of grave concern also for the tiny community of Orthodox Christians in China, as the Chinese government has not granted Orthodox...
April 17, 2019
China: Two Priests Forcibly Taken Away, One Beaten and Kidnapped by Government Officials
This news item concerns Roman Catholic priests who refuse to join the government-sanctioned Roman Catholic Church, but it has ominous implications...
April 15, 2019
China: 60 Believers Guarding Church Brutally Beaten
Orthodox Christians and all Christians in China are now in extreme danger because of the Chinese government’s increasing tendency to make...
April 11, 2019
China: 200 faithful in standoff with 600 policemen who want to destroy Marian shrine of Mujiaping
This article is about authorities’ efforts to destroy a Roman Catholic shrine, but it carries ominous implications also for the Orthodox...
April 7, 2019
China: Shaanxi Government Demolishes the Only Catholic Parish in Qianyang
As we noted last Wednesday, the Chinese government’s crackdown on unregistered Protestant churches can and does have impact upon Orthodox and...
April 3, 2019
China: Province offers cash rewards to modern-day Judases who report on “those who establish religious places without authorization”
This article notes that “in all likelihood, the push to get people to snitch on each will especially affect underground Protestant communities,...
March 17, 2019
China: “West using Christianity to subvert our government”
This is a classic example of a government treating Christianity as if it were an alien element and a threat to the traditional culture of the people....
February 10, 2019
China: 50 million Christians now enduring persecution
The first Orthodox Christians entered China in 1685. After the Orthodox Church in China was almost wiped out during the Cultural Revolution of the...
January 25, 2019
China: Communists Force Christians to Replace Images of Christ With Pictures of Mao, Xi Jinping
On June 11, 1900, the Boxer rebels in China turned with brutal fury upon the small Orthodox Christian community in China, demanding that they...
January 19, 2019
World’s 2 Most Populous Countries Listed Among Most Dangerous for Christians
While Orthodox Christians and Christians of all faiths face persecution in both China and India, the nature of that persecution is generally...
January 14, 2019
China: Government working “to turn Christianity into a fully domesticated religion that would do the bidding of the party”
This article is about how the Chinese government is cracking down on Protestant churches. However, when Professor Lian Xi says that “the government...
January 6, 2019
China: Government Official Asks Church to Remove First Commandment
This is extremely serious. While so far Chinese officials have mostly focused their persecution on evangelical Protestant churches, there is no...
December 20, 2018
China: Another 60 Christians arrested from church where 100 were already detained
Here again, while these raids have targeted an underground Protestant church, they show the degree to which all Christians in China are in real...
December 10, 2018
China: 100 Christians snatched in overnight raids on underground church
While this raid was focused upon underground churches, it shows the extent to which all Christians in China are vulnerable. The Chinese Orthodox...
December 6, 2018
China’s relentless assault on religious freedom
As we lament the plight of Christians in China, it is useful and illuminating to recall the words of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch...
December 6, 2018
China Wants to ‘Cut Off the Oxygen’ of Christian Churches, Warns Head of Persecution Watchdog
Holy Orthodoxy has a history in China that goes back nearly three and a half centuries. The first Orthodox Christians entered China in 1685. The...

Categories of Concern

Quick facts

  • While about 30 percent of the world’s population identifies as Christian, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination are directed at Christians.

    Source: International Society for Human Rights

  • Christians face persecution in more than 60 Countries.

    Source: U.S. State Department

  • Millions of Christians face interrogation, arrest, torture, and/or death because of their religious convictions and cultural/ethnic identification.

    Source: Open Doors USA

  • Between 2007 and 2014, Christians have been targeted for harassment in more countries than any other religious group.

    Source: Pew Research

  • Christian responses to persecution are almost always nonviolent and, with very few exceptions, do not involve acts of terrorism.

    Source: Under Caesar’s Sword