25 churches or Christian buildings attacked every day of the year: we see evidence of the truth of this in the news items we post every day here at ChristianPersecution.com. What we do not see is any concerted effort by government authorities or international human rights organizations to stop this persecution. There is no country in the world today that we can point to and say that while Christians were once persecuted there, now they live in safety and security. The international indifference to the persecution of Christians is a scandal of monstrous proportions. Please continue to pray that the hearts of world leaders would be softened, and that they would finally be moved to act to end this scourge.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the imminent disappearance of Christianity from some of its ancient strongholds, see here.
“Over 9,000 churches, Christian buildings attacked in past year: Open Doors,” by Samuel Smith, Christian Post, January 16, 2020:
WASHINGTON — Leading Christian persecution watchdog nongovernmental organization Open Doors USA released it’s [sic] 2020 World Watch List Wednesday, an influential annual data report that this year highlights a drastic increase in attacks against Christian buildings and the imprisonment of Christians.
The report, first launched in 1992, ranks the worst 50 countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians and is based on data compiled by Open Doors’ operations in 60 countries.
This year’s list names a number of repeat offenders such as North Korea, China, Iran, Somalia, and Eritrea as well as new countries where radical Islamic extremism wreaked havoc on Christian communities in 2019.
Open Doors rolled out the 2020 report at a briefing attended by representatives of the Trump administration, Congress, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and prominent human rights activists.
“The 2020 World Watch List will provide you with the most credible grassroots data on Christian persecution. But it is much more than that,” Open Doors USA CEO David Curry explained. “It’s going to sound the alarm.”
The report finds that about 260 million Christians experience “high levels of persecution” in the top 50 countries on the list, an increase of about 6 percent from the 2019 report.
The report also states that 9,488 “churches or Christian buildings” — or an average of 25 per day — were attacked during the 2019 reporting period (Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019). By comparison, Open Doors noted in last year’s report that 1,266 churches or Christian buildings were attacked….
