250 million Christians worldwide will face persecution in 2007, simply for following Jesus Christ, according to persecution watchdog, Release International. In particular it was found that persecution is growing the fastest in the Muslim world.
Release has found that most persecution takes place in four distinct 'zones': those of Islam, Communism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But persecution is growing fastest of all in the Muslim world.
Governments in even moderate Muslim countries often fail to safeguard the rights of their Christian minorities, explains RI. Abuses suffered by Christians include kidnapping, forced conversion, imprisonment, church destruction, torture, rape and execution.
One of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom is Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam's holiest sites Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia forbids all other religions. A Muslim found 'guilty' of converting to Christianity could face the death sentence for apostasy. And anyone who leads a Muslim to Christ faces jail, expulsion or execution.
"There's a conspiracy of silence around Saudi," says Release International's CEO Andy Dipper, "probably because the West wants their oil and their money. But this is a government that hands out the death sentence for its own citizens who want nothing more than the freedom to choose their own faith. And while Saudi bans all Christian literature, it spends billions of dollars each year propagating Islam around the world."
But some of the most violent persecution in the Muslim world is beyond government control. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the world has been made dramatically aware of extremist Islamist global networks. Although the best known is Al Qaeda, there are others who exploit religious tensions for their own political ends, RI has told Christian Today.
"A rising number of extremists interpret the call to jihad as a call to violence. They seem to regard it as their religious duty to force Christians and non-Muslims to convert to Islam. Those who refuse must be driven out or killed," says RI.
