International Christian Concern (ICC) has released a document titled the “2016 Hall of Shame Report” listing all the world’s worst places to be a Christian. The document identifies 12 countries where Christians are facing the worst harassment.
The ICC is a Washington-based Christian watchdog formed in 1995 to protect the rights of Christians worldwide.
According to the report, North Korea, Syria, Nigeria and Iraq are the worst countries in the world for Christians. The Christian populations in Syria and Iraq are almost extinct with the majority of the community either getting killed by radical Islamists or leaving the country because of persecution. It is speculated that these people are highly unlikely to return to the country.
As for Nigeria, the Boko Haram is on a continuous campaign to completely wipe out Christians from the country. Christians, who the Islamist organization terms ‘infidels,’ face persecution and attacks on their lives and places of worship on a daily basis.
Christians in North Korea are facing unthinkable torture. Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un demands absolute loyalty to himself and devotion and worship to a deity/God is a threat to the authority of the supreme leader. Naturally, the Christian practice of calling Christ as ‘King’ goes completely against the ideology of North Korea. The country has some of the most inhumane and barbaric methods of execution, such as death by gas chambers, fire and even crucifixion. Some former prisoners even report having watched their fellow prisoners being forced to stone each other to death.
Countries like Egypt, India, Pakistan and China have ongoing persecution of Christians. Unlike the above-mentioned countries, there is no full-fledged execution of Christians. However, Christians constantly face harassment and violence in different forms on a daily basis.
Russia and Mexico are both Christian nations. However, Christians from minority denominations are persecuted in these countries. In Russian Christians who are not from the Russian Orthodox Church, and Mexican Protestant and evangelical Christians face constant discrimination. In the U.S., there is a steady rise of anti-Christian culture, and Christians say the freedom of belief is on an alarming decline.
Other countries like Saudi Arabia have simply never allowed a non-Muslim community to flourish. In Saudi Arabia, Christianity is facing suppression rather than persecution. An absolutely Muslim nation, there is absolutely no strong presence of Christians at all.