Christianity faces being wiped out of the “biblical
heartlands” in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers,
according to a new report.
The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam Photo: ALAMY
The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility
across the world than any other religious group. And it claims politicians have
been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and
the Middle East. The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam,
it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because
of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”. It warns that converts from
Islam face being killed in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Iran and risk severe
legal penalties in other countries across the Middle East.
The report, by the think tank Civitas, says: “It is
generally accepted that many faith-based groups face discrimination or
persecution to some degree. "A far less widely grasped fact is that
Christians are targeted more than any other body of believers.” It cites
estimates that 200 million Christians, or 10 per cent of Christians worldwide,
are “socially disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for their beliefs.”
“Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political priorities
across large areas of the world. That this is not the case tells us much about
a questionable hierarchy of victimhood,” says the author, Rupert Shortt, a
journalist and visiting fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. He adds: “The blind
spot displayed by governments and other influential players is causing them to
squander a broader opportunity. Religious freedom is the canary in the mine for
human rights generally.”
The report, entitled Christianophobia, highlights a fear
among oppressive regimes that Christianity is a “Western creed” which can be
used to undermine them. State hostility towards Christianity is particularly
rife in China, where more Christians are imprisoned than in any other country
in the world, according to the report. It quotes Ma Hucheng, an advisor to the
Chinese government, who claimed in an article last year that the US has backed
the growth of the Protestant Church in China as a vehicle for political
dissidence. “Western powers, with America at their head, deliberately export
Christianity to China and carry out all kinds of illegal evangelistic
activities,” he wrote in the China Social Sciences Press. “Their basic
aim is to use Christianity to change the character of the regime...in China and
overturn it,” he added.
The “lion’s share” of persecution faced by Christians
arises in countries where Islam is the dominant faith, the report says, quoting
estimates that between a half and two-thirds of Christians in the Middle East
have left the region or been killed in the past century. “There is now a
serious risk that Christianity will disappear from its biblical heartlands,” it
claims. The report shows that “Muslim-majority” states make up 12 of the 20
countries judged to be “unfree” on the grounds of religious tolerance by
Freedom House, the human rights think tank. It catalogues hundreds of attacks
on Christians by religious fanatics over recent years, focusing on seven
countries: Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Burma and China.
It claims George Bush’s use of the word “crusade” after
the September 11 attacks on New York created the impression for Muslims in the
Middle East of a “Christian assault on the Muslim world”. “But however the
motivation for violence is measured, the early twenty-first century has seen a
steady rise in the strife endured by Christians,” the report says. The 2003
invasion of Iraq left Iraqi Christians “more vulnerable than ever”, highlighted
by the 2006 beheading of a kidnapped Orthodox priest, Fr Boulos Iskander, and
the kidnapping of 17 further priests and two bishops between 2006 and 2010. “In
most cases, those responsible declared that they wanted all Christians to be
expelled from the country,” the report says.
In Pakistan, the murder last year of Shahbaz Bhatti, the
country’s Catholic minister for minorities, “vividly reflected” religious
intolerance in Pakistan. Shortly after his death it emerged that Mr Bhatti had
recorded a video in which he declared: “I am living for my community and for
suffering people and I will die to defend their rights. "I prefer to die
for my principles and for the justice of my community rather than to
compromise. I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his
own life for us.”
The report also warns that Christians in India have faced
years of violence from Hindu extremists. In 2010 scores of attacks on
Christians and church property were carried out in Karnataka, a state in south
west India. And while many people are aware of the oppression faced in Burma by
Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy activists, targeted abuse of
Christians in the country has been given little exposure, the report says. In
some areas of Burma the government has clamped down on Christian protesters by
restricting the building of new churches. “Openly professing Christians
employed in government service find it virtually impossible to get promotion,”
it adds.
The Telegraph UK
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