Global Persecution Tara Toms, Megan Elmore, Lauren Dally, Molly Hoffman On September 17, 2001, in Pasuruan, Indonesia, radical Muslims torched 23 Christian homes and 2 churches, including this one. Today 58 Christian families are homeless.

Global persecution is on the rise. In the last 10 years, it has soared tremendously. In the past 2 years, 10,000 Christians have been killed in Indonesia (2). Christianity is the world’s largest religion. Christians are the most persecuted group (3). Why? Everyday people come to know Christ and everyday more people profess their faith. The more Christians there are professing their faith, the more people get persecuted.

Why Are Christians Persecuted? n Human rights are being denied n Countries want their own identity. n Difference between West’s view of reality and developing countries’ view of reality. n Religion is at the center of the world. There are many religions and most disagree with each other (3). n Government encourages Christian persecution (6).

Denying Human Rights Denying Human Rights n More than 200 million people in over 60 nations are denied basic human rights. n Human rights are a country’s internal affair (3). n Denied property rights, employment rights and education rights. n Restriction on freedom of speech and opinion (6). n We should work together to help guarantee human rights to other Christians. n Religious rights are a principle building block of human rights (3). n In 1997, the first official report on global anti- Christian persecution was issued (p. 2, source 1).

Denying Human Rights Cont’d n Media says Christians bring persecution on themselves (p.7). n Neglecting persecution. n Different countries have different limits on freedom (p. 14). n Religion shapes culture, culture is different within boundaries, cultures have different views. Many countries oppose each other (p.11). n Press influences citizens, informs to what is going on. n We need zero-tolerance policies toward the persecutors (p.8). n Most people claim to have a religious identity (p. 9). n Need to stop believers persecution believers (p.10-11). n People starving because of their faith (p. 5).

Countries Want Own Identity n Countries do not want missionaries to come and change their country. Government likes to rule, not missionaries to rule. n Countries that are already strong in religion are not about to change-ends in persecution (3).

West’s View Different From Other Countries n View of culture and values are different from developing countries. n West is used to being world-wide as other countries do not interfere with others. n West needs to listen to hear what other countries are saying. Need to know what they need and desire and their culture (3).

Religion Center of World n 6 billion in the world, only 151 million are atheists. n Religion is relevant to the world. n Religions disagree with other religions. Persecution starts with the conflict in religion and in the church (3).

Government Encourages Christian Persecution n Communism gov’t system n The radical Islamism gov’t system n “Islamic Belt” (East of Morocco to southern Philippines on west) endorse persecution (6). n Government trains officials to watch for hints, then they persecute

How Are Christians Persecuted ?

Ways in Which Christians Are Persecuted n Death n Beaten n Unemployment n Rape n Bombing (6) n Churches burned n Prison (7) n Thrown in a fire n arrested (8) n Slavery n Threatened n Discrimination n Robbed (3) n The recent number of arrests in Saudi Arabia is almost like the Nazi time when they tried to eliminate all Jews (5). n In Sudan’s 17-year-old conflict, 2 million people (mostly African Christians and traditional believers) perished due to the manipulation of foreign food aid (calculated starvation) according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. (5)

Most Persecuted Areas n Sudan n Vietnam n Saudi Arabia n Afghanistan (also the least reached country) n China n Russia n Comoro Islands n Yemen n Iran n Morocco n Egypt n Pakistan n North Korea n Maldives n Libya (2)

What We Can Do to Help n Pray n Stick together n Stand up for each other n Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves n Encourage other Christians (5) n Media-radio, tv, magazines, newspapers n Stop neglecting (8) n Stop the denial of our brothers and sisters being persecuted

We need to have faith. Trust the Lord. He will prevail. Prayer is what the Christians and the persecutors need. The persecutors are people that God loves and wants to see come to him. They are never beyond the reach of God’s grace (6) They will persecute us. John 15:20 says that we persecuted Jesus and that will persecute us also.

What are YOU Going to do to About it? President Clinton never raised his voice publicly to decry the genocide in Sudan and failed to rally over allies to press the regime. He ignored the strong appeals for U.S. Non-Military leadership by the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressmen: Frank Wolf, Chris Smith, Don Payne, Tom Tanciedo, and Senators Sam Brownback, Bill Frist and Jesse Helms. Clinton deferred the request of Nobel Laurate and Holocaust poet Elie Weasel to meet over U.S. policies on Sudan,”Site of the world’s mosst long- lasting religious persecution and genocide.(5)

Sources n 1. Marshall, Paul. Religious Freedom In the World: A Global Report on Freedom and Persecution. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, n 2. n 3. n 4. article&news n 5. n 6. n 7. backbone&section-statistics n 8.