Persecution Update: the not-so-nice countries

Every year World Watch List (WWL) takes a look at the persecution of Christians throughout the world and ranks the 50 countries with the worst records. Click here for this year's list in PDF format. The file also includes some interesting commentary on each nation. And don't neglect their homepage which will lead you to much additional information on religious persecution throughout the world.

Who is number one on the WWL 2011 list? North Korea. It seems the Great Leader, Kim Jong-Il, and his loyal followers do not like Christians at all. Whenever an underground Christian community is discovered, it's leaders -- ministers, priests, lay leaders, etc. -- are summarily executed and the rest are imprisoned. And yet, despite this horrific persecution, several hundred-thousand Christians still worship in secret. God bless and protect them. (I also wrote about North Korean persecution of Christians in a previous post on August 11, 2010.)

The rest of the top five include Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, all Muslim nations. Indeed, a significant majority (41 of 50) of all nations on the list are Muslim, including eight of the top ten. (Makes you wonder how Muslims in the US and Europe can actually complain about "islamophobia" whenever someone gives a Muslim a second glance. Go figure.) Five on the list are Communist nations: North Korea, Laos, China, Vietnam and Cuba. Three nations have Buddhist majorities -- Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar) and Sri Lanka -- while one, India, has a Hindu majority.

The other nation included on the list is Russia at number 50. Persecution in Russia is greatest in the southern Muslim-majority parts of the country, but is also meted out by the FSB, the descendent of the infamous KGB. Another issue relates to the government's labeling as a "sect" any Christian denomination other than Russian Orthodoxy.

Most the the nations included on the list represent the "usual suspects", but one is particularly irritating: Afghanistan. This is a nation we "saved" from the vicious Taliban, a nation we have continued to protect by sacrificing the blood of America's best, and instead of showing gratitude they persecute Christians. And notice they are #3 on the list, so the persecution is not just occasional but frequent and severe.

Here's a brief video providing an overview of this year's list:

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