In communist countries like Cuba, China, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea, Christians are targeted because they vest their faith in the Lord and not the Marxist regimes.
Fundamentalist Islam is very intolerant toward other faiths, and in radical Muslim countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Indonesia, Christians suffer greatly. This ranges from job discrimination to the abduction, rape, and forced conversion of Christian women. Persecution is most violent in these countries and often includes the imprisonment and murder of Christians.
Christian persecution also occurs as a result of social and cultural discrimination. Human beings in general are afraid and intolerant of that which is different. In places like India, Christians are discriminated against, denied employment, physically attacked, and sometimes even murdered.
Radical Islamic militant groups such as Boko Haram and Fulani militants have decimated Christian communities throughout northern Nigeria. In the last 18 years, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians have been murdered by these groups, while another 2 million people have been displaced.
ISIS has viciously attacked Christians throughout Iraq, displacing more than 100,000 Christians. ISIS militants executed many Christian men during their raids and kidnapped women and young girls and forced them into sexual slavery. ISIS offered three choices to those who survived or were spared: convert to Islam, leave, or remain and pay a tax to live. Many families chose to leave.
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Indian Christians have experienced a massive outpouring of cultural persecution.
Most people think persecution is only when a pastor is killed or imprisoned. Actually, persecution is a very systematic and multi-dimensional problem that involves generational poverty, massive educational deficits, job discrimination, denial of basic legal rights, lack of access to legal aid, etc.
