John Pontifex explores why ACN’s new report – Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2020-22 – should be a wake-up call to governments who claim to be the champions of religious freedom.
“My God, it is hard to be chained and receive blows but I live this moment as you present it to me.”
Such was the prayer of Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez. She was held for more than four years by Islamist militants in Mali, west Africa. Recalling what happened when a jihadist leader found her praying, she said he struck her, saying: “Let’s see if that God gets you out of here.” She reflected: “My soul shuddered at what this person was saying while the guards laughed out loud at the insults.”
When eventually she was released and gave her testimony to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) earlier this year, it rekindled memories of the atrocities carried out by extremists in Syria and Iraq. For those like me who have met the victims of Daesh (ISIS) torture in Aleppo, the Nineveh Plains and elsewhere, it came as no surprise that militantism was still rearing its ugly head. Some observers had assumed that Daesh and the like had been stopped in its tracks. If only. Such misplaced optimism echoes sentiments expressed in relation to China. Fifteen years ago, when I and others visited the country on the eve of the Beijing Olympics and spoke to Church leaders hopeful of improved conditions for Christians, there seemed little immediate threat of a renewed clampdown on unregistered faith groups. And yet that is exactly what Christians and others are seeing now.
Indeed, Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2020-22 makes clear that not only is violence and harassment of Church groups still widespread but in core countries of concern it is getting much worse.
The report examined 24 countries – from North Korea to Mozambique, taking in countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In 75 percent of the countries reviewed, the situation for Christians worsened over the two-year period under review.
Two factors are most to blame for this deterioration. The first is the growth of militant Islam. In Africa, the outlook for Christians worsened in all six countries reviewed. The violence present in the likes of Nigeria, Mali, Mozambique and Niger has grown to the point that Christians in many parts of the continent have become a main target of Islamist terrorism. Some Church leaders would go further. Highlighting the violence and displacement in the Middle Belt and north-east Nigeria, Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo said: “I say a genocide is now taking place – there is a concerted effort to drive Christians out of their lands by various means – including kidnapping and killing lay people and priests, stealing land belonging to Christians and attacking churches during services.” This is a country where Persecuted and Forgotten? reports that more than 7,600 Christians were killed in the 18 months to June 2022.
The second factor driving increased persecution, particularly in Asia, is made up of the sometimes combined forces of state authoritarianism and religious nationalism. The former has been the critical cause of worsening oppression against Christians in Burma (Myanmar), China and Vietnam. In Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, the chief challenge is religious nationalism. In North Korea, state authoritarianism restricts – or even strangulates – believers’ ability to worship freely. China continues to harass and attempt to control Christians and other members of other religious groups that will not accept the official Communist Party line. Persecuted and Forgotten? profiles the case of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun arrested in May 2022 by police and accused of colluding with foreign forces. The cardinal pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 resulted in much of the remnant Christian community fleeing for their lives. The Taliban has categorically denied the presence of Christians in Afghanistan, with spokesman Inamullah Samangani saying: “There are no Christians in Afghanistan. The Christian minority has never been known or registered here.”
As delegates from governments around the world descended on London in July for the Religious Freedom Ministerial, the UK Government renewed its commitment to the recommendations of the Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review into Foreign and Commonwealth Office Support for Persecuted Christians. And yet, despite governments starting to recognise the importance of freedom of religion or belief, the evidence of the report is that action to stop persecution of Christians has often been too little, too late. Report after report highlights a deteriorating outlook for religious freedom around the world. What Daesh did to Christians and others in the Middle East is a stark reminder of the consequences of a failure to act and ill-judged political and military intervention. Persecuted and Forgotten concludes that continuing migration of Christians from Iraq and Syria following genocidal violence is now “threatening the survival of [these] most important communities”. It is time for the UK Government to turn fine words concerning religious freedom into action for the persecuted Church. If not, the horrors that have decimated Christian communities in the Middle East could be replicated in parts of Africa and elsewhere besides.
John Pontifex is Head of Press & Information – Aid to the Church in Need (UK)
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