Bishop of Truro’s Persecuted Christians Report

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt commissioned a study into global Christian persecution , and the results are nothing short of horrible. The ultimate conclusion that was reached by the study is that the persecution of Christians throughout the world is so severe that it is reaching a level that can be described, by definition, as genocide.

Ultimately, the study found that nearly one in three individuals around the world suffer from some religious persecution. Unfortunately for Christians, the problem that emerged is they were the most likely group to suffer from persecution of the religious variety. To quote the report “the inconvenient truth that the overwhelming majority (estimated at 80%) of persecuted religious believers are Christians.”

There are several different areas around the world that have become hotbeds of Christian persecution in the modern day not even counting the sites of massacres that have happened recently such as the case in Sri Lanka. When looking at the cases of China, Nigeria, and other nations, it becomes clear that Christians are facing very real problems. Some places are forcibly converting or killing Christians. These are not even the issues stemming from groups such as ISIS but with regular majority religions and governments crushing Christians by now allowing them to have safe places to worship or even facing violence.

The study outlined several countries where the persecution was even worse than others. For example, Egypt, Nigeria, China, Syria, Iraq, and the Philippines are all places where Christians are facing a lot of trouble. The anti-Christian actions are getting so bad that the Bishop of Truro Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen believes the problem could grow in proportion. There might be a time when Christians are actively being wiped out and suppressed, leading to the end of Christianity as it is today.

The issue of whether it has reached genocidal levels has some people twisted in knots. However, the definition includes “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” It is clear this is either the case already or could be the case in a short time given the most stringent definitions.

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