According to a shocking new report, Christians are “by far the most widely persecuted” members of a religion in the world. The report also warns that this persecution is now nearing “genocide” levels.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) shared the report compiled by the Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen. It states that violence and oppression against Christians are worsening as time goes by.

“Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity,” the report states. “In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN.”

The evidence shows that Christianity is “by far the most widely persecuted religion.” This is extremely noteworthy because as many as one-third of the world’s population is suffering persecution because of their religious beliefs. Of those, an estimated 80 percent are Christians.

As the ACLJ points out, among the victims of this global persecution of Christians are Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in Iran and Pastor John Cao in China. Nadarkhani was “brutally beaten and arrested by Iranian authorities.” In the past, he was sentenced to death for his Christian faith, but that sentence wasn’t carried out. Thank God. Sadly, he has again been imprisoned.

Pastor Cao, meanwhile, has been sentenced to seven years in prison “for living out his faith.” He dedicated his life to “peacefully serving the poor and building schools in China and Myanmar.” The Chinese authorities didn’t quite like what he was doing, however, and had him arrested. His health is suffering and he has been in a lot of pain because of those health issues. “He’s lost a distressing 50 lbs. from lack of nutrition,” the ACLJ adds.

The worst part of all this is that these two courageous men are just two among many. We don’t know the names of the majority of Christians who are currently being persecuted for their faith and we most likely never will. Their suffering, however, is immense.