Billy Hallowell at the The Blaze writes: (HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez)
Christian persecution rose on every continent in the world throughout 2015, with North Korea listed as the most dangerous country to be a Bible-believer, according to a new report released by Open Doors USA, a group that works to combat global persecution.
Open Doors released its annual “World Watch List” report on Wednesday, ranking the top 50 countries “where it is most dangerous and difficult to be a Christian” during a morning event at the National Press Club.
The report found that the 10 worst nations are as follows (listed from most dangerous to least): North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Libya. See the complete list of 50 below:
The findings in the “World Watch List” present a dire picture in which at last 7,000 Christians died throughout 2015 due to faith-related reasons. . . Islamic extremism, according to the “World Watch List, is the “lead generator of persecution for 35 out of the 50 nations” on its list.
The day before the above list was published, Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online gave Crux and the Boston Globe credit for (rare) articles on religious persecution.
For several months now, Crux, the Sunday religion magazine published by the Boston Globe, has been putting out a series of well-researched pieces from all over the world on the new Christian martyrs mostly written by John L. Allen. There have been 13 stories posted to date, many of them in the final days of December. ... Though estimates vary widely, even low-end counts suggest that one Christian is killed for motives related to the faith somewhere in the world every hour of every day.