Asia: 'New Hotbed Of Christian Persecution'

Asia is ‘new hotbed of Christian persecution’ with situation in China worst since Cultural Revolution, report claims

• Nearly 140 million Christians suffered high levels of hostility in Asia last year, a region the report describes as ‘the new hotbed of persecution’
• Experts say China seems to be forcing Christians into ‘the North Korean model – weak, small and invisible in the deep underground’

Nearly 140 million Christians suffered high levels of persecution in Asia last year, according to a new report, which described the situation facing the faith in China as the worst since the Cultural Revolution.

The annual Open Doors World Watch List, released on Wednesday, said Asia is “the new hotbed of persecution for Christians”.

It noted a sharp increase in the persecution of Christians in Asia over the past five years – but with a dramatic spike in 2018, driven by the likes of a rise in Hindu ultra-nationalism in India, radical Islamism in Indonesia and tougher religious regulations in China.

North Korea was ranked as the world’s most anti-Christian country for the 18th consecutive year. Pakistanand India were determined to have “extreme” levels of Christian persecution, with the Maldives, Myanmar, Laosand Vietnam rounding out Asian countries in the top 20.

China and Indonesia, both entering the top 30, were singled out for a drastic deterioration in the treatment of Christians.

“The report confirms my impression of what’s going on around the world and confirms my knowledge of what has been happening in China,” said Yang Fenggang, the founder of the Centre on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University in the United States.

“Under Xi Jinping, the suppression of Christian churches and other religious organisations is being carried out nationwide with unprecedented determination.”

Of about 403 million Christians from Afghanistan to the Korean peninsula, an estimated 139 million – or one in three – were found to live under “high persecution”, or where “prominent Christians are targeted, churches themselves subject to significant restrictions, and the culture remains largely hostile to a Christian presence”.

Militant atheism, radical Islamism and nationalism are three basic motives for Christian persecution, said Nina Shea, the director of the Centre for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, a US think tank. Asia, in her words, is exhibiting all three.

“There are different reasons for it in each country. It’s baffling that they have all come at once,” said Shea, a former head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Intolerance is gaining strength, but these trends are not consistent with each other or any pattern. You certainly can’t say it’s from one source.”

Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion, said he was “very concerned” about the rise of religious intolerance. “Freedom of religion is routinely violated across much of Asia,” he said in a speech in Bangkok in August.

“In many countries, the civic space is closing and restrictions on expression and other civil liberties are rising. The persecution of religious minorities is increasing, a worrying trend confirmed by the 2019 World Watch List report,” Shaheed, a former Maldivian foreign minister, told the South China Morning Post. “Governments need to recognise the close links between respect for freedom of religion or belief, and societal peace and economic prosperity.”

The report’s toughest comments were aimed at China, where by some estimates the country’s 97 million Christians outnumber the membership of the Communist Party.

By Open Doors’ reckoning, more than 20 million Christians experienced persecution last year, and it forecasts that number to increase to 50 million in 2019. It cited the country’s revised Religious Affairs Regulations, which have governed the practice of all religions since the 1980s; an array of crackdowns and raids; and a wave of church closures such as that of Beijing’s Zion Church in September.

“In China, our figures indicate persecution is the worst it’s been in more than a decade – alarmingly, some church leaders are saying it’s the worst since the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976,” said Henrietta Blyth, chief executive of Open Doors UK and Ireland, in a statement.

Shea, of the Hudson Institute, called the situation in China a turning point.

“China had been on the trajectory of being the biggest Christian country in the world in a decade or two. It now seems headed towards forcing its Christians into the North Korean model – weak, small and invisible in the deep underground,” Shea said.

“Remnants will survive but the community will be vastly diminished and facing an existential threat. The officially tolerated Christianity will conform with the teachings of Xi and the Communist Party.”