Christians in Africa, Middle East fleeing persecution

By NEOnline | TB
Millions of Christians in Africa and the Middle East are being forced to flee their homes to escape religious persecution, according to Open Door, a charity that monitors religiously motivated violence and discrimination.

As reported by The Guardian, the charity has just published its annual league table of the worst countries in which to be a Christian. North Korea continued to top the list for overall persecution in 2015, but Nigeria came first for the number of Christians killed for their faith, recording more than half of the 7,000-plus killings across the globe.

“The headlines focus on the Middle East, but there were more recorded killings of Christians due to their faith in northern Nigeria in 2015 than in the rest of the world put together; 4,028 out of a worldwide total of 7,100 reported deaths,” the report said.

Out of 50 countries listed by Open Doors, the six where most Christians were killed for directly faith-related reasons were in sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Cameroon.

“In numerical terms at least, though not in degree, the persecution of Christians in this region dwarfs what is happening in the Middle East,” the report said.

More than 2 million people, many of them Christians, have been forced to leave their homes in northern Nigeria, where the Islamist terror group Boko Haram is waging a campaign. Open Doors also reported violence against Christian farmers by Hausa-Fulani tribesmen, conservatively estimating more than 1,500 religiously motivated killings. Both Boko Haram and Hausa-Fulani “are carrying out religious cleansing, aiming to eradicate Christianity”, the charity said.

http://neurope.eu/article/christians-in-africa-middle-east-fleeing-persecution/