Open Doors

Christians in Syria are choosing to “hide Christian symbols and avoid public displays of faith” following the collapse of the Assad regime and ascent of the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to power, Ryan Brown, the CEO of the Christian human rights organization Open Doors, told Breitbart News in remarks this weekend.

Violent attacks targeting Christian communities occur in Nigeria about eight times a day on average and the government has been “largely ineffective” at stopping them, Ryan Brown, the CEO of the Christian aid organization Open Doors, told Breitbart News.

The Christian aid organization Open Doors published its annual World Watch List – a ranking of the most dangerous places in the world to practice the Christian faith – on Wednesday, which found that 380 million Christians around the world face severe persecution.

Christian persecution spiked around the globe in 2024, with more than 380 million Christians suffering high levels of persecution and discrimination, according to a report released Wednesday.

Christians around the world found themselves “easy targets” for both destabilizing terrorist groups and insecure dictators, the head of a global Christian aid organization told Breitbart News this weekend.

Christian persecution spiked around the globe in 2022, Open Doors reveals in its newly released World Watch List 2023.

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped Father Joseph Igweagu of the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, in southern Nigeria, local media reported Monday.

The president of human rights watchdog group Open Doors has joined voices urging President Biden to redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” following the massacre of more than 50 Christians this weekend.

Nigeria has experienced a surge in kidnappings, mass murders, and lynchings of Christians under President Muhammadu Buhari, who has made only “cursory” attempts to address the issue, David Curry, the CEO of the Christian aid organization Open Doors, told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

Christians living in countries hostile to Christianity often face increased fears for their personal safety in the run-up to the Easter holiday, Mike Gore, the CEO of Open Doors Australia and New Zealand (an organization that aids persecuted Christians) wrote in an op-ed for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday.

Christian persecution in Cuba, a nation that was overwhelmingly Catholic before communism befell its population, has increased significantly in the past year due to the rising presence of Christian voices in the pro-democracy movement there, the Christian aid organization Open Doors found.

The international aid organization Open Doors ranked Afghanistan the worst place in the world for Christians in 2021 on its World Watch List published this week, the first time the country appears at the top of the list and the first time in 20 years that Open Doors does not issue North Korea that distinction.

Islamist violence against Christians in Nigeria – estimated to be about half Christian – has reached catastrophic levels and places the country at risk of being home to a new Islamic State-style caliphate, David Curry, the CEO of the Christian Aid group Open Doors, told Breitbart News in an interview this week.

“Violent Islamic radicalism is present in 7 out of the top 10 countries” where it is most dangerous to be a Christian, Open Doors revealed this week in its 2022 World Watch List.

The year 2021 saw the worst persecution of Christians in history, according to the 2022 World Watch List released Wednesday by Open Doors.

Presumed Islamic militants sent a letter this week to Nigerian Christian leaders threatening attacks unless all churches in Zamfara state are closed to worship, the Barnabas Fund reported.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed Nigeria from the U.S. list of countries that engage in severe religious freedom violations, drawing the consternation of an international Christian persecution watchdog group this week.

The Christian aid organization Open Doors warned in a statement to Breitbart News on Monday that a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan may be the single worst violator of religious freedom in the world.

The CEO of Open Doors USA, a human rights organization that focuses on lending aid to persecuted Christians around the world, urged corporate sponsors of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to reconsider their ties to the event.

The Taliban is killing people in Afghanistan they find with copies of the Bible on their mobile phones, a Christian non-profit announced on Tuesday.

Indian Christians were victims of at least 327 instances of discrimination and targeted violence during 2020, the Barnabas Fund revealed this week.

Mexico is back on the World Watch List in 2021, a yearly index of the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian.

Two Christian-majority nations — Colombia and Mexico — appeared in the ranking of the top 50 most dangerous places to be a Christian in the world published by the Christian aid organization Open Doors this week.

The Chinese Communist Party is using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to crack down on Christians, even arresting some for attending online services via Zoom, David Curry, the CEO of the Christian charity Open Doors, told Breitbart News in an interview on Wednesday.

Nigeria has the gruesome honor of being the country with the most murders of Christians for their faith in 2020, Open Doors’ Watch List 2021 revealed Wednesday.

Christian persecution around the globe reached an unprecedented level in 2020, with over 340 million Christians facing “high levels of persecution,” Open Doors revealed Wednesday with the publication of World Watch List 2021.

Open Doors, an international Christian aid organization, told Breitbart News in a recent interview that the Chinese coronavirus pandemic has allowed repressive forces to more ably target vulnerable Christians, from denying them health care to offering to trade their faith for food.

The Christian aid organization Open Doors warned on Wednesday that mounting reports from Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon suggest that the jihadist organization Boko Haram is taking advantage of governments struggling to contain the Chinese coronavirus to expand their violent attacks.

David Curry, the leader of the Christian aid organization Open Doors, told Breitbart News on Wednesday that the group has received reports of Indian government officials sending Christian nurses to tend to the most contagious Chinese coronavirus patients because “they are considered dispensable.”

The U.S. State Department’s launch of a global coalition to defend religious freedom is a “good first step” in countering a mounting wave of repression against both the faithful and those who choose not to worship, David Curry, the CEO of the Christian aid group Open Doors, told Breitbart News.

As the number of Christians living under severe persecution around the world grows, American officials must make clear to nations that profit from American business that “human rights are a concern of the American people,” David Curry, the CEO of the Christian aid group Open Doors, told Breitbart News in an interview this week.

Islamic extremism is still a primary driver of Christian persecution in eight out of the ten most dangerous places for Christians.

China has adopted a new strategy in its war on Christianity, Open Doors reveals, targeting children to stamp out future generations of believers.

Christian persecution around the globe reached an unprecedented level at the end of 2019, with over 260 million Christians facing “high levels of persecution,” Open Doors revealed Wednesday.

Sudanese Christians are cautiously hopeful that their new civilian government will allow them the freedom long denied under the oppressive Islamist dictatorship of general Omar al-Bashir.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has written some 40 letters to persecuted Christians to assure them of the support of the British government, the religious freedom watchdog group Open Doors revealed last week.