Open Doors

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.

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.

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.

Christians have become one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world according to figures from charity Open Doors which claims that per month on average around 345 Christians are murdered globally because of their beliefs. The Christian charity,

WASHINGTON, DC — North Korea remains at the top of a list of 50 countries where at least 245 million Christians are facing “extreme” persecution” this year, up 14 percent from 215 million at the beginning of 2018, the World Wide Watch List (WWL) released on Wednesday by Open Doors, a group that monitors the mistreatment of Christ followers, revealed.

Laos has been tightening restrictions on Christian practice as an unwelcome Western influence, mirroring the situation of other Asian communist nations.

Italian populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has unloaded on German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying she totally underestimated the social conflict consequences of her mass migration policies.

Christian watchdog groups have voiced concern over last week’s election of former cricket star and Islamist Imran Khan as Pakistani Premier, noting Khan’s public supported the nation’s harsh blasphemy laws.

In a bizarre disconnect, 40 percent of U.S. Catholics believe that Christian persecution around the world is “severe,” and yet they are more concerned about climate change and the global refugee crisis than the sufferings of their co-religionists.

The Roman Colosseum along with two churches in Mosul and Aleppo will be lit up by red lights later this month to draw attention to the global persecution of Christians.

Authorities in communist China have sent more than 100 Christians, mostly converts, from the Muslim Uighur-majority province of Xinjiang to “re-education camps” that teach loyalty to the country’s ruling party, reports Keep the Faith magazine, citing Open Doors, an organization that monitors the persecution of Christians.