Burkina Faso (No. 27. While roughly 70 percent of American adults identify as Christians, the so-called nones—people with no religion in particular—have been growing as a share of the population. Ohio Further analysis of the study showed that 43 nations (22 percent) ran state-sponsored religions, with Islam constituting 63 percent of those.

So reports the 2020 World Watch List (WWL), the latest annual accounting from Open Doors of the top 50 countries where Christians are the most persecuted for their faith. Almost every religious group in America tilts female, with women making up slightly less than two-thirds of groups like Unitarian Universalists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. As Americans lead decline in agreeing good values require belief in God, Bulgaria bucks the global trend. “But as we all know, that is a long-term proposition.”. 68, Rwanda No. For the rich, this might involve luxury activities like SoulCycle or CrossFit.

But in the North and the West, from Hawaii to Maine, people who don’t identify with a particular religion are finding new ways of gathering. “People are speaking out and we have an obligation to hear their cry.”.
South Dakota Nigeria tops the list, with 224.

Open Doors counted 50 Christians among that number.

Martyrdoms drop in Nigeria but soar in Burkina Faso, while China brings 16 million more Christians onto Open Doors’s 2020 World Watch List of Christian persecution. Most people without a particular faith tradition say they’re secular—their defining quality is a lack of religion, rather than a particular belief. But attacks and forced closures of churches have skyrocketed from 1,847 to 9,488, with China accounting for 5,576. News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of "mainstream" media. 15). 43 to No. North Korea has ranked No.
They’re the white, yuppie city dwellers of Portland; the blue-haired atheists who attend Skeptic conferences; or the godless youth at progressive political rallies. 6), Sudan (No.

5), Eritrea (No.

Alabama Abduction of Christians is a new category tracked by Open Doors in this year’s report, with 1,052 tallied worldwide. The list “provides the most comprehensive grassroots data on Christian persecution,” said Curry. Governments adhering to Christianity span both hemispheres. We will join them in that call.”, At the DC rollout, Curry was joined by Chinese pastor Jian Zhu.

Indiana

A handful of nations have governments that view the practice of religion as a threat or as a diversion from being loyal to those in power.

All Original Content Copyright ©2006-2020 American Family That trend continues, as 2 in 5 Asian Christians now face high levels of persecution, up from 1 in 3 the previous reporting period. While these images aren’t necessarily wrong, they’re incomplete.

Afghanistan … Syria has lost 75 percent of its Christian population since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, down to 744,000 last year from an estimated 2.2 million.

Maine Other new categories return the focus to Asia. (Open Doors is known for favoring a more conservative estimate than other groups, who often tally martyrdoms at 100,000 a year.). New Mexico When asked if religion was an important part of their lives, only 62% of Norwegians responded that it was.

Somalia - 98%. A survey of over 16,000 people found that nations viewed Australia as the least religious country in the world. “The suffering of persecuted Christians cannot be recorded in statistics,” stated Open Doors.

8), Iran (No. South Carolina

Militant Islamist rebel groups and terrorists have proliferated in the Sahel in recent years.

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Yemen - 99%. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. Open Doors tracks persecution across six categories—including both social and governmental pressure on individuals, families, and congregations—and has a special focus on women.

At the same time, it notes there is no comparable documentation for the world’s Muslim population. In some places, this dynamic hasn’t changed much: Head south, for example, and you’ll find that roughly 60 percent of Mississippians are Baptists. 47).

Texas 11) and Iraq (No. World" logo, are Trademarks of the American Family Association - All Rights Reserved.

In Western Europe, the U.K. and the Netherlands top the ranking, followed by Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Austria.

Dozens of Burkinabe priests and pastors have been kidnapped or killed. CTWeekly delivers the best content from ChristianityToday.com to your inbox each week.

News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of

Washington

United Kingdom (30% feel religious) When it comes to public perception, the results are a bit different. Five of the most violent countries for Christians are located in the Sahel, a horizontal belt of semi-arid grazing areas and farmland located between the Sahara Desert and the African savannah.

Sri Lanka rose 16 spots from No.

16), Colombia (No. (Another Sahel country, Niger (No. “Indeed, Christian churches receive preferential treatment in more countries – 28 – than any other unofficial but favored faith.”.

Pennsylvania 9), and India (No. This number rose from 3,150 last year.

The new PRRI data shows that this is happening more noticeably in some places than others. “Yet, as the Chinese Christians who will join me will testify, the persecution Christians face—including extensive surveillance, raids on churches, and imprisonment—have not succeeded in eliminating Christianity. Ethiopia - 99% feel religious.

Alaska Christianity is still alive and well in many other societies around the world today, as well. State Nevada 2), followed by Somalia (No. Wisconsin But when violence is isolated as a category, the top 10 persecutors shifts dramatically—only Pakistan and India remain. The listed nations comprise 260 million Christians suffering high to severe levels of persecution, up from 245 million in last year’s list.

In 2014, Pew Research Center found that the share of unaffiliated adults in the U.S. had grown from 16 to 23 percent over a seven-year period. Worldwide there were 8,537 recorded cases, but Open Doors warns this tally is just the tip of the iceberg, as many assaults occur in private and are not reported. 25 overall) ranks fourth in violence against Christians. Christianity Today strengthens the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Vermont However, the greatest number of governments worldwide make it a point to remain neutral when it comes to religion.

43), and the United Arab Emirates (No.

Arizona 50), rejoined the list for the first time in five years.). This was also true in the Pacific Northwest, where more than one-third of residents in Oregon and Washington didn’t claim a specific faith.

The 2020 version tracks the time period from November 1, 2018 to October 31, 2019, and is compiled from reports by Open Doors workers in more than 60 countries. The United Nations estimates 500,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Nebraska Montana "OneNewsNow", "OneNewsNow.com", and the "OneNewsNow Countries with the greatest number of people without religion …

1 since 2002, when the watch list began. "mainstream" media.

Association - All Rights Reserved.

Beijing has jailed or detained without charge 1,147 Christians for faith-related reasons, out of a total of 3,711 worldwide. India ranks first in the new category of physical or mental abuse, which includes beatings and death threats. Illustration by Mallory Rentsch / Source Image: Benne Ochs / Getty Images, ctdirect-html,ctweekly-html,todayschristianwoman,booksandculture-html. In general, the non-religious states of America are concentrated west of the Mississippi River, according to PRRI, spanning Arizona to Nebraska to Wyoming. The main and continuing trend is the dwindling number of Christians from Syria (No. Mississippi Open Doors – a Christian nonprofit organization that serves the persecuted Church around the world – issued its annual World Watch List earlier this year of nations where Christians face the most severe persecution.

People who don’t identify with any particular religion also don’t fit any particular demographic mold: They come from a range of racial, income, and educational backgrounds.

Not identifying with a religion doesn’t necessarily determine whether or not people believe in God. Nigeria also leads the newly tracked categories of forced marriages (accounting for 130 out of 630 worldwide), attacked Christian homes (1,500 out of 3,315), and looted Christian shops (1,000 out of 1,979).

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"Two countries in the Americas – Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic – and one in the Asia-Pacific region – Tuvalu – have Christianity as their official state religion.

12 overall but is second behind only Pakistan in terms of violence, and ranks No. Last year, CT noted “Asia Rising” as India entered the top 10 for the first time while China rose from No. The continuing rise in the subcontinent of a militant Hindu nationalism contributed to 1,445 of the reported 14,645 cases worldwide.