Release International reports

Release International

Release International identifies likely hotspots for the world's Christians in the coming year. While Iraq was one of the worst places to be a Christian in 2014, concern is growing for Kenya and Tanzania in 2015 as jihadists seek to extend their influence in East Africa.

The most pressing threat to Christians in 2015 continues to come from armed Islamic groups, believes Release International, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide.

'Islamist groups are gaining ground in Africa,' warns Chief Executive Paul Robinson. 'There is evidence to suggest they will become a growing force for instability in East Africa in 2015.

'The greatest risk to freedom of faith in the New Year comes from Islamic groups determined to establish their brutal version of Sharia law - whatever the cost to human life.'

Christians are being persecuted in a number of distinct contexts: from extremists such as Islamic State in Iraq, intent on conversion or religious cleansing; to authoritarian governments such as North Korea attempting to preserve their power, and militant religious and nationalist movements, such as that emerging in India.

'One of the worst places to be a Christian in 2014 was Iraq,' says Paul Robinson of Release. 'Faced with the stark choice of conversion or beheading, most left everything and fled. Intolerant extremism poses the greatest threat to Christians in 2015.'

In Iraq, Christians have faced growing persecution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Since then, around a million Iraqi Christians have been driven out of their homeland.

More recently, the Islamic State terror group, which has captured vast swathes of Syria and Iraq, has forced tens of thousands of Christians from the north of the country. IS forces are now on the outskirts of the capital Baghdad, where a small Christian presence remains.

To the north, Iraqi Kurdistan has declared itself a safe haven for Christian refugees. 'Kurdistan is probably the only region of the Middle East where the Christian population is growing,' says Paul Robinson. 'Please pray for its protection.'

In Africa, Release has identified Kenya and Tanzania as areas of increasing concern. Christians there are experiencing a new and brutal wave of violence, as Islamists who have gained ground in Somalia extend their reach and threaten to destabilise surrounding nations.

In November, militants ambushed a bus in northern Kenya. They separated out the Muslims and executed up to 28 Christians. Gunmen have also killed scores in attacks on predominantly Christian towns in Kenya and on a church near Mombasa.

Weight of numbers is no protection. Christians are in the majority in Kenya. And they make up almost a third of the population of neighbouring Tanzania, where they are coming under increasing attack, especially in the archipelago of Zanzibar.

In Nigeria, violence continued unabated in 2014. Boko Haram militants destroyed 185 churches in just two states in the northeast, according to the International Business Times. And the BBC estimates Boko Haram killed almost 800 people in November alone.

The Islamist group is expected to step up the violence ahead of the Nigerian presidential elections, which are slated for February 2015.

A recent survey by the BBC World Service and King's College London found jihadists had killed upwards of 5,000 people in a single month - November. The death toll was highest in Iraq, Syria and northern Nigeria, where militants have declared Islamic caliphates, as well as Afghanistan.

'Where these extremists take control, religious minorities face extreme brutality,' says Paul Robinson.

'This exodus and displacement of Christians from the Middle East and Africa will continue into 2015, wherever militants with their doctrines of intolerance and religious cleansing gain ground.'

Persecution can also be extreme in places where national governments - as distinct from militants - have imposed Sharia law.

In Sudan in 2015, the authorities are expected to continue their campaign of Islamising the country by driving out the Christian minority. The government has been closing and bulldozing churches and deporting foreign Christians.

And while militant Islam looks set to continue as a growing force for persecution, Christians will also face repression in 2015 from authoritarian governments, communist states and Hindu nationalism.

Of those authoritarian governments, North Korea is still considered to be the severest state persecutor of Christians in the world today.

The state imprisons Christians in conditions likened to concentration camps. The regime has invented its own ideology, juche, which is a form of emperor worship. Christians who worship God are considered to be enemies of the state.

That same attitude is still influential in China, Vietnam and Laos. The authorities regard religion, especially Christianity, as a challenge to the complete loyalty demanded of their citizens by the communist party.

Another region of growing concern is India, where recent elections saw a landslide victory by the Hindu nationalist BJP.

The emergence of Hindutva - extreme Hindu nationalism - has seen a growing number of attacks on churches and church leaders.

Often such attacks are a reaction against the growing number of Dalits who are converting to Christianity. The Dalits, an underclass outside the Hindu caste system, are often treated as fit only to perform the most menial tasks.

As one Dalit pastor told Release International: 'Most of the BJP activists are higher caste. They don't want Christianity to grow because it brings equality. As Christians we are no more their slaves.'

A full overview of the persecution trends forecast for 2015 is given in the latest edition of Release magazine, available for download from the Release International website.