Since the publication of the 2010 World Watch List (WWL) - persecution of believers all over the world has continued unabated. Here are four of the most important trends that affect the Persecuted Church. They are:
1. A new tactic to thwart the growing church in Iran?
The indigenous church in Iran continues to grow. The number of indigenous believers has increased to 350,000 leading to a total of at least 450,000 Christians. There are signals that there is a huge need for Bibles. In the light of this, it’s even more harrowing that hundreds of Bibles have been seized by security forces and burned during the past few months. It has been quite a long time since such a harsh measure was taken to thwart distribution of Bibles.
During the second quarter of 2010, the mass arrests of Christians in Iran eased off. Though Christians continue to be detained and monitored and intimated after their release, the number of arrests have decreased compared to the first quarter.
(Iran, #2 on WWL)
2. Arrests and death threats for Afghan Christians
A video broadcast from the Afghan television network Noorin TV caused an intensified persecution on MBB’s by the government. The video showed footage of Muslim background believers who were being baptized. They also accused Christian aid organizations of evangelizing. In response to the broadcast, the secretary of the Lower House, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, called a session of parliament for the execution of these Christian converts of Islam. An Afghan lawmaker, Qazi Nazir Ahmand, said publicly that killing a converted Muslim is allowed because conversion to another religion than Islam is punishable by death under Islamic law. The broadcast and reactions of the government caused many protests on the streets of Kabul and other cities in the country. Hundreds of protesters shouted death threats against Christian converts and demanded the expulsion of Christian organizations. Two organizations (Church World Service and Church Aid) have been suspended by the Afghan government. A list has been drawn up by the government of a number of NGOs that will be investigated. The situation of the Afghan MBB’s has rapidly deteriorated. Several arrests of Christian converts have taken place since the beginning of June. Many MBB’s are trying to find a safe place in the region.
(Afghanistan, #6 on WWL)
3. Governments intensifies persecution on Uzbek Christians
The situation for Christians in Uzbekistan was already harsh but recently it has become even more difficult. The government is concerned that the growth of Christianity will be a cause of social and political dissension. In the last three months at least ten Christians have been sentenced to 10-15 days administrative detention for conducting Christian activities. This number almost reached the amount of sentences given during the last WWL reporting period of 12 months. Also there were more arrests this quarter in comparison with the last WWL reporting period. There is also more control of the police on Uzbek Christians and on the possession of Christian literature in particular. Many houses of believers have been searched by the police. A high fine was given to house owners after their literature was confiscated. Many other Christians have been fined for illegal teaching or unregistered worship and churches continued to be raided. Even registration is not a guarantee for freedom of services. A large registered Protestant church of Tashkent was raided during a worship service on May 16. Books and literature were confiscated and several church members were arrested and detained for 24 hours. The government is more and more afraid that Christians will cause social unrest.
(Uzbekistan, #10 on WWL)
4. Mixed reports coming out of China
According to China experts the situation for Christians in China is better than often reported. They emphasize the existence of a so called “third church”. These churches are neither officially registered churches nor house churches but in between these two. There are several signs coming out of China that the government tolerates Christianity more than before. Most of the time Christians can have house meetings in small numbers (30-40 people) without being restricted by government officials. Exceptions begin to occur if there is foreign involvement or if a house church is taking an activist attitude on sensitive governmental issues. Religious groups can also do more social work as a church but only as long as the government doesn’t think it will endanger the harmony and stability of society. It is also good to notice that religious freedom of Chinese Christians differs per region. All regions have different religious regulations and also the interpretation differs per region and depends on the officials who interpret the religious regulations. Some officials could be harsher towards Christians than others from a neighboring province.
Although the overall attitude of the government seems to ease, there are still persecution related incidents. Just like last quarter many Christians have been arrested, almost fifty in total, mostly whole groups. Also several Christians received administrative detention and four church buildings were confiscated by officials. There are still two ways to look at China, the positive side and the negative one. Paul Hattaway of the organizations Asia Harvest has recently published survey on the number of Christians in China. Hattaway has come up with a new number of 103 million Christians in which the Three Self Patriotic Movement, the Protestant house churches, the Catholic Patriotic Association and the Catholic house churches are included. Some agree, others don’t, but the fact is the situation nowadays is more positive than a few years ago.
(China, #13 on WWL)
