The recent horrific killings of three Bible workers in Turkey once again threw the international spotlight on religious liberty and the ongoing persecution of Christians in many countries around the world.
Christian Today spoke to Johan Candelin, head of the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission, to find out more about some of the challenges facing the worldwide Christian community.
CT: Christianity is the largest religion in the world and yet there are many Christians around the world who are not able to live out their faith freely. Is the situation getting worse globally?
JC: Based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights there are at least 200 million Christians in the world who do not enjoy full religious freedom, as defined by the United Nations. I avoid the word 'persecuted' because most Christians would have an opinion about what 'persecuted' is. But in terms of those Christians who do not enjoy full religious rights as defined by the UN then they would number at least 200 million.
The church under pressure is a growing church. The church in North America is plus minus zero. It's about the same as the population growth. In Europe the church is losing members. Europe is the only part of the world where the church that is going backwards. Then we have Latin America, Africa and Asia where the church is growing very much. With a few exceptions, like Brazil and a couple of states in Central America, the church is growing under pressure.
I don't think it is growing because it is persecuted. I think it is persecuted because it is growing. We should avoid a romantic approach that says if we are persecuted then the churches would be full. I don't think that would be the case. If there is pressure on the church it will either die or grow. It will never stay the same. It is the untold story of our time.
CT: There are many regions and countries where Christians are really suffering for their faith. Is there one area in particular that is causing you the most concern?
JC: Well, I think it is only a matter of time before communism is consigned to the museum of historical movements. Dictatorships will probably stay with us for a long time. But then of course we have Islam and there is no doubt that there is a power struggle going on within Islam.
There is also a growing gap between Muslim nations and the West unfortunately. Both are afraid of the other. They are not on talking terms. They do not understand each other. And the technical superiority of the West is seen as a sort of takeover of the Muslim world. They are confused by that.
And then there is the strong anti-American feeling which I feel is stronger today than at any time in history before. That will affect Christians because they are labelled as American agents or Christianity is promoted as a Western religion.
We have nations like India, for instance, where religion is said to have been brought in by the colonialists and where the nation is trying to get back to its own roots. That will easily create a strong movement of anti-Christianity. We are seeing that now with the anti-conversion laws across nine states in India. That is growing.
So I would say that Islam and nationality are the biggest challenges.
