Crosstalk: January 20, 2016

Christian persecution around the world has reached unprecedented levels. 2015 is said to have been the deadliest year for Christians worldwide. Discussing this trend with Jim was Emily Fuentes. Emily is the communications director of Open Doors USA, an organization that has worked in the world's most oppressive countries, empowering Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs. Open Doors equips Christians in more than 60 countries. Jim began by putting things in perspective. He did this by having Emily define just what is meant when she speaks of persecution. Persecution, as defined by Open Doors USA, materializes in different ways based on the nations they are working in. They categorize persecution in six different areas such as violence, persecution from family members, the larger community, government and more. Emily reported that from what they've observed, there was a drastic increase in Christian deaths throughout the world. That's based upon a conservative marking scale. It's conservative because Open Doors USA only reports those deaths where they have the actual verification of the person's name, date of death, etc. so she believes the actual number of Christian deaths is even higher. Open Doors USA had never seen a year like 2014 for persecutions and they were afraid that 2015 would be even more violent. That came true as the death toll doubled with many more instances of violent persecution. So in 2015, a nation required a 4% increase in persecution just to get on the World Watch List. Jim noticed that some nations have more persecution but they declined in rank on the World Watch List. This included Syria, Sudan, Tanzania, Algeria and Turkey. Why is this? It's because persecution has become that much worse in other nations. Other nations on the Open Doors USA Worldwide Watch List that were referenced on this broadcast included: North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Pakistan, Libya, Bahrain, Niger, Iran, Mexico and the nations that make up the former Soviet Union.