By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

According to a new report by the worldwide Catholic relief organization, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), 75 to 85 percent of religious persecution around the world today is suffered by Christians.

Spero News is reporting that Berthold Pelster, a member of the tem of editors that compiled the 500+ page report that ACN publishes every year, said in an interview with Fides that Christians suffer the majority of persecution in the world today.
 
“About two billion believers around the world are Christians and their number is growing especially in Third World countries,” Pelster said. “This often creates a competitive situation in which other religious groups or politicians seek to limit this growth.”

There has been a decrease in oppression of Christians by atheistic ideologies such as Communism, Pelster said, but  “new ideologies that say ‘yes’ to religion, but only to one religion” are becoming a major problem. This is particularly true in Muslim countries, but is also on the rise in India where Hindu radical groups have enacted brutal “anti-conversion” laws in some states where Christians are often thrown in jail or executed on trumped-up charges of trying to convert Muslims.

The situation in Iraq is of special concern. Pelster called the Church in this country a “Church of martyrs” where “the future of Christianity is greatly threatened.”

He also noted incidents of violence against Christians that have occurred in Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria.

“In a less violent manner, there is also concern for the situation in Latin America where neo-Socialist governments act mainly against the Catholic Church,” said Pelster, noting that “these are still only a few among the many crucial points.”

At the conclusion of the interview with Fides, Pelster warns: “In every case we must keep an eye on all these social developments since the restrictions of religious freedom are often just the first sign of major social problems.”

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