According to research done by the Open Door Foundation the world in 2024 sees a massive increase of violence against Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. The Christian churches are also attacked more and more frequently.  

22 August 2024 marks the sixth International Day to Commemorate Victims of Acts of Violence on the Grounds of Religion or Belief, established by the UN General Assembly at the initiative of Poland. 

Christians have been at the top of the list since the Pew Research Center began reporting religious discrimination statistics in 2007. The next most hated groups are Muslims, Jews, ethnic religions and Hindus. The least hated religious group is Buddhists.

Poland’s partners in implementing the initiative of monitoring religious discrimination are countries for which upholding religious freedom is a priority. Poland cooperates with the United States of America and the UK. The U.S. hosted the annual International Conferences on Freedom of Religion or Belief, initiated in 2019, a global meeting of government representatives, civil society and leaders of different religions.

“According to the Pontifical Association for Aid to the Church in Need, 62 per cent of the world’s population, or almost 5 billion people, live in countries with serious or severe violations of religious freedom. Specifically, 61 of the world’s 196 countries have serious violations of religious freedom, which is approx. 30 percent of all countries,” Dr Jan Wiśniewski said during a conference devoted to Christian persecution last year.

Source: gov.pl, Vatican News

Tomasz Modrzejewski

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