ICC Note:

In a recent interview, ICC’s Advocacy Director, Isaac Six, explained how religious freedom deteriorated tremendously in 2016. Specifically, Six called attention to the persecution of Christians in China, India, Russia, Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria. Six went on to explain how the right of religious freedom must be universal, given fully to all faiths, even in places like the United States. With 2016 coming to a close, will 2017 be another year where religious freedom will diminish or will action be taken to promote this universal right. 

12/02/2016 Washington, D.C. (Christian Today) – The intensity and violence of persecution against religious minorities around the world is “like nothing we’ve seen in the past two or three decades” an expert has told Christian Today.

Isaac Six, advocacy director of International Christian Concern (ICC), said: “religious freedom has deteriorated tremendously in certain areas and certain regions of the globe in 2016”.

“From our vantage point, conditions in China, India, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, and even, to a much lesser degree, in the United States, have been heading in a very negative direction,” he added.

“The intensity and violence of persecution taking place today, and the awareness of that violence, is like nothing we’ve seen in the past two or three decades. Persecution has always existed, but usually those doing the persecuting make some effort to try and hide their actions. Groups like ISIS and Boko Haram have completely defied this convention, brazenly admitting they are targeting Christians and other religious minorities while publishing slick, polished videos of executions and kidnapping victims.

“Suddenly anyone with an internet connection is able to witness persecution taking place in a horrific manner that many Christians probably thought ended 17 centuries ago with the Roman coliseums. Yet while violent Islamic extremism is driving much of the persecution that makes it into the headlines, it is the reaction of other nations in response to this extremism and to persecution that also carries serious implications for religious freedom.”

Six accused Russia and China of “routinely” using extremism “as a justification for curtailing religious expression”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in July signed into law the ‘Yarovaya’ package, under which house churches are illegal and religious activity or evangelism is prohibited anywhere outside a registered church or religious site, including private homes and online. Only named members of religious organizations are now allowed to share their faith, and even informal witnessing between individuals is forbidden. Critics have branded it a draconian attempt to stifle religious freedom under the guise of clamping down on terrorism.

China, meanwhile, appears to be further tightening restrictions placed on the Uighur Muslim community in the Xinjiang region. On Monday, the country’s top religious affairs official claimed Islamic extremism had infiltrated inland China from its base on the western border.

But even in the West, “the temptation to ban immigrants on the basis of faith or restrict certain religious dress is sending a signal to the rest of the world that religious freedom is not the universal right we have espoused it to be, but one that really only applies when it’s in our perceived best interest,” Six said.

“We have to acknowledge that while Christians may be persecuted in more countries around the globe than any other faith, Muslims come in at a close second… Persecution is always wrong, no matter the faith of who is being persecuted.”

…