Persecution of Christians in the Middle East and India

Christian communities worldwide face persecution and violence, requiring coping strategies and global support for survival and religious freedom.

### Global Persecution of Christians: A Case Study of India
* 🌍 Christians around the world face persecution, with **76% of the population** living in countries where **religious freedom is severely curtailed**.
* 🇮🇳 In India, Christians have been present since the 3rd century, but recent decades have seen a **rise in violence against them**.
* 🕌 Hindu nationalist governments have fueled this violence, with a **slow poisoning of minds** leading to attacks on Christians.
* 🔥 The 2008 Kandhamal riots in Odisha were particularly brutal, resulting in **numerous deaths, rapes, and church burnings**.
* 🙏 Christian communities in India have responded with a focus on **peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue, and social capital development**.
* 🤝 Initiatives include **youth programs**, **residential training camps**, and efforts to make **religious buildings more ecumenical**.
* 🕊 Despite the challenges, there is hope for the future, with a growing recognition of the **importance of religious freedoms** in maintaining a diverse and pluralistic society.

[Music] You can call it hell on the earth. Always they torture you, they beat you. Churches being broken, houses being burned. There was a huge amount of ribs. We have this public image of India's peaceful and pluralistic. Doesn't compute for there to be this kind of violence. There is no safety in Iraq. Not for family, not for me, not for children. No somos so among the Americans. Her determine show me the charitable feel identify Ricans iconic or evil robotic handily. It's a very Darwinian process in the end, and that's what we're seeing. And we're seeing it at its most vicious right now. Are Christians being disproportionately victimized? Are they the victims of a genocide that makes them may be particularly worthy objects of our attention? The persecution concerns our own survival. [Music] There is no more appropriate time for this conference. On this very day, Christians will be killed, exiled, finder property, and houses of worship destroyed, and faced humiliating discrimination in countries around the world.

the under Caesar sword project is an effort to study systematically and globally the kind of responses that Christian communities make towards persecution. What do they do when they're under this kind of pressure and repression? Some people will say it's ethnic or religious cleansing, not genocide. These, I think, are quibbles. The important thing is a massive humanitarian because tast Rafi is in front of us, and it is inextricably related again to the religious identity of very vulnerable Christians. The whole Middle East is, without exception, engulfed by a nightmare that seems to have no end and that undermines the very existence of Christians in many countries of the region. [Music] [Music] The early church was comprised of five ancient patriarchs: Rome in the West, and then four in the East - Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople - and those are all in danger of disappearing. They are literally living in an at-risk condition of great vulnerability. A century ago, one-third of the samel population was

non-Muslim, which would mean Greeks first, a Greek Orthodox, then Armenians, then Jews. Today, it is less than 1%, very tiny communities. How did this happen while Turkey got rid of its Christian minorities to a great extent, unfortunately, by population exchanges, by expelling them. What we say in Turkish-occupied Cyprus is really the erasure of the Christian presence, churches demolished, all of the iconography associated with the early church stripped out of these churches, really a perverse effort to erase the historical footprints of the Christians of Turkey. There has been a growing discourse in Turkey about the conversion of the great Church of the Holy Wisdom of Hagia Sophia into a functioning mosque, the largest Christian structure up until the Cathedral of Notre Dame was built, and at that structures to function as a religious site, it should function as a site for which it was built and intended, a Christian site that is part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The state has to accelerate its reforms. It used to be a very polyphonic country.

and then it could be again. We go to the state, to the ministries, to the bureaucracy, and we claim, or we explain our issues together. And we are so few now, so the solidarity in building up new ideas is essential. [Music] Shaunda actor should go to Kadosh Kishi kirisame jacuzzi no Erica to do a his lead dual are custom in Aceh market answer a gadget and boo a richer stunt are beautiful nun between son Aaron harbour aromas larger metal cable a bad occasionally restate a vous on squishy Dan he kissing him a keel boy inject Lisa music Atlanta sure dad Aldrin Horomia Cristiano dr. mr. Gilardi amah asunder a Bellamy a shaman my Eagle a hard at a kite Alton la aldea large be Seminary miss Martha who's generally regulatory K where organ busy between hit protocol Dietetic BIOS Abba asana police - any future a Accord our children is double non Bosnian sundaran

booty video older Maori piggy Rashmi a pyramid a trailer park a [ __ ] police custody. Christian communities have long focused on coping strategies in terms of making life livable on a daily basis, and that has meant largely staying off the radar. And by that, I mean simply trying to do whatever is necessary in order to stay within these very strict limits of the law. So Vicky given a magician, a camera system is wash viraja at the Trimble Ilana a cover system. It is des vidéos a banal Mazda John Barrowman super machine ultra forgiving Larry after this Diana's Amanda hakuro machine which catatonic remedy genius Atlanta Georgia Cole. I'm a highest atomic here. The hot be shaky de vidas didn't make it was good shaky there a candy Naja machine make audition lace [Music]. Gulliver Abba bazooka DMK Jamaat medication say Kelly Ilana sarcomere [Music]. The non-Muslim minorities we are reaching 200,000 people. So why we have

to be very vibrant and active. It's very simple because we are part of this country. We are the heritage of this history of this country. We try to explain ourselves, to dialogue with people because they don't know us. If you see, we can see that there are millions of millions of people in Turkey that they never experienced any connection and a dialogue with any non-Muslim person. And we try to explain again from the beginning that we are not foreigners, that we are not strangers. [Music] The blessing of the waters, the Epiphany as we call it, it is a very special day. And we came with all our bishops and our people and our parishes and all members of the larger community. There were Turkish Muslims, all Levi's Armenians. We were happy because everything goes smoothly. Even if today Turkey and the countries around, they are facing several problems, we in a very secure way, we have celebrated today. Definitely 15-20 years ago, this could be impossible. We still have a long way to

go because we see what's happening in the Middle East. First, Iraq and on Syria, and we have so millions of people refugees coming in Turkey. Of course, it seems that doing it for the last centuries freedom for Christians is a limited understanding in the region. [Music] [Music] in 1914 1922 in Turkey that Christians 20% of were forced out, and many of them fled to Syria and Iran, and today they're being driven out of Syria, Iraq, and they're finding refuge in Turkey. Now, so far the Turks have been extraordinarily accepting two million refugees. When there is chaos in a country mostly composed of Islamic majority, minorities especially Christians are very much vulnerable. I decided to leave Iraq because there is no safety for my children, and I can come to Turkey because Turkey is better homeland to return the homeland is beautiful over now and and this time is bigger problem. Yeah, Nina my new film at Rudy's pagina AHA Nelvana an honest man a B&E a virginal vana oMG a Bonacci.

hummina they come to me and tell me you should give us money or Kalu or hurt your family OHE and him estaba la la dia under a set home who is tamarind hiya too militant ilk saans aake our turkey ax abundance aura or openin turkish que pasa bori Geryon are [Music] and all the key candy member kait letter can Dave letter can the O'Connell Eric and Aquila seller the Hajduk yahwism enemies dengue diction Laura harsh a yard Amida billiards Gianna thank you or they assure large GB be Shayla shut yours program [Music] it isn't everybody who has fled you do have incidence of the Assyrians for example round the table or River in Syria that took up arms have formed a militia but those are small responses one of the remarkable things that we found among Christian communities around the world is how few of them have resorted to violence as the answer we

want to be careful not to judge communities who have made that difficult decision. That may be armed the defense is the only way for them to survive. But we do note that in the global profile armed violence is very rare. Christians have spontaneously responded to their own suffering by enlarging their concern and compassion work for justice to include others as well. It's important because that's what their faith calls them to but it's important to in that I think many Christians realize that the only world in which they're going to be more secure is the world in which everyone is more secure. Oh my godula video [Music] [Music] especially thankful francis if you got the voice of the voiceless from all the nobility especially all the poor from [Music] wagon il gramma ha - mosquito akadama Tasi Shabazz was my younger brother he dedicated 28 years of his life to foster the ideal of human equality interfaith harmony and mutual love and forgiveness he died only a few meters

front of their home, my mother heard the tender of bullets killing my brother. Even today, it's impossible to imagine her pain. But to my amazement, my mom told me without hesitating that his mission should continue, and I was the right person for this job. She explained that she had forgiven the killers of my brother, and she was free from a desire for the revenge of retaliation against them. Later, she reminded me that Shabazz way of life was rooted in forgiveness, love following the way of our Jesus Christ wagon ayora mob Artemis Kieran cafe steamed Gazzola Metro Maria Magana Rama bottom s Kyra akadama Zometa awesome imprisonment is 32 months. It said continued absence, I got enough air. It's not clean of it allama they asked you to deny your face ryoga's Omega mu near so refuse [Music]. The Pew Forum reports that 76% of the world's population lives in a country where religious freedom is seriously curtail. In India, hundreds of Christians

have been attacked by Hindu extremists, whose violent efforts have been encouraged by the rise to power of a Hindu nationalist governments. [Music] [Music] Christians have been around in India from at least the third century. There was a long period, millennium or more, of relatively peaceful coexistence between Christians and other religious people in India. There was a huge embrace of Christians in this country, the Christian missionaries and the schools they set up. Very commonly, Christmas was practically celebrated by all of India. It's been a kind of secular practice, almost a celebration. You know, the Western world generally have a notion of Hinduism and Buddhism as religions of peace, yoga, meditation, sort of friendliness. And this is a problem of perception in this, that democracy is a constitutionally secure place. The state is not supposed to be involved in religion in the big way, but in reality, the state has always been involved, but clearly in favor of the ontology. If you go in a police station, you will find the pictures of gods and goddesses.

Garland and so those spaces are very often marked out as at least quasi-Hindu spaces, and Christians maybe feel that they are not fully represented. It has been a slow, consistent process over decades. What is happening now did not happen in one day. It was a preparation of tens of years of a very slow poisoning of minds across India. [Music] Since about 1998, there's been a real rise in incidents of violence against Christians. The Kandhamal riots were really of a far more widespread and far more significant nature. [Music] The crowd maybe about 300 to 400 people came in the morning, and from this spot itself, they started attacking the people, breaking the houses, and burning the houses, and the violence continued all throughout the day. Set up a mall, same an Angora, a secret war of angular person to move our division not filling the table. Christian Marwan is almost a year at haggling and facilitators or anybody in Kandhamal. There was a huge Christian purge in a lot of killings, lot of rape.

churches being broken and looted. [Music] Most almost on Monday American cherry tomorrow Swami gets ready to move Phil edita Tariq in the corner Coralville Bogota can't delay yet the very same birthday parties on a cyclist Arabic or a Bandicoot a kilometer back for the who goes makes an angle. [Music] They tortured him. He had to suffer so so inhumanly. They killed him in front of his wife and two children. Oh. [Music] So that's how a girl on it muchas dated or even a lot a posse only. [Music] The first response is prayer. We are not attuned to. We don't retaliate. We don't respond as possibly other communities would do. After things settled down, a broader range of options became available to Christians, and many of them began to very intentionally engage with their neighbors for the sake of bolstering or developing their social capital, expanding their social networks. I think they realized that they needed to reach out more effectively to other groups.

they began doing visits. You know, they'd go to a Muslim service or festival, they'd go to a Hindu service or festival, they'd go to a Buddhist service fs1, and they would invite people from other religions into their own celebrations. We began to counter the hate ideology, and to do that, we worked on modules. We organized residential training camps. In the last 12 years, more than 15,20,000 young people have undergone those camps. This is mainly fighting prejudices, fighting hatred. After the attack, I was part of peace-building process along with the district administration. I went for peace-building meetings in different villages. In the youth program, some of the sports computations we conducted brought the community people together from both the religion, from both the costs, and the biasness, and the doubts that were there, those also could be resolved in the meetings because the youth, you are not able to talk, the people you are not able to talk after the violence. So, this gave space to come together. People slowly started talking one another, building.

relationship. They tried to make their own religious buildings more ecumenical and spirit more interfaith and spirit. So, instead of building something that could only be a church, they might build a community center that had the symbols of various religions in it. We are not understanding that the Christian community in India is part of a larger national groups. We are protected by the Constitution. We are protected by the United Nations Charter. India is a signatory. Therefore, there is no harm. In fact, we're duty-bound to seek support from everywhere to raise a voice. Everyone. [Music] My overwhelming feeling now, having heard the stories that we heard, having met many of the really most remarkable Christian leaders who face persecution around the world, is not one a discouragement. Our diversity and pluralism, our decades of struggle for a democratic, secular India, is waking up again. Everyone will fight till, till the last breath. Busy articulation to make your neck as like and alluring than a candy wattle master number or a cure malaria a similar a big Aramco sure.

we have to work to create a bridge. And this bridge, I mean, cannot be built only from one side. We have to work both sides and to create a bridge of confidence. People are very different religions and ethnicities and national communities being able to live together in the same society. That's critical to the dream of liberal democracy, the dream of human rights. It's very hard to see how you're going to get to a society where religious freedoms are central to the legal system, but many people are beginning to see the merits and see that it's the only thing that's going to keep the societies they love from being swept away. My overwhelming feeling despite challenges is that one can have hope and that things things can't improve and that integrity, that faithfulness in the long run, matter more than anything else. [Music] [Music]

Documentary: Under Caesar's Sword

Under Caesar's Sword: Christian Response to Persecution

Persecution of Christians: A Global Crisis

Christian communities are facing severe persecution and violence, leading to their displacement and destruction of their places of worship in various countries around the world.

The Middle East is particularly affected, with ancient Christian patriarchs at risk of disappearing and Christian minorities being expelled from their homelands.

Turkey's growing discourse on converting Christian sites like the Hagia Sophia into mosques reflects a larger effort to erase the historical presence of Christians in the region.

The Importance of Solidarity in Christian Communities

Christian communities are focusing on coping strategies to make life more bearable while staying within the limits of the law.

Non-Muslim minorities in Turkey are striving to be vibrant and active in order to be recognized as part of the country's heritage.

The celebration of the Epiphany in Turkey is a symbol of the larger community coming together, including Turkish Muslims and Armenians, despite the country's current challenges.

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East

The persecution of Christians in the Middle East has led to a mass exodus, with many seeking refuge in Turkey.

Turkish acceptance of around two million Christian refugees has been remarkable.

Despite the hardships, the majority of Christian communities have responded to their suffering with compassion and a commitment to non-violence.

The Impact of Religious Intolerance on Christians in India

A mother's forgiveness and encouragement to continue her son's mission, despite his killing, reflects a message of forgiveness and love in the face of religious persecution.

The rise of Hindu nationalism in India has led to a significant increase in violent attacks against Christians, marking a stark contrast to the historical peaceful coexistence and celebration of Christmas in the country.

The gradual poisoning of minds and the rise of violence against Christians in India over the years culminated in the devastating Kandhamal riots in 2008, involving widespread killings, rape, and persecution.

Christian Response to Violence: Building Social Capital and Promoting Peace

Christian communities responded to violence with prayer and a focus on engaging with their neighbors of different faiths.

They intentionally reached out to other religious groups, participated in their celebrations, and invited them to their own, in order to counter hate ideology.

Over 15,000 young people have undergone training camps to fight prejudices and hatred, while also participating in peace-building meetings and sports events to bring the community together and resolve biases.

The Importance of Religious Freedom and Unity in India

The Christian community in India is seeking support and protection, as they are a vital part of the nation and are protected by the Constitution and the United Nations Charter.

There is a growing effort to promote ecumenical and interfaith unity, in order to uphold the country's diversity and pluralism.

Despite facing persecution, Christian leaders in India remain hopeful and are dedicated to creating a society where religious freedom is central to the legal system.