Overview

Christians in the Middle East are in trouble. They are outnumbered and surrounded by mostly hostile people.  Of the last thirty reports of Christian persecution thirteen of them have come from the Middle East. Christians are being imprisoned, beaten, and killed just for having non-Islamic beliefs. The state of Islam is charged with the most reports of Christian persecution, with 4,611 reports.  In the past 100 years, there has been more Christians killed just for being Christian than any other century for any religion in history, coming to 200 million Christians. Most of the persecution comes from an age-old battle for land. For example, just last September in north Nigeria an Islamic extremist group labeled Boko Haram, bombed a church in the region because they believe north Nigeria is "just for Muslims."  A majority of this land battle is for the "Holy Land" in the area of Israel. All three religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism claim to the land, saying how each specific religious book says that it belongs to them. To get this land and any land they feel like taking, the Muslims forcefully take the land, then continuously persecute the Christians to attempt to bully them out of the land. Islam extremists do not agree with Western ideas, and that is what Christianity represents to them. Groups arrest Christians for speaking out against their persecution, then force them to denounce their religion in order to not be tortured. This all goes on right under the nose of the United Nations. After World War Two, they passed a document listing thirty things a human being is guaranteed just being born. One of these Human Rights is a right to freedom of religion, yet the biggest problem in today's world is people keeping others from practicing their religion where they want to. The world needs to step in and stop these extremists from having free will to do whatever they want to the Christians. Human Rights guarantees a freedom to believe in what people's hearts desire, yet millions of people aren't allowed to do that.

Works Cited

International Christian Concern. Persecution.org. International Christian Concern, n.d. Web. 21 May 2013.

Powers, Kirsten. "Middle East Christians Need Our Protection: Column." USA Today. Gannett, 2 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 May 2013.