{"id":1442513,"date":"2022-04-17T11:29:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T15:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1442513"},"modified":"2022-04-17T11:29:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T15:29:49","slug":"christians-in-lands-of-persecution-fear-attacks-on-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christians-in-lands-of-persecution-fear-attacks-on-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians in Lands of Persecution Fear Attacks on Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchristians-in-lands-of-persecution-fear-attacks-on-easter%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1442513&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Christians living in countries hostile to Christianity often face increased fears for their personal safety in the run-up to the Easter holiday, Mike Gore, the CEO of Open Doors Australia and New Zealand (an organization that aids persecuted Christians) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/religion\/easter-represents-fear-of-violence-for-many-christians\/13840956\">wrote<\/a> in an op-ed for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[F]or many Christians around the world, the anticipation of Easter is accompanied by the fear of an attack. As many Christians gather on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, the risk of violence intensifies. As Christians gather to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, they themselves become targets for violent extremism,\u201d Gore wrote on April 14.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Christian holiday of Easter falls on April 17 this year.<\/p>\n<p>Gore on Thursday cited Open Doors statistics which found that \u201c526 Christians have lost their lives while celebrating Easter over the past seven years, with hundreds more injured. Just a year ago, on 28 March 2021, twenty people were injured in a bombing on Palm Sunday in a church in Makassar, south Sulawesi [Indonesia].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gore referred to a suicide bombing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejakartapost.com\/news\/2021\/03\/29\/newlywed-suicide-bombers-identified-in-makassar-church-attack-.html\">perpetrated<\/a> by two Muslim terrorists outside a Catholic church in Makassar that wounded at least 20 people and killed only the attackers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_20678798\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1232099435.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20678798\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1232099435-1024x681-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"990\" height=\"658\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Police stand guard outside a church as Christians gather for Easter mass on April 4, 2021, in Surabaya amid tight police security following the March 28 a bombing at the Makassar cathedral on Palm Sunday. (JUNI KRISWANTO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cBoth suspects were killed instantly after they rode a motorbike into the church compound and, when challenged by security, detonated a bomb packed with nails,\u201d the <em>Jakarta Post<\/em> reported on March 29, 2021, citing local police.<\/p>\n<p>The March 2021 bombing took place \u201con Sunday at a time the congregation was inside the church on the island of Sulawesi, just as the mass was ending,\u201d Al Jazeera <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/28\/suspected-suicide-attack-rocks-indonesia-church-many-wounded\">observed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesian National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters at the time the two attackers were members of the Islamic terror group Jemaah Anshorut Daulah (JAD), which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/DocumentStore.ashx?id=8365e4c8-383c-4af2-9f96-02bd388793b8&#038;subId=612519\">pledged<\/a> allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>JAD was responsible for a series of prior attacks on Indonesian Christians in 2018, including \u201csuicide bombings at churches in Indonesia\u2019s second-biggest city Surabaya, which killed a dozen congregants,\u201d the <em>Jakarta Post<\/em> recalled at the time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cJAD was also implicated in a 2019 cathedral suicide bombing in the Philippines committed by a married Indonesian couple. That attack killed worshippers and security forces,\u201d according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia is home to the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2017\/08\/09\/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world\/\">largest<\/a> Muslim population. The nation\u2019s latest census data (taken in 2010) demonstrates that 87.2 percent of Indonesia\u2019s nearly 240 million inhabitants <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalreligiousfutures.org\/countries\/indonesia#\/?affiliations_religion_id=0&#038;affiliations_year=2010&#038;region_name=All%20Countries&#038;restrictions_year=2016\">follow<\/a> Islam.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cViolent Islamic radicalism is present in 7 out of the top 10 countries\u201d in which it is most dangerous to be a Christian, Open Doors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/faith\/2022\/01\/21\/watch-list-2022-islamic-radicalism-no-1-cause-of-christian-persecution\/\">reported<\/a> as part of its 2022 World Watch List, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendoorsusa.org\/christian-persecution\/world-watch-list\/\">published<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20678804\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1232063533.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20678804\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1232063533-1024x712-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"990\" height=\"688\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Police personnel inspect the premises of the Santo Fransiscus Xaverius church ahead of religious services on Good Friday in Kuta, near Denpasar on Indonesia\u2019s resort island of Bali, on April 2, 2021. (SONNY TUMBELAKA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Elsewhere in the world, Islamic radicalism in Nigeria \u2014 embodied by Muslim Fulani \u201cherdsmen\u201d and the jihadist terror group Boko Haram \u2014 sees Christians targeted for violent attacks on a regular basis. An estimated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2019\/04\/01\/the-countries-with-the-10-largest-christian-populations-and-the-10-largest-muslim-populations\/\">50 percent<\/a> of Nigeria\u2019s 90 million-plus population is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2022\/04\/07\/nigeria-sharia-court-sentences-atheist-to-24-years-in-prison-for-insulting-muhammad\/\">Muslim<\/a> while 48.1 percent of the population is Christian.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Jihadist Fulanis routinely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-36139388\">massacre<\/a> Christian villages across Nigeria, targeting the communities specifically for their outward displays of Christian faith. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is himself a Muslim and a member of the Fulani ethnic group. Nigerians have often criticized Buhari for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2020\/09\/11\/nigerian-president-donald-trump-confronted-me-christian-murders\/\">failing<\/a> to curtail Fulani attacks on Christians since he was elected in 2015.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tag\/boko-haram\/\">Boko Haram<\/a> is also a major perpetrator of targeted anti-Christian attacks in Nigeria. The jihadist group\u2019s aim is to eradicate both Christian and Western culture across the Lake Chad Basin, which unites northeastern Nigeria with the neighboring countries of Chad and Niger.<\/p>\n<p>International Christian Concern <a href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/church-in-africa\/2020\/08\/nigeria-is-becoming-worlds-biggest-killing-ground-of-christians\">reported<\/a> in August 2020 that \u201cbetween 50,000 and 70,000 Christians have been killed by radical Islamists\u201d in Nigeria over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>In India, radical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tag\/hindu-nationalism\/\">Hindu nationalists<\/a>\u00a0regularly perpetrate mob violence against the country\u2019s minority Christians. In one such incident, a group of suspected Hindu nationalists broke into the home of\u00a0a Christian pastor in central India\u2019s Chhattisgarh state on March 17, dragged the man out onto the street, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/03\/24\/india-hindu-nationalist-gang-reportedly-stabs-pastor-to-death-at-home\/\">stabbed<\/a> him to death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to local Christians, the pastor had been warned by Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] goons against preaching his religion and had been threatened with his life [prior to his murder],\u201d the Indian news website Siasat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siasat.com\/christian-pastor-stabbed-to-death-by-hindutva-goons-in-chhattisgarh-2294174\/\">revealed<\/a> on March 21.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20678810\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1239997925.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20678810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1239997925-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"990\" height=\"660\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Christian devotees take part in a Good Friday procession in Amritsar on April 15, 2022. (NARINDER NANU\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHindus make up 79.8% of India\u2019s population and Muslims account for 14.2%; Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains account for most of the remaining 6%,\u201d Pew Research Center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2021\/09\/21\/key-findings-about-the-religious-composition-of-india\/\">reported<\/a> in September 2021.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, also severely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/03\/19\/china-arrests-least-ten-christians-raid-private-bible-study\/\">persecutes<\/a> Christian minorities in the country through oppressive policies and regular raids of \u201chouse churches\u201d or spaces of worship created inside the privacy of Chinese Christian homes. China\u2019s ruling Communist Party enacted a law on March 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/faith\/2022\/03\/11\/china-enacts-law-banning-majority-online-christian-content\/\">prohibiting<\/a> the circulation of Christian-related content on China\u2019s heavily censored internet, Open Doors <a href=\"https:\/\/opendoorsyouth.org\/news\/china-new-laws-ban-majority-of-christian-content-online\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Communist Party officially allows Chinese citizens to observe just five religions: Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, and \u201cChristianity,\u201d which the Party acknowledges as the \u201cThree-Self Church.\u201d While a severely regulated form of Christianity is ostensibly tolerated according to official rules, the Communist Party in practice creates hostile conditions for any Chinese who dare to openly worship as Christians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christians living in countries hostile to Christianity often face increased fears for their personal safety in the run-up to the Easter holiday, Mike Gore, the CEO of Open Doors Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1442513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1442513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}