World Watch Monitor, August 21, 2020
Lord Alton’s question recognised the new UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on 22 August.
In Nigeria, Boko Haram alone has killed 27,000 people over the past 10 years, based on its extreme radical Islamist beliefs and agenda.
Latest research by the Pew Center shows India, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, CAR, Pakistan, Israel, Bangladesh and Yemen have ‘very high’ social hostility involving religion.
The focus is limited to violence based on religion or belief.
“Poland and other states have to be commended for recognizing the issue of violence based on religion or belief as a contemporary issue that can no longer be neglected”.
Pew has shown that, of all global religions, it is Christians who experience the most hostility.
Nationalistic governments such as India and Myanmar continue to deny freedom of religion for their sizeable Christian minorities. Mobs often attack and kill with impunity.
Extreme persecution also comes at the hands of radical Islamic militias, such as in in Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Libya and Somalia.