In its annual report released last week, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends four additional nations be designated as Countries of Particular Concern.
Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says it is a wonder India, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Vietnam are not on the list already.
In India, a number of states now have anti-conversion laws that make it illegal for anyone to change their religion or to talk to anyone about changing their religion from Hinduism. One of those state governments suggests the death penalty is an appropriate penalty for violating those laws.
In Vietnam, Nettleton says things have gone backwards as the communist government cracks down on Christianity and arrests pastors.
Many of the Christians there are part of some of the minority tribal groups, and the government does not trust them because they are seen as outsiders, as people with questionable loyalty. So when a Christian is a pastor who evangelizes and leads others to Christ, that is sort of like three strikes against them.
"That's where we see a lot of persecution, is among those ethnic tribal minority groups who are followers of Christ," the VOM spokesman notes.
Afghanistan is on the list because of the Taliban. There was a time in recent publications where the Taliban was listed under the Entities of Particular Concern, but now that the radical Islamic Taliban governs Afghanistan, the nation is among the Countries of Particular Concern.
Nigeria also has a lot of Islamic radicals, and Nettleton says the government does not do enough about the problem. Meanwhile, people forget about Nigeria and often overlook issues in Africa.
"It's one of the frustrating things for me," he confesses. "If George Clooney goes to Africa, then it's a news story. If it's just another attack like the attack last week or the one before that, then it's not a news story. It's frustrating to see how little coverage is given to the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Africa."
VOM encourages Christians to be in prayer for believers in these and other countries, as Christians are persecuted all throughout the world.
"Pray for them," Nettleton urges. "Pray that they'll be faithful in spite of persecution. Pray that God will protect them. Pray for the persecutors to come to know Christ. The other thing I think we can do is to let our government leaders know this is important to us."
"This is the first time USCIRF has issued their report under the Trump administration, and so it's going to be very interesting to watch and see what does the State Department do with these recommendations and how do they respond to what is clearly cases of religious persecution," Nettleton tells AFN.
