Charity Open Doors: "Christians deliberately driven from their homes"
Donna Birrell/ premierchristian.news :
Christians are being deliberately driven from their homes in certain regions of the world, according to the charity Open Doors.
Its new report, called 'Church on the Run', says that governments, armed extremist groups and in some cases even families are trying to weaken or eradicate Christian populations.
It comes as new data reveals that there are around 100 million displaced people in the world - one in eighty people on earth. In Iraq, the Christian population has dwindled from over a million to around 166,000.
"Part of this deliberate strategy is to fracture religious communities. Displacement is not just a by-product of persecution, but, in many cases, it is an intentional part of a broader strategy to drive out Christianity from the community or country."
"Everyone is slowly leaving... It happens quietly, but it is happening every day. People pack up their things, lock their doors and leave behind their entire lives."
"We found that religion and religious identity can mean that Christian internally displaced persons and refugees carry an extra layer of vulnerability. The thing which is most concerning from the report is that at every stage of the displacement journey, whether that be when a Christian is deciding to leave, or whether they're in a camp or an urban setting, religious persecution can manifest at every stage or in any place."
"In Iraq, ISIS, especially over the past decade has resulted in thousands and thousands of Christians being deliberately uprooted from a specific area or lands.