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Securing justice for victims of religious persecution — Faith under Fire

Securing justice for victims of religious persecution — Faith under Fire

Through God’s grace and your generous support, we are protecting and promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief, defending and expanding legal protections to slow, stop, and ultimately reverse the spread of religious persecution, anti-conversion laws, apostasy laws, and blasphemy laws.

Through God’s grace and your generous support, we are protecting and promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief, defending and expanding legal protections to slow, stop, and ultimately reverse the spread of religious persecution, anti-conversion laws, apostasy laws, and blasphemy laws.

Across continents and creeds, Christian leaders face mounting legal and cultural hostilities – and yet, their stories of religious persecution and punishment often go unshared.

Faith is under fire across the world – Including in the West. Censorship zones, also known as “buffer zones”, criminalize silent prayer, and pastors and bishops are thrown in jail for preaching the gospel.

A common thread is weaving its way throughout Western and non-Western institutions and governments alike: discrimination through the law and persecution of the Christian church. This isn’t something that can be ignored any longer. Many people can sense this incremental change, and our clients’ faith is under fire right now. 

Religious freedom prevails. David Byle stands in a church in Germany after facing religious persecution in Türkiye.
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ADF International projects around the world are made possible by your generous support. Donations received by ADF UK will be used in compliance with UK law. Please visit https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/privacy-policy for a full overview of our data protection policy.

Who are these Christians facing religious persecution?

They all have one thing in common: they are faith leaders forbidden to speak about or publicly practice their faith without punishment. Now more than ever, the threat to free speech has arrived at the Church’s front door. And along with it, a rise in religious persecution on account of Jesus.

Pastors Wilson* and Phillip*, India

Imprisoned for five months on false charges of coercing people to convert to Christianity for money. They were abused in prison by guards and inmates for their faith before being released.

How religious persecution affects every Christian, regardless of where you live

Though not every Church leader in the West experiences censorship today, the tension and hostility against the biblical worldview is ever-rising.

Discrimination and persecution aren’t isolated among evangelicals, Catholics, or Orthodox believers. Religious freedom is a fundamental, inalienable, and pre-political right that belongs to every person regardless of their religion or belief.

In the West, so-called non-discrimination laws seem to trump over religious freedom claims while in other parts of the world, persecution is severe, restricting religious freedom by laws criminalizing conversion, apostasy, blasphemy, evangelism, church autonomy, and communal worship for Christians and other minority groups. Leaders across denominations are facing mounting pressure to compromise or be silenced or face punishment and persecution, which, at worse, could cost them not just their livelihoods but also their lives.

Christians are called to live out their faith publicly in speech, action, and worship. Yet, pervasive censorship, attacks on conscience, and worship restrictions may have you believe that faith is a private matter and expressions of Christianity are harmful. This is false. Freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental, universal human right. It is recognized in core international human rights treaties.

It protects every person, regardless of his or her religion or belief or lack thereof. The state has no authority over the religion or beliefs of an individual’s choosing. This applies to everyone and in no way should be impacted by the perceived validity of the beliefs.

The time to stand up for this fundamental freedom is now.

How can I help stop the spread of religious persecution?

The protection of religious freedom recognizes and preserves human dignity. One of government’s primary tasks is to preserve the freedom of every person to follow their own convictions. And nobody should be punished for peacefully expressing their deeply held beliefs.

As made clear in places of persecution across the world, a society cannot know peace if it violates the right to religious freedom. To be successful in protecting this fundamental human right, we need you.

We are working tirelessly to advance:

  • Protecting and promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief, coordinating key advocacy at the international organisations.
     
  • Defending and expanding legal protections for freedom of religion or belief at the national level.
     
  • Securing justice for victims of religious persecution by supporting their defence in courts of law.

  • Slowing, stopping, and ultimately reversing the spread of anti-conversion, apostasy, and blasphemy laws.

We want all people, everywhere, to have the freedom to share and live out their religious convictions, including the freedom to preach and follow the gospel free from persecution. And we will vigorously defend religious freedom and oppose all attempts to compel, punish, or persecute individuals for peacefully living out their faith.

Will you support us and join our mission to abolish laws that violate religious freedom and feed a culture of dangerous and often deadly persecution?

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