The World Watch List is published annually by Open Doors and is a quick way to gauge religious persecution in around the world. This year’s list (like the previous seven years) is topped by North Korea. The list is compiled from a 50 question survey for each country covering religious freedom issues.

You can see the chart here or read the write-up from Mission Network News, which contains some questions and answers with Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors:

The oppressive, isolated country of North Korea under the leadership of dictator Kim Jong Il retains its grip as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world.
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The Wahhabi kingdom of Saudi Arabia is No. 2 and Iran is No. 3. Both countries are ruled by sharia law.

Afghanistan, Somalia and the Maldives take the fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Afghanistan moved up three spots on the list this year as a result of increased pressure from the Taliban movement during 2008. Yemen is No. 7, Laos No. 8, Eritrea No. 9 and Uzbekistan No. 10.
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Moeller says this is about more than making a list. “We’re actually formulating agendas for serving those persecuted Christians. We’re actually going into those countries in clandestine ways and providing relief and support so that they might remain a light in a very dark place.”

By: Chris. This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Missions, People, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.