Debating the
persecution of Christians Cecil Graham reports on a recent debate in the House of Commons which focused on the growing persecution of Christians around the world.
I
n our family circle, I am often viewed as ‘a square’, particularly in regard to my TV viewing preferences, i.e. current affairs programmes, parliamentary debates etc. The UK House of Commons’ debate on ‘Persecution of Christians’ held on 6 February 2020 lasted for almost three hours. I found it to be challenging and distressing. The following article seeks to summarise the main points as detailed in the 63-page Hansard transcript of the proceedings. In introducing the debate, Heather Wheeler MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) said, “The suffering of men, women and children persecuted for their faith or belief is a matter of deep concern to the government. On every continent, religious minorities are under threat. Everyone across the House will remember last year’s Easter bombing attack on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, which was deeply saddening. “Despite our long-standing support of freedom of religion or belief, it is fair to say that we had not given the particular issue of Christian persecution the attention it deserved. That is why in 2018 the then Foreign Secretary commissioned an independent review to consider what more the Foreign and Commonwealth
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Office could do to support persecuted Christians overseas. The Bishop of Truro was asked to consider tough questions and the government has accepted all his recommendations.” Despite this reference to the Truro Report, very few references were made to it in the ensuing debate. However, in terms of examples of specific instances of persecution, most of the contributors referred to information provided by the Open Doors organisation. Over 100 parliamentarians attended the Open Doors presentation held at Westminster in January 2020, when the evidence presented suggests that persecution continues to worsen. Fabian Hamilton MP in his contribution said, “The report found yet again that the persecution of Christians is becoming both more widespread and more serious. Of the 50 countries on the Open Doors annual watch list, 45 of them
…in 2019 approximately 260 million Christians across the world were at risk of persecution, up from 245 million in 2018…
are places where Christians were rated as experiencing very high or extreme levels of persecution in 2019, double the number of countries that were given that rating in 2014. The increase means that in 2019 approximately 260 million Christians across the world were at risk of persecution, up from 245 million in 2018 and 215 million in 2017.” Sir William Cash MP said, “The International Society for Human Rights estimates that Christians are the targets of about 80% of all acts of religious discrimination or persecution worldwide, so it is significant that this debate focuses on persecution against Christians.” In the wide-ranging debate, references were made to the many challenges arising, particularly in the following countries:
North Korea This country has been at the top of Open Doors’ world watch list for a long time. Andrew Selous MP stated, “I learnt recently of a report from a defector from the North Korean national security agency, who was talking about being trained to look for things such as people who remained silent, with their eyes closed; people who are meditating; and habitual smokers or drinkers who have stopped smoking or drinking all of a
