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Listen to “Lesson from Hong Kong: The Link Between Christianity and Freedom” on Spreaker.

In recent weeks, massive protests in Hong Kong drew the world’s attention, but while the media focused on the political issues at hand, little was made over the fierce battle over Christianity between Hong Kong and the communist Chinese regime.

The latest round of unrest was triggered by a proposed law allowing the extradition of people in Hong Kong to mainland China. Millions of people poured into the streets and into the legislature to denounce the bill and the firm belief that China is hand-picking politicians in Hong Kong to do its bidding.

The people of Hong Kong are determined to protect religious freedom (and their other freedoms). The Chinese government makes no secret that it wants to stamp out Christianity in China and in Hong Kong.

When the United Kingdom handed control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, a deal was struck to allow Hong Kong to effectively govern itself and maintain freedoms of religion, speech, and the press that it enjoyed under British rule.

That means Hong Kong residents are fully aware of how the Chinese are putting Muslims into concentration camps, persecuting Christians and churches, and reportedly harvesting the organs of Buddhist prisoners. Thus, Hong Kong is fiercely protective of the rights its people ought to have in full for another 28 years.

Colson Center for Christian Worldview President John Stonestreet says Hong Kong knows what the rest of the world needs to understand – that a vibrant Christianity is almost always accompanied by much freer societies than we see from atheist regimes and others.

Stonestreet says there are two main reasons for this, starting with the now almost universal understanding that each life has value.

“Every single person has inherent dignity from the moment of birth to the moment of natural death. That is a Christian idea that has now infected the world. Now everyone talks about human dignity as if it’s a thing, even though we disagree on what wee mean by that,” said Stonestreet.

He says that inherent dignity fuels the demand for freedom.

“We believe God created us. Not only did he give us dignity but he gave us freedom, that ultimately our conscience answers to him. My mentor, Chuck Colson, said it very well in the Manhattan Declaration. ‘We can ungrudgingly render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but we can never render unto Caesar what belongs to God,” said Stonestreet.

He says that is what compels China and other authoritarian regimes to try to stamp out the church. It simply cannot tolerate any challenge to its claim of absolute power. He says President Xi Xinping is trying to recreate himself in the mold of perhaps the worst mass murderer in world history.

“This is Mao-like stuff. The Christian gospel runs completely counter to that. When the early Christians said ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ there is an implicit ‘and Caesar is not.’ Well, when Hong Kong Christians say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ there is an implicit, ‘and the Chinese government – specifically Xi Xinping – is not,'” said Stonestreet.

“That very idea spawns all kinds of other freedoms, like freedom of speech and freedom of association, the freedom to order our public lives and how we set up our business around our deeply-held beliefs.

“So you can really see how the unique Christian idea of who we are as humans spawned freedom of conscience and how freedom of conscience and how freedom of conscience is really the foundation for all the other freedoms we have,” said Stonestreet.

Listen to the full podcast to hear more on the background of the Hong Kong-China tensions and China’s attempt to meddle in Hong Kong affairs. Stonestreet also explains how Chinese persecution is leading to a refugee crisis and how that crisis is putting the U.S. in a difficult position.

Islamic and authoritarian nations once again dominate the 2017 World Watch List of nations most hostile to Christians, and the group behind the list says persecution of believers around the world is getting worse all the time.

Compiled by the Christian organization Open Doors USA, the list of 50 nations is divided into three categories. The ten worst nations are described as inflicting extreme persecution, the next 20 nations are accused of severe persecution, while the remaining 20 are named for moderate persecution.

Open Doors USA President and CEO Dr. David Curry says a lot of factors go into the evaluation of each nation.

“What’s it like for a person in their private life? What happens if they become a Christian in the family setting or the community setting? Do they lose their job? Are the police forces after them? And of course violence is a factor,” said Curry.

“At the top of the list, you’re talking about places where all of the factors are in the high level of persecution, where you have national persecution, family persecution, or at the personal level. That’s part of the factors. But there should be no mistake. If you’re on the World Watch List, even in the top 50, there are significant issues there,” said Curry.

North Korea remains the worst of the worst.

“Things aren’t getting better in North Korea. Things are very difficult for Christians there. It’s the sixteenth year in a row North Korea has been at the top. In the 25 years we’ve done it, there are only a couple of countries that have been number one,” said Curry.

“In North Korea, the cultish government enforces worship of their leaders, uses the power of the government. (Christians would) be arrested and put in labor camps,” said Curry.

Shooting up the list from seventh to a very close second place is Somalia.

“In Somalia, if you’re even rumored to have become a Christian, you can be executed on the spot by mob violence, by extremists,” said Curry.

He says Islamic nations makes up 70 percent of the of the world’s worst persecutors of Christians.

“Thirty-five of the top 50 countries have Islamic extremism as a factor. It’s something we’ve continued to see. What’s different this year is the spread into sub-Saharan Africa, the growth of the extremist movement’s infrastructure, the spreading of technical expertise into some of these countries. It does not portend well into the future,” said Curry.

Curry says even Islamic nations that have dropped on the list like Eritrea and Saudi Arabia are only looking better because other countries are getting worse.

“You have countries like Eritrea, which is the government using Sharia law. They’re number ten on the list. Very difficult for Christians. Saudi Arabia is on the list at 14. They have total control, through the kingdom, of religious faith. People aren’t allowed to decide for themselves what they want to do. They can’t go to church. They can’t have a Bible. There’s not a lot of violence in Saudi Arabia against Christians, largely because there aren’t many,” said Curry.

Turkey jumps eight spots in the World Watch List to number 37 after a year of political and terrorist turmoil.

“Extremism seems to be growing there. The government is going to use it’s force against Christian churches. That would add another layer of complexity,” said Curry.

A smaller number of nations are trying to tie the practice of religion with fidelity to the state. India, the world’s largest democracy, is now up to fifteenth on the list.

“People are saying, ‘You’re not Indian if you’re not an extremist Hindu.’ Lots of people in India are Christian, millions and millions, and there is a rising tide of violence against them. There are groups that publicize they want to rid India of Christians by 2021. The Modi government has thus far done nothing to stop it,” said Curry.

China, which was much higher on the list in past years, is now ranked at number 39. Curry says there had been some marginal improvements there but things are looking more ominous as a result of nationalist impulses.

“Just last week, the president of China spoke out against the pope and basically said, ‘We would give you freedom if you’d just be more Chinese.’ They want the church to be an arm and organ of the state and to rubber stamp the cultural impact of communism. And of course the church isn’t going to do that,” said Curry.

Only two nations in the Western Hemisphere make the list, Mexico (#41) and Colombia (#50). Curry says believers there face a different problem than autocratic governments and radical Islamic groups.

“When people are living their faith, they’ll speak out against organized crime. That’s happened in Mexico. It’s happening in Colombia. As such, the cartels strike out,” said Curry.

“In one part of Mexico, a dozen pastors – maybe more – were executed for their faith when they spoke out against drug cartels,” said Curry. “Yes, you’re free to choose your faith in Mexico. But when you stand up for what Jesus is talking about, the cartels and organized crime will sometimes strike out against you.”

While the trends are bleak, there are some encouraging signs. Azerbaijan dropped off the list after ranking thirty-fourth in 2016. And even though war-ravaged Syria (#6) is still a desperate place in many ways, Curry reasons for encouragement there.

“There are some hopeful signs. One of them is the vibrancy of the church in Syria that remains and the growth of the church in the Middle East, the new branches of Christianity from people who are coming to know faith personally through the tragedy of what’s happened through the Islamic State,” said Curry.

As part of the roll-out for the World Watch List, Curry says Open Doors USA met with the incoming Trump administration to implore them to make religious liberty a priority around the world.

“What we’ve encouraged them to do is take action in the first 90 days to appoint the right people at the State Department and other parts of government, to make sure that the U.S. government is using it’s policies to support the basic human right of religious freedom,” said Curry.

But he says churches and individual believers also have a role to play.

“Every church in America should be praying through this list on Sunday morning and being heard. If millions of Christians wrote letters and let people know they cared about this, the policymakers would certainly move,” said Curry, who notes that Open Doors USA has resources available to help guide your correspondence with our elected leaders.

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