President Trump: ‘11 Christians killed every day’

As I listened to his speech from the floor of the United Nations, I reflected on how President Trump’s words echo the reality we see all over the world—persecution is growing each year. Our research and others’ work show this is the case.

For Christians, the problem is stark, as President Trump highlighted:

“We’re standing up for almost 250 million Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith,” he said. “It is estimated that 11 Christians are killed every day […] for following the teachings of Christ.” President Trump is likely using the research from World Watch List, which shows that over 245 million Christians live in places where they experience high levels of persecution for their faith.

President Trump continued, “I ask all nations to join us in this urgent moral duty. We ask the governments of the world to honor the eternal right of every person to follow their conscience, live by their faith, and give glory to God.” We join this call, and ask God to bless the efforts of leaders of every nation as they seek to provide true freedom for all believers.

The President urged other leaders to join the United States in these efforts. “We’re also urging every nation to increase the prosecution and punishment of crimes against religious communities,” he said. “There can be no greater crime than that. This includes measures to prevent the intentional destruction of religious sites and relics.” He went on to pledge $25 million to protect religious freedom, sites and relics.

At Open Doors, we are always glad when our leaders speak up for the rights of religious minorities around the world, including Christians. We were glad when previous presidents did so, and are now thankful that President Trump has done so on such a large stage.

To be clear, religious freedom isn’t a one-party issue—it’s a human rights crisis that should gain the attention of every party, regardless of political ideals. At Open Doors, we consistently urge leaders from all parties to make Christian persecution and religious freedom a core issue.

We will never stop advocating for the needs of the international persecuted church in front of all in power who will listen. We are thankful President Trump has spoken so forcefully about this issue this week, and pray he will continue to do so in the weeks to come.

We also want to invite you to join in these efforts! Visit our advocacy page to find out how you can make your own voice heard, and sign up for emails from our Director of Advocacy.

We also invite your prayers. Pray for persecuted believers, that they would stand strong for Jesus. And I, personally, covet your prayers—pray that I, as leader of Open Doors USA, would do everything I can to shine a light on what our sisters and brothers are going through, and that our organization would be a lighthouse for Jesus.