“The religious freedom advocacy group International Christian Concern has named the Taliban, Kim Jong un and Nigeria as the top persecutors of Christians at its first Persecutor of the Year Awards event. ICC ranked NIGERIA as the worst country for religious freedom in 2021. Jeff King, who has served as ICC’s president since 2003, explained that the African nation has been engaged in ‘a 20-year war against Christians,’ which he labeled genocide. ‘There’s a one-sided war against Christians; there are two guerrilla forces or factions fighting Christians,’ he added. The report elaborated on the unsafe environment Christians face in Nigeria: ‘Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on Earth for Christians, as 50,000 to 70,000 have been killed since 2000. Nigeria is home to the infamous Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, which has displaced millions of people and killed tens of thousands of others. Fulani militants killed more Christians in the past several years than Boko Haram and have displaced Christian farmers. There are 3-plus million Christians displaced, King asserted, adding: ‘Their homes have been stolen, their lands have been stolen, their farms have been stolen.’ The group identified by ICC as the Persecutor of the Year was THE TALIBAN. Since the Taliban has retaken control of Afghanistan, he said, they have gone door-to-door asking, ‘Do you know where the Christians are?’ King warned that these and many other Christians will ‘be tortured and given a chance to turn back to Islam. If you don’t, you’re going to be tortured more to find out what other Christians you know and then you’re killed.’ In the past two weeks, King reported that the Taliban murdered a Christian who was found with a Bible on his phone. ICC selected NORTH KOREAN DICTATOR KIM JONG UN as its individual Persecutor of the Year. According to the report, ‘The Kims have created a religious system modeled on the faith (God/Father/Son) with Kim Jong Un playing the part of the Son that is to be worshiped. Any threat to the Son and over-arching religious system is mercilessly crushed.’ King estimated that around 30,000 Christians in North Korea have been sent to prison camps, while more than a million have been killed.”
The Christian Post, Nov. 17, 2021