Four of the five most populous nations—China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan—share a troubling reality: Christians within their borders face systematic persecution and the loss of basic human rights such as worship and evangelism. Combined, these governments rule over roughly 3.41 billion people, or about 41% of the world’s population, where Christians are often minorities whose rights are ignored or abused. In China, the openly atheistic Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enforces strict religious controls, aligning faith with communist ideology through policies like Sinicization. These measures push loyalty to the CCP, even to the point of altering worship music to include praise for communism. In India, Hindu nationalists routinely evict Christians from their homes and attack church gatherings, with more than 160 violent incidents reported in 2024 alone.

In Muslim-majority Indonesia, Christians face legal and social barriers to worship, with restrictive laws enabling the closure of churches and preventing new construction. Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are frequently weaponized against Christians, subjecting them to discrimination, menial labor assignments, and imprisonment. These nations rank among the worst offenders on the 2025 Open Doors World Watch List for religious freedom abuses, with China, India, and Pakistan recommended for the U.S. State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern list. Indonesia, while not meeting the full criteria, has been recommended for the Special Watch List due to its tolerance of severe religious freedom violations. In all four countries, believers risk harassment, intimidation, and even imprisonment simply for following Christ, underscoring the growing global assault on the most basic human right—the freedom to worship God.

Stay Awake. Keep Watch.

SOURCE: International Christian Concern