Pence: Christians Are Most Persecuted Faith In The World

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By Nathan Guttman May 15, 2017

Are Christians the most persecuted religion in the World?

A claim to this effect made by Vice President Mike Pence is creating a stir.

Speaking at the first ever World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians, convened in Washington DC last Thursday, Pence told the audience of Christian activists that “Christian faith is under siege” and that throughout the world “no people of faith today face greater hostility and hatred than followers of Christ.”

The Huffington Post, reporting on Pence’s speech, questioned the accuracy of this claim, referring to a Pew report on religious freedom. This report confirmed that there is an increase in persecution of the Christian minorities in Muslim Middle Eastern countries, but also noted a rise in persecution of Muslims in Europe.

The conservative Washington Examiner took issue with this analysis of Pence’s speech, calling it a “particularly gross hit” on Pence and noting that in his speech, he did mention other religions being under attack. Pence, however, did not discuss the increase in anti-Muslim violence in Europe.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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