As persecution of Christians intensifies, Joel Feldkamp, director of international communications for Christian Solidarity International, continues to sound the alarm about the dire situation.
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Feldkamp recently appeared on the Into the Supernatural podcast and identified five places where persecution appears to be at its peak. The first country he mentioned was Nigeria, where he said a “slow-motion campaign of ethnic cleansing” was taking place.
“There is a region of this country called the Middle Belt, and most of the indigenous people living there are farmers and Christians from hundreds of different ethnic groups,” he said.
“But there is another tribe, a Muslim tribe called the Fulani, who have migrated to the area. They are very well armed, they have many militias, and in fact for the past eight years they have been carrying out massacres of Christian villagers on a weekly or more frequent basis.”
Unrest in the region has led to a “slow expulsion of Christians,” and several recent events have made international headlines. Every time a massacre occurs, more and more believers leave the area.
“In a genocidal move, there are now more than one million more people who are homeless, displaced, and without education or livelihoods,” he said. “This is… probably the biggest persecution crisis in the world right now.”
Feldkamp also referred to other countries where persecution is increasing, such as Sudan, where he said there is a large-scale power struggle between “two Islamist factions” that once ran the country together before turning on each other. The chaos left millions dead.
Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023 amid fighting between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Learn more about this crisis here.
Mr. Feldkamp also spoke about Pakistan, Armenia, and Syria, and addressed ongoing persecution issues within these countries.
“Armenia…was a country that converted to Christianity en masse in 301 AD,” she said. “And ever since then, its national identity and culture have been closely tied to Christianity.”
Feldkamp continued, “And this Christianity has survived centuries of oppression by various empires, survived the genocide of 1915, survived 70 years of communist rule by Communist Russia, and continues to be genocide today.”
He spoke about Azerbaijan’s targeting of Armenia as the mostly Christian self-identifying population of Nagorno-Karabakh, a small landlocked region between countries, is driven out.
“The entire population of this region, known as Nagorno-Karabakh, of 120,000 people… had to flee for their lives to escape the advancing army,” Feldkamp said. “Today, the problem is even more compounded because the Armenian government has lost this war.”
“And when our government loses a war, you basically have two options, right? One is to say, ‘Hey, I’m sorry, everyone, we did something really bad. We’re going to resign.'” he continued. The other thing is to say, “Actually, it was their fault,” and that’s what the Armenian government decided. Therefore, they are blaming the refugees themselves for this problem and blaming the Armenian church. ”
Feldkamp said this is currently causing terrible problems, including arrests of religious leaders and other related issues. CSI is in Armenia in the midst of a difficult situation to support refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure they have the resources they need to protect their communities and their ability to defend themselves.
Meanwhile, Syria continues to face internal problems, and Feldkamp warned that Christians could face further problems.
“Syria is undergoing a slow Islamization process,” he said. “In other words, it looks much more like Afghanistan than it did before.”
The country was ruled by a secular dictatorship until 2024, but recent developments mean the country is now led by an Islamic leader, with a new government headed by former al-Qaeda member Ahmed al-Shara.
“This new president is trying to show the international community and the Western world that he is a rational man, that he can do business, and that there is no need to fear him,” Feldkamp said. “Nonetheless, Syria is moving towards Islamization in earnest.”
Watch Feldkamp explain these issues along with many others.
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