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New database reflects 'shadow of what's to come'

New database reflects 'shadow of what's to come'


New database reflects 'shadow of what's to come'

A Christian ministry is tracking violent religious persecution to raise awareness about what's happening around the world.

Global Christian Relief (GCR) CEO and President David Curry says religious extremism plays some role in most of the violence.

"You have nationalism or dictators or, in many cases, extremist groups that want to force people to believe their ideology and live by their set of rules," he explains.

The goal of this list is to help Christians understand the extent of the suffering their brothers and sisters are facing in other countries.

Curry, Dr. David (Open Doors USA) Curry

"What we want to do with this index is show the size of the problem -- that when you talk about Christian persecution in China, you're talking about 100 million people whose freedoms have been restricted," Curry says.

As time goes by, he asserts the problem will only get worse.

"All the major issues, all the major drivers of Christian persecution and religious intolerance are getting stronger as the days go on," he tells AFN.

And while violent religious persecution for the most part has not hit the shores of the U.S., Curry believes it is coming.

"When you see what's happening in the West -- the intolerance, the deplatforming on social media, these kinds of things for Christian values and religious values -- you begin to see it's sort of like a shadow of what's to come," the GCR president laments.

According to The Christian Post, the Violent Incidents Database stands as the first and only events-based global religious freedom dataset of its kind. It can be searched by date, country, specific faiths, those responsible, and by the nature of the persecution.