Global Christian Relief Red List 2025

Analysis 
 
Faltering States and Growing Churches: A sharpening division of the world into the Democratic vs. Autocratic blocs will play into the religious liberty sphere
 
British commentator Matthew Syed writes we n o w "... live in a world where there is a new connective tissue between forces antithetical to the forces of openness and liberty." The Ukraine war has sharpened the division. China and North Koreasupport Putin. Russia backs the Houthis in Yemen. Iran and its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, threaten any post-Gaza peace settlement. The Taliban in Afghanistan have no international recognition, but Chinese, Russian and Iranian diplomats hold court in Kabul. Even democracies like India sit on the fence, buying Russian oil and gas at reduced prices.
 
The religious liberty position is clearer in this sense: in this autocratic bloc, religions are expected to explicitly support the State or else. Former Congressman Frank Wolf bemoaned in a D.C. summer briefing to GCR, "It's strange, but all the great persecutors in the world today are represented here in Washington, D.C. by the best PR and law firms ... Back in the Reagan era, no law or PR firm would have represented the USSR, but now the Chinese government has a vaster lobby today in D.C. than ever before, even as they commit genocide against Uighurs." He shook his head, "What happened? We have given these repressive nations such house room, but one day my sons may have to go to war against them."
 
The 2025 Global Christian Relief Red List. Washington, D.C.