Once again North Korea has retained its title as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world.
According to the 2009 World Watch List compiled by Open Doors, the communist nation of North Korea -- described by the group as a nation with "severe persecution" -- is the number-one worst persecutor of believers for the seventh year in a row. Saudi Arabia is number two and Iran is in third place. Both of those countries are ruled by Shariah law. Dr. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors, says the World Watch List is a reliable way to evaluate the level of persecution against Christians. "The World Watch List is an annual ranking of the worst persecutors on earth that we measure using a 50 question survey that our co-workers put together and assign a point value to each one of those questions. In the process we get a first-hand assessment of the intensity of persecution and the nature of the persecution around the world." Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Maldives take the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions. Yemen is number seven, followed by Laos, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan. Countries still imposing "severe limitations" on believers but showing a positive trend over the last year (i.e., whose persecution rating decreased noticeably) include Bhutan, China, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. Those showing a negative trend (increased persecution) include Pakistan, Iraq, Algeria, and India.
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