Do Muslims Systematically Persecute Christians? A Reality Check

ChatGPT authored this article.

One of the most persistent talking points in certain Christian circles is the claim that Muslims are “persecuting Christians worldwide.” Nigeria, Somalia, and Egypt are often invoked as examples. But is this really a fair or accurate description of global religious dynamics? The reality is far more complex — and when seen in historical and global perspective, the narrative collapses.

The Claim: Christians as Victims of Muslim Persecution

Groups such as Open Doors and some evangelical advocacy organizations argue that Muslims across the world increasingly target Christians. They cite:

• Nigeria: Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) have explicitly attacked churches and killed Christians.[1]

• Somalia: Al-Shabaab enforces strict religious conformity and punishes converts to Christianity.[2]

• Pakistan: Blasphemy laws and mob violence triggered by accusations often hit Christians hard, as in the Jaranwala pogrom (2023) and Sargodha mob attack (2024).[3]

• Legal restrictions: In Saudi Arabia, public non-Muslim worship is banned; in Iran, converts face harsh penalties.[4]

These examples are real, and Christians in those places do face danger. But do they prove the existence of a global, coordinated, systematic Muslim persecution of Christians?

The Counter-Claim: A Myth of Civilization

There are several reasons to doubt this sweeping generalization.

1. No Global System, Only Local Conflicts

Violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is largely about land, ethnicity, and organized crime, not theology. Climate change, poverty, and governance failures are central drivers.[5] To call every killing “Christian persecution” is to ignore reality.

2. Muslim Governments Fight These Groups

Boko Haram, ISWAP, Al-Shabaab, and ISIS are not tolerated — Muslim governments hunt them. Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Egypt, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia have all waged bloody campaigns against them.[6] In other words, the Muslim world condemns and combats these extremists. Contrast this with Western societies, where powerful political lobbies openly endorse policies that devastate Muslims (see below).

3. Selective Outrage Ignores Christian-Led Violence Against Muslims

If we weigh persecution and violence proportionally, Muslims are the far greater victims of Christian-led or Christian-supported violence:

• U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their aftermath, killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims directly, and millions more died from the indirect consequences of war — displacement, famine, disease, and collapsed infrastructure.[7]

• Evangelical support for Israel: Christian Zionist lobbies in the United States play a central role in sustaining unconditional U.S. support for Israel, whose wars in Gaza and Lebanon have killed tens of thousands of Muslims.

Evangelical leaders such as John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), openly frame Israel’s survival as a biblical mandate tied to the “Second Coming” of Christ. He has declared that opposing Israel is opposing God Himself.[8] U.S. politicians, including Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence, have echoed similar theology while in office, suggesting that American foreign policy should align with biblical prophecy. These are not fringe figures — they are former Secretaries of State and Vice Presidents.

Unlike jihadist groups that are hunted and reviled in the Muslim world, these evangelical movements are embraced by mainstream American politics, invited into the White House, and praised on national television. Their lobbying power directly translates into bombs falling on Gaza.

• Central African Republic: Militias self-identifying with Christian communities carried out mass atrocities against Muslims between 2013 and 2014, in some cases amounting to ethnic cleansing.[9]

• Bosnia (1990s): Europe, under a Christian-majority framework, failed to stop — and in some cases enabled — the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.[10]

• Colonial legacies: French colonial Algeria, under Catholic-majority France, left a legacy of brutal repression of Muslims.

These are not isolated extremist outbursts — they were wars, state projects, and political lobbies acting with legitimacy and resources.

4. Persecution in the West

Muslim minorities in Europe and North America face systemic discrimination: bans on Islamic dress, mosque surveillance, disproportionate policing, and anti-Muslim hate crimes. These policies are not the work of “fringe” extremists; they are enacted by parliaments, courts, and mainstream media across Christian-majority societies.[11]

Double Standards in Condemnation

Here lies the greatest irony:

• When extremist groups like Boko Haram commit atrocities, Muslim societies and governments overwhelmingly condemn them and fight them militarily. Ordinary Muslims suffer alongside Christians under these groups.

• When Christian evangelicals advocate policies that lead to mass Muslim deaths in Iraq, Palestine, or elsewhere, they are not marginal radicals — they are respected policymakers, advisers, and lobbyists shaping U.S. foreign policy. They appear on television, run charities, and command political parties. No government “hunts them down.”

In other words, Muslim extremism is marginalized and punished within the Muslim world, while Christian extremism often enjoys legitimacy and power in Western political systems.

Who Is Really Persecuted?

Pew Research data shows that in 2021, Christians faced harassment in 160 countries. But Muslims were harassed in 141 — virtually the same number.[12] In fact, Muslims are more often the global victims of state violence, mass displacement, and targeted discrimination. From drone strikes in Yemen, to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to collective punishment in Gaza, to laws targeting Muslims in Europe, the evidence suggests Muslims have borne the heavier burden.

Conclusion: Condemn Persecution Everywhere

Christians are indeed persecuted in some Muslim-majority contexts. This should not be denied. But the notion of a global Muslim system persecuting Christians is a political myth, used to mobilize fear.

The fuller truth is that Muslims suffer far more systematic, large-scale violence from Christian-majority states and institutions than the reverse. And unlike evangelical movements whose lobbying actively enables wars against Muslims, extremist Muslim groups are marginal, despised, and combated within the Muslim world.

If the goal is moral clarity, then outrage must be universal. Whether it is a Nigerian church bombed by Boko Haram, a Gaza family killed in an airstrike, or a European Muslim fined for wearing a headscarf — every injustice deserves condemnation. Anything less is selective morality.

Footnotes

[1] Open Doors World Watch List 2025 – Nigeria Profile.
[2] U.S. State Department, International Religious Freedom Report – Somalia (2024).
[3] Amnesty International, “Pakistan: Blasphemy Laws and Mob Violence,” 2024.
[4] USCIRF, Annual Report 2024: Saudi Arabia and Iran.
[5] International Crisis Group, Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Violence, 2021.
[6] BBC News, “African Union and regional states fighting Boko Haram,” 2021.
[7] Brown University, Costs of War Project: Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2023.
[8] Stephen Spector, Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism (Oxford University Press, 2009). See also CUFI speeches by John Hagee; statements by Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence on Israel and biblical prophecy.
[9] United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic, 2014.
[10] International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judgment on Srebrenica, 2001.
[11] European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Being Muslim in the EU, 2017.
[12] Pew Research Center, Global Restrictions on Religion, 2023.