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Afghanistan: Christians trying to flee the country to escape intense persecution

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US-based aid organization Release International (RI) has reported that Christians in Afghanistan are trying to escape their home country as the ruling Taliban advance a regime of violence against them and other religious minorities, Christian Today (CT) reports.

The Christian community in Afghanistan is small but understood to be growing. Made up of converts from Islam, the Afghan church has been driven underground as believers face intense danger from Islamic extremist relatives who may kill them or report them to the Taliban.

The Taliban themselves have reportedly gone door to door searching for Christians, whom they may then punish harshly: “Christians, whose first allegiance is to Christ, rather than the Taliban, are likely to be considered seditionists,” Release said in a statement.

“Growing numbers of Christians across the world are being targeted because of their faith and are having to flee. Their lives are at risk from militants, their families, and in some cases the authorities, as in Afghanistan,” Release CEO Paul Robinson told Christian Today.

One Christian couple and their baby, whom Release helped to escape Afghanistan, had to leave at night without saying goodbye to any of their friends or relatives; they are now being cared for in Brazil. “Their stories today echo that of Mary and Joseph, who had to escape to Egypt to protect their newborn son, Jesus,” Robinson said.

Since the Islamic extremist Taliban took over in August 2021, Afghanistan ranks number one on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.