크리스챤들이 핍박받고 있는 대표적인 나라 10곳입니다.
 I want you know, so pray together... 
 God wants you pray for them..... Please take it seriously... and start to pray...!!
 source: www. opendoors.org

1. North Korea

North Korea is again on the top of the list for the sixth time in a row. The government deals harshly with all opponents, including those who engage in religious practices. A personality cult has been built around the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il, and his late father and founding president, Kim Il-sung. The North Korean population is cut off and isolated from the rest of the world and dependent on the regime for their needs. It is a widespread North Korean perception that Christianity is "a bad element" in the socialist country. The North Korean authorities have brutally persecuted and slaughtered God's people. Christians have been beaten, arrested, tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs. Our local source estimates the number of underground Christians to be at least 200,000, and it's likely that there are as many as 400,000 to half-a-million believers. At least a quarter of the Christians are imprisoned for their faith in political prison camps, from which people rarely get out of alive. Raids are made regularly, both in North Korea and China, to arrest refugees and those helping them. However, the Christians are brave and they dream of reopening the churches of their forefathers.

2. Saudi Arabia

In Sharia-ruled Saudi Arabia, the deplorable state of religious freedom remained generally unaltered in 2007. Under the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, apostasy (conversion to another religion) is punishable by death if the accused does not recant. There were no reports of executions for apostasy in 2007. Public non-Muslim worship is prohibited. Non-Muslim worshippers who engage in such activities risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture. Like the previous year, several Christians were arrested for their involvement in religious activities in 2007.

3. Iran

Islam is the official religion in Iran, and all laws and regulations must be consistent with the official interpretation of Sharia law.  Although Christians are a recognized religious minority who are guaranteed religious freedom, they have reported imprisonment, harassment and discrimination because of their faith. Armenian and Assyrian churches are allowed to teach fellow countrymen in their own language, but it is forbidden to minister to people with a Muslim background (speaking Farsi). Under Iran's strict apostasy laws, any Muslim who leaves Islam to embrace another religion faces the death penalty. Many church services are being monitored by the secret police. Believers that are active in churches or the cell group movement are being pressured. They are questioned, arrested and sometimes put in jail and beaten. Individual believers are being oppressed by society, under pressure of the authorities. They have difficulty in finding and keeping a job and are easily fired when it becomes known they are Christian. Also in 2007, house church leaders and Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) were arrested and interrogated for religious activities in the privacy of their homes.

4. Maldives

In the archipelago of the Maldives, Islam is the official state religion and all citizens must be Muslims. Sharia law is observed, which prohibits the conversion from Islam to another religion. A convert could lose citizenship. It is prohibited to practice any other religion than Islam, which is considered to be an important tool in stimulating national unity and maintenance of the government’s power. Thus it is impossible to open any churches, though foreigners are allowed to practice their religion in private if they don’t encourage citizens to participate. The Bible and other Christian materials cannot be imported apart from a copy for personal use. In the country -- one of the least evangelized countries on earth -- there are only a handful of indigenous believers, and they live their faith in complete secrecy because of the omnipresent social control by other Maldivians. The lack of respect for religious freedom in the Maldives remained the same during 2007. After bomb attacks against Western embassies, the government took active steps to curb radical Islam. In December 2007 there was an attack on the life of President Gayoom, which failed. Main suspects were again extremist Muslims. There were no reports this year about indigenous believers who were arrested, or of expatriate Christians deported from the country.

5. Bhutan

Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. A key leader says there are approximately 13,000 Bhutanese Christians in the country. Officially, the Christian faith does not exist and Christians are not allowed to pray or celebrate their faith in public. Christians can meet as a family but not collectively with other Christian families. Religious workers are denied visas to enter the country. Christian children are accepted in schools, but they face discrimination if known to be Christian and they face the constant pressure to attend Buddhist religious festivals. It is almost impossible for Christian students to get to university level. For Christians with government jobs, discrimination is also an issue, as there are cases of believers being deprived of government jobs simply because of their faith. The import of printed religious matter is banned, and only Buddhist religious texts are allowed in the country. Persecution mainly comes from the family, the community, and the monks who yield a strong influence in the society. There is discrimination for some Christian workers in the government, but this is not rampant. Cases of atrocities (i.e. beatings) are sporadic. The persecution mainly comes in the form of pressure to reconvert, and this comes mainly from the family and community.

6. Yemen

The Yemeni Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but it also declares that Islam is the state religion and that Sharia is the source of all legislation. The Yemeni government allows expatriates some freedom to live out their faith, but Yemeni citizens are not allowed to convert to Christianity (or other religions). Converts from Islamic background may face the death penalty if they are discovered. Proselytizing of Muslims is prohibited. During the past year, several Christian converts were arrested and physically harmed for their faith. There was no major change in the lack of religious freedom for Christians in Yemen in 2007.

7. Afghanistan

Afghanistan is an Islamic republic with no churches and a Christian population of about 0.01 percent. After domination by Muslim fundamentalists, the country is now ruled by a coalition government. There is still much anarchy, and the central government does not control the entire country. Violence occurs frequently, and Muslim fundamentalist resistance seems to be gaining strength and confidence. Freedom of religion as stated in the nation's constitution remains a contradiction, as Islamic law is promoted as the law of the land. Although it guarantees freedom of religion to non-Muslims, laws that are “contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam” are prohibited by the same constitution. Christians need to be very careful. Foreigners caught in outreach are jailed and usually deported. Local Afghans who commit themselves to Christ are often pressured by family and society to follow the cultural norms of Islam. Converts to Christ suffer repeated verbal abuse and intimidation, beatings, loss of employment, imprisonment, and sometimes even death. Some had to flee the country for their lives. On July 19, 2007, rebel Taliban forces abducted a group of 23 Christian South Korean aid workers. Several were pressured to convert to Islam and beaten when they refused. Two of them were executed. The rest were later released and deported to South Korea.

8. Laos

Laos is a communist state with some 100,000-120,000 Protestants and about 45,000 Catholics. Though there has been some progress in southern areas (e.g. Attapeu province), the state's attitude towards Christians continues to decline in several northern areas of the country, especially regarding Hmong Christians. The year 2007 is unique, as the government has shown two faces. On the one hand, they have shown leniency towards Christianity in certain areas of the country. On the other hand, they have shown their dislike for the church and continue to consider Christians as enemies of the state, specifically by being passive towards the local authorities in the provincial and district levels that continue to restrict religious and ethnic minority rights. The Laotian authorities allow limited presence of Christianity and put leaders especially under strict surveillance. The regime limits the number of open churches, and it closes churches, especially in the countryside. The church in Laos experiences societal pressure against converts who renounce evil spirit worship, surveillance at every level by the state, and social control. Still there are many unregistered activities, and the church seems to be growing despite persecution. In July 2007, a huge crackdown occurred against believers in the village of Ban Sai Jarern, Bokeo province. Thirteen believers were killed, houses were raided and dozens of believers were arrested. To our knowledge, 21 believers are currently still in jail in Laos, and most of them have never faced a trial.

9. Uzbekistan

Restrictions and persecution continued for Christians in Uzbekistan in the year 2007. The government passed legislation that prohibits or severely restricts activities such as proselytizing, importing and disseminating religious literature, and offering private religious instruction. The law prohibits having more than one copy of a Christian book, including the Bible. In order to operate, churches must obtain registration, which is very hard to get. As there are few registered churches, many Christians have to meet secretly in homes under constant threat of arrest for illegal religious activities. Police raids are common and often lead to Christians being arrested, beaten and even tortured, and their literature and other Christian material destroyed. Uzbek believers are especially put under pressure to reconvert to Islam. The media regularly agitate against Christians and this causes an increase of intolerance in society. A nationwide manhunt was organized to arrest a Christian leader from Karakalpakstan (northwest Uzbekistan). The pastor of a charismatic church in Andijon was sentenced to four years labor camp in March 2007. Another Protestant Christian was sentenced to two years probation with work for the state, that was later reduced to one year probation and work for the state – including 20 percent of his wages going to the state. He was amnestied in December 2007 on the occasion of the re-election of President Karimov.

10. China

China is a large country with many contradictions. There are Christians who are restricted in their freedom to worship, but there are also areas where the situation is not as tight. Sometimes the government crackdowns against Christians were motivated by preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008 and not by anti-Christian grounds. The government wants to make sure that there is no risk for any instability during 2008. The way they wanted to achieve this differed per area and situation. Sometimes unprecedented politeness was used, but there were also reports of house church raids and arrests. An unprecedented number of foreign Christians, living in China as missionaries, have been expelled from China in 2007. Sources inside the Chinese government reported the launch of this massive expulsion campaign. This campaign, encoded Typhoon No. 5, is believed to be part of the "anti-infiltration" efforts to prevent foreign Christians from engaging in mission activities before the Beijing Olympics. A number of house churches were raided in 2007 and Christians were arrested; in some cases, the government used physical violence against Christians. Although the situation in China differs per region, it remains difficult for many Christians to practice their faith.