Saifura Khorsa and Leah Sharibu—these are the real faces of global Christian persecution.
Last month, 15-year-old Leah Sharibu was given 30 days to live, reports the Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) Coalition, which advocates on behalf of 215 million Christians facing heavy persecution worldwide. The threat was delivered by Boko Haram, her Sharia-supremacist captors in Nigeria. The terrorist group’s threat was sent along with video of the execution of Saifura Khorsa, a young nurse midwife who was kidnapped with other female colleagues in March.
Leah was kidnapped just days before in February with 109 of her female classmates. While most have been released, Leah was kept specifically for refusing to renounce Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
“Just a few weeks ago, the world celebrated because a video proved Leah was still alive,” said founding Coalition member and Save the Persecuted Christians Director Dede Laugesen. “Now we watch in horror as she, and the other women and girls with her, are led before the jihadist firing squads—or worse. Does the world even know? Do they care? Where is the outcry for Saifura? For Leah? For all the other women and girls with them? As American Christians, we can no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening worldwide to our brothers and sisters.”
For young women like Leah and Saifura, the STPC Coalition continues to work diligently to disseminate actionable information about ways in which the American people can help their fellow Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.
Especially in light of stories like Leah’s, raising awareness about Christian persecution is crucial, as violence toward and imprisonment of Christians occurs so routinely it rarely makes the news. For example, according to Open Doors, 255 Christians are killed worldwide every month. 104 Christians are abducted. 180 Christian women are raped, sexually assaulted or forced into marriage. 160 Christians are detained or imprisoned without trial. And 66 churches are attacked. Every month.
With such staggering statistics, and the knowledge that most of these crimes are not covered in the media, the STPC Coalition developed a special news aggregator—ChristianPersecutionNews.com—
One of the simple and economical ways Americans can render support is by encouraging their pastors and faith leaders to visit SaveThePersecutedChristians.
With so much of the world’s population attacked, imprisoned or exiled for their beliefs—like Leah, Saifura and others like them—the time is fitting for the work of the STPC Coalition. The coalition is building a movement like one in the 1970s that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—so as to impel policy changes that will hold the persecutors accountable and increase the costs for their crimes against humanity. Building such a movement is necessary to provide American policymakers the leverage needed to influence change worldwide and to alleviate the suffering of those who are being persecuted merely because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
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