In China, enjoying a Christmas party could mean jail time for the relatives of Communist Party Members.
In Pakistan, Christians eagerly await donations of bullet-proof vests to wear to Christmas services to protect them in the event of a jihadist attack. And in Egypt, the state is ready to deploy 230,000 security personnel to churches when Coptic Christmas rolls around on January 7.
Christmas can be a stressful, dangerous time for Christians in countries where communist and Islamic majorities see them as enemies of the state, and the state often cannot or will not protect their right to celebrate.
This Christmas season in Pakistan has already resulted in deaths of believers. Last week, suicide bombers attacked the Bethel Memorial Church in Quetta, killing 11 and wounding at least 50.
“We had sung songs, and children had presented a Christmas program. Pastor Simon Bashir had finished his sermon, and we were moving towards the altar when we started hearing gunfire outside the church,” Sohail Yousuf, who lost one teen daughter and has a second in critical condition, told the World Watch Monitor.– READ MORE
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