The Massacre of God's Children.

• Author: Moore, Johnnie
• Position: RELIGION

IN FEBRUARY 2015, ISIS terrorists released a now-infamous video that horrified the world. On a Libyan beach, 21 Christians were dressed in orange jumpsuits, standing silently in a line, heads down, their hands cuffed behind their backs. ISIS members in all-black stood behind each one. In the midst of this ominous scene, a masked spokesman addressed the camera: "The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood." Then, on signal, all the Christians were pushed to the ground and beheaded. This finally convinced a skeptical press of the rising persecution of Christians around the world, and it helped to jar an apathetic Church from its malaise.

Yet, what what we witnessed on that beach was not an anomaly. This and other horrors have become familiar to us. We have seen them on the news; people have reacted to them in shock on our Facebook feeds; and they might be the first thing we think of when we hear about persecution of Christians worldwide, but they are even more familiar to countless Christians around the world who have borne the atrocities of escalating persecution for decades. Just because it was the first time you noticed does not mean it was the first time it had happened.

The global war on Christians has many more faces than those of masked ISIS fighters dressed in black in a Middle Eastern desert. Terror unfolds every day across Africa and Asia and in both North and South America. It can involve not only physical violence, but political maneuvering and legalized discrimination. It can be initiated not only by religious extremists, but by families, employers, or governments. It affects tens of thousands each year, all around the globe.

The lowest estimate is that, every month 322 Christians are killed for their faith; 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed; and 772 acts of violence (such as rape, beatings, forced marriages, arrests, and abductions) are perpetrated against Christians.

Genocide against Christians has been recognized by the U.S., European, British, Australian, and Canadian governments and by Pope Francis, who said, "Perhaps more than in the early days [Christians] are persecuted, killed, driven out, despoiled, only because they are Christians. Dear brothers and sisters, there is no Christianity without persecution.... Today, too, this happens before the whole world, with the complicit silence of many powerful leaders who could stop it."

Here is my question--will you be a part of that silence? Persecution of Christians is a human rights concern so severe that it demands much more from us, whatever our religious beliefs. Standing by while others suffer for their faith goes against the basic rights of religious freedom that all people deserve.

Christians are the most-persecuted religious group on Earth. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and many others experience faith-based discrimination, and we do not seek to minimize their suffering. However, research is clear that Christians face more persecution in far more places than followers of any other religion.

Pew Research analyzed restrictions among religious groups in every country of the world. It noted...