Throughout much of the Middle East, it is downright dangerous to openly profess belief and faith in Jesus Christ:
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/01/16/report-middle-east-christians-on-the-eve-of-destruction/
“Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories are amongst the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to a new report. Although Christians claim the area as their Biblical heartland alongside Israel, persecution and discrimination, especially in the past 15 years, means they now constitute no more than three to four per cent per cent of the region’s population, down from 20 per cent a century ago.
Hard-line Islamic views and state-sanctioned “religio-ethnic cleansing”are the key drivers behind the Christian genocide. Just 12 months ago, the Islamic State branch that operates in and around Egypt designated the northern African country’s Christian minority their “favorite prey” in a 20-minute propaganda video.”
The British Christian group Open doors, has released a report, World Watch List 2018: The 50 Countries where It’s Most Dangerous to follow Jesus:
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWL2018-BookletNew.pdf
The countries are, in order of dangerousness:
1 North Korea; 2 Afghanistan; 3 Somalia; 4 Sudan; 5 Pakistan; 6 Eritrea; 7 Libya; 8 Iraq; 9 Yemen; 10 Iran; 11 India; 12 Saudi Arabia; 13 Maldives; 14 Nigeria; 15 Syria; 16 Uzbekistan; 17 Egypt; 18 Vietnam; 19 Turkmenistan; 20 Laos; 21 Jordan; 22 Tajikistan; 23 Malaysia; 24 Myanmar; 25 Nepal; 26 Brunei; 27 Qatar; 28 Kazakhstan; 29 Ethiopia; 30 Tunisia; 31 Turkey; 32 Kenya; 33 Bhutan; 34 Kuwait; 35 Central African Republic; 36 Palestinian Territories; 37 Mali; 38 Indonesia; 39 Mexico; 40 United Arab Emirates; 41 Bangladesh; 42 Algeria; 43 China; 44 Sri Lanka; 45 Azerbaijan; 46 Oman; 47 Mauritania; 48 Bahrain; 49 Colombia; 50 Djibouti.
The majority of these Christian-dangerous countries are Muslim, as the report says:
“Islamic oppression is one of the most widely recognized sources of persecution for Christians in the world today—and it continues to spread—aiming to bring many parts of the world under Sharia law. The movement, which often results in Islamic militancy and persecution of Christians, is expanding in Asia (Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia) and Africa (Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia).”
Another article details how the Christian population of the Middle East is heading to extinction:
“A document drafted by members of the global Christian community convening at the 3rd International Christian Forum, held in Moscow, detailed how over the past ten years the Middle East’s Christian population has shrunk by 80% and warned that unless current trends are reversed, Christianity “will vanish” from its ancient homelands in a few years’ time.
Around the year 2000, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq; today there are only 100,000 -- roughly a 93% percent drop, the document notes. In Syria, the largest cities “have lost almost all of their Christian population.” Other experts offered similarly dismal statistics. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts, had predicted that by 2025, the percentage of Christians in the Middle East — which in 1910 was 13.6% — could go down to around 3%.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11731/muslim-persecution-of-christians-august
In the West, professing Christ is set to become a hate crime:
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268992/why-professing-christ-becoming-hate-crime-west-raymond-ibrahim
“Most recently, the British government “refused to say whether telling people about the Christian faith could be a hate crime.” Lord Pearson of Rannoch, a UKIP peer, asked the House of Lords if they would “confirm unequivocally that a Christian who says that Jesus is the only son of the one true God cannot be arrested for hate crime or any other offence, however much it may offend a Muslim or anyone of any other religion?”
Government spokesperson Baroness Vere of Norbiton responded equivocally, adding that the legal definition of “hate crime” has been the same for the past 10 years. But as Pearson explained in a later interview, the current definition of “hate crime” is subjective and revolves around whether the “victim” feels offended—thus leaving the door wide open to charging those who proclaim Christ and the Trinity of committing a hate crime, especially vis-à-vis Muslims, who adamantly object to the claim, as Pearson himself acknowledged: “Certainly the stricter Muslims do feel offended by Christianity and our belief in Jesus being the only Son of the one true God.”
Pearson also pointed to a double standard in how “hate crimes” are applied:
“You can say what you like about the Virgin Birth, the miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but as soon as you say ‘come on, is Islam really the religion of peace that it claims to be,’ all hell breaks loose.”
Indeed, and there is a reason for that: unlike Islam—which many Western elite feel no (direct) connection to and thus no threat therefrom—Christianity is the faith of their forefathers; it is ever present in their societies, judging them—and they hate it for it. But rather than seek to suppress it openly, they operate indirectly, including by propping up always angry and easily “offended” Muslims against it, while they play the role of “impartial secularist”—people who will make themselves (meaning others, notably Christians) walk on eggshells lest the “feelings” of the “other” are ever hurt.”
The Left and progressives in the West are adopting a philosophy of dhimmitude, the acceptance of one’s secondary place in an Islamic world:
http://www.jewishmag.com/57mag/dhimmi/dhimmi.htm
This is seen, for example, in the weak, ultra-politically correct attitudes of the present Pope:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/massimo-faggioli/pope-francis-refuses-to-associate_b_11307106.html
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/01/01/pope-francis-opponents-of-mass-migration-sow-violence-racial-discrimination-and-xenophobia/
This has drawn extensive criticism:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/muslim-converts-to-pope-francis-if-islam-is-a-good-religion...as-you-seem-t
It is a hard time to be a Christian, but it always has been, for being a Christian was never meant to be easy.