Christian Women Suffer Discrimination for Faith and for Sex

A new report published by the global religious persecution watchdog organization Open Doors reveals Christian women face twice as much persecution as men.

 Picture via PinsDaddy.com
picture via Pindaddy.com

“With Islamic extremists, and also Hindu extremists in India and Nepal, women are particularly vulnerable pawns in their religious wars,” Open Doors CEO David Curry told religionnews.com. “Raping, sexual harassment, and forced marriages are not uncommon tactics for extremists to use. Some sex traffickers, for instance, have reported to Open Doors that they are given financial incentives to abduct women who are related to Christian pastors. We have also learned of specific plots to lure Christian women to marry under false pretenses for the purpose of drawing them away from the Christian faith.

“Islamic extremists also have an agenda to impose Muslim dominance and Sharia law on culture. This creates conditions that are highly restrictive for women and intolerant of Christians. Christian women, then, live at the crossroads of the two. They face a sort of double discrimination as a result of both their faith and their gender. They are mistreated because they are women and persecuted because they are Christians.”

According to information gathered by Open Doors, on average, each day six Christian women are raped, sexually harassed or forced to marry under threat of execution in hostile non-Christian regions worldwide. The organization has documented more than 2,200 such incidents.

“With this year’s World Watch List, Open Doors is calling the world to protect the dignity of all women, but especially the Christian women living in these hostile regions,” says Curry. “Christians in these communities are overwhelmed, and—in areas where extremists wield power—police forces and governments can’t be relied upon to protect individual Christian women in these communities…We should take it personally when women are exploited and assaulted. And we, as men, should work toward a world that refuses to dehumanize women in these ways.”


The Church of Scientology publishes this blog to help create a better understanding of the freedom of religion and belief and provide news on issues affecting this freedom around the world.

From persecution of religious minorities to issues revolving around religious worship, beliefs, rites, expression, association, dress, symbols, education, registration and workplace discrimination, religious freedom has achieved a prominent place in global headlines. In a democratic society, an understanding these issues is vital.

From its beginnings, the Church has recognized that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. In a world where conflicts are often traceable to intolerance of others’ religious beliefs and practices, the Church has, for more than fifty years, made the preservation of religious liberty an overriding concern.

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