Closing the “Golden Door” on Persecuted Christians Yearning to Breathe Free
Dear friends,
Jesus takes the persecution of His people seriously — in fact, personally. When Jesus encounters Saul — who had never personally met Jesus, but had zealously persecuted his early followers — on the road to Damascus, the Lord doesn’t ask Saul, “Why do you persecute my people?” He asks, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4)
Jesus takes the persecution of His people seriously, and if we believe that we are, through faith in Christ, part of one interdependent body with those from around the globe who collectively form the Church, we must take the persecution of these brothers and sisters seriously, too. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).
That’s why, as a U.S. Christian who enjoys the constitutionally-protected religious liberty that some have described as our “first freedom,” I have to be concerned that in so many other parts of the world, Christians face violence, restrictions on their ability to worship and sometimes even martyrdom. According to Open Doors US, roughly 1 in 7 Christians globally is at risk of persecution or discrimination because of their faith — 388 million Christians total.
In fact, since God has made all people — not just fellow Christians — in His image with inherent dignity, and because true faith is only possible when it is not in a context of coercion, I should want all people, including those of other faiths, to have religious liberty, free from persecution on account of their faiths.
Tragically, the dramatic increase in religious persecution around our world has coincided with a stark increase in the number of individuals who have been forced to flee their homes. Just in the past year, more than 200,000 Christians were forced to flee.
But while the U.S. once proudly offered refuge to those fleeing religious persecution, the “golden door” offering religious freedom to those “yearning to breathe free” has been almost entirely closed. In fiscal year 2024, more than 29,000 Christian refugees were resettled to the United States from the 50 countries where Open Doors says that Christians face the most severe persecution.
Recently, Open Doors and World Relief released a new edition of their “State of the Golden Door” report, and the results are quite shocking. This month, the U.S. will end the federal fiscal year without having resettled a single Christian refugee from the 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution — a 100% decline. Other religious minorities from countries with records of religious persecution (Jews, Yezidis, Rohingya Muslims, Zoroastrians, and various others) have been completely shout out as well.
President Trump was actually the first president to make those fleeing religious persecution the top priority for refugee resettlement in his first administration, but this time around, those persecuted for their faith have been completely shut out.
As the president prepares to set the annual presidential determination on refugees in the coming weeks — usually on or right around October 1 — I’d ask you to join me in signing a letter to the president, urging him to simply do precisely what he did in his first term, making those who have fled religious persecution a top priority for refugee resettlement in fiscal year 2027.
And even as we advocate with the president, we can also advocate through prayer, asking God:
- To protect his people who live in contexts of persecution
- To move the hearts of governmental authorities to allow all people to experience religious freedom
- To move the heart of the president to set a refugee determination that would once again prioritize those fleeing religious persecution, among others
- To move His Church to stand for those parts of the body that are vulnerable around the world, for their good and for His glory
In Christ,
Matthew Soerens
National Coordinator, Evangelical Immigration Table
