I read an article online today about the drug wars that continue to rage in Mexico. I was somewhat shocked to find that more than 30,000 people have died since 2006 as a result of this massive turf war.
This got me thinking... I don't see lots of articles about Christians worldwide dying for their faith. True that I did read an article recently about a bombing at a Christian church in Egypt and another about Christians being held hostage in Iran, but these are few and far between.
Off to Google I went to see what I could find in the way of information regarding how many Christians have been martyred worldwide since 2006.
Searched Mexican drug war casualty numbers= found articles from CNN, Reuters, Bloomberg, LATimes, FoxNews, etc.
Searched Christian Martyrs yearly and since 2006= found an article on Christianity Today and Voice of the Martyrs
30000 versus 171,000 yearly- more than 684,000 Christians have died since 2006.
Maybe this isn't reported because it's such a huge number. Maybe statistics that large are more difficult to make heart-wrenching. Maybe news agencies just don't think it's newsworthy.
So what is 684,000 put into perspective?
More than than the entire populations of:
Memphis, TN
Boston, MA
Baltimore, MD
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC
or Atlanta, GA
More than the entire state of North Dakota.
Two times the countries of Belize, the Bahamas, or Iceland.
In fact, it's comparable to entirely wiping out Monaco, Liechtenstein, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Tonga, Grenada, Kiribati, and Samoa.
These numbers are absolutely staggering... and completely under-reported. Why? I really don't have a good answer...
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