Mark Lloyd

Ugo, Most people who believe in God do not take pleasure in watching unbelievers suffer. That claim is pure projection dressed up as a fact-check. Believing in divine justice or hell is not the same as celebrating people’s pain. Pew data shows only ~4% of American believers think “all or most” suffering is divine punishment; large majorities feel sadness for those who suffer and attribute it to human choices or chance, not gleeful retribution. Higher religiosity often correlates with less schadenfreude, not more. You’re generalizing from the loudest online fundamentalists, selective scripture quotes, and your own antagonism, then declaring it the motive of “most” believers. That’s not evidence-based skepticism. It’s a lazy caricature that lets you feel superior without ever engaging the actual range of faith communities.

Data shows Christians are the most widely and severely targeted religious group for physical violence and persecution in the world today. Scale of the targeting Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List reports that more than 388 million Christians (roughly one in seven worldwide) face high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith. In the reporting period covered, researchers documented: • 4,849 Christians killed for faith-related reasons (about 13 per day). Roughly 93% of those deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria alone accounting for around 3,490. • Tens of thousands of cases of physical or mental abuse (beatings, death threats, etc.)—67,843 in the latest Open Doors figures. • Hundreds of thousands displaced (over 224,000 in one recent tally). Aid to the Church in Need’s 2024–2026 report reaches similar conclusions: conditions worsened in a majority of the countries it examined, with Africa as the epicenter of extremist violence and additional pressure from religious nationalism and state repression in Asia. Who is doing the targeting Multiple distinct groups and systems are responsible: • Islamist militant groups in sub-Saharan Africa (Boko Haram, IS affiliates, Fulani militants, JNIM, and others). These are responsible for the large majority of killings, village raids, church attacks, and abductions. Survivors frequently report demands to convert or die, with massacres (such as the one in Yelwata, Nigeria) involving machetes, burning people alive, and similar methods. • Hindu nationalist mobs and networks in India. More than 700 anti-Christian incidents were recorded in 2025 alone. These include physical assaults on pastors and congregations, disruption of worship, arson, denial of burial rights, and pressure campaigns (“Ghar Wapsi”) to force converts back to Hinduism. Anti-conversion laws in multiple states are often used as a tool in these efforts. • State actors and authoritarian regimes: North Korea (still ranked #1), China (crackdowns on unregistered churches, arrests, controls on religious content), Eritrea, and others. In places like Pakistan, the combination of blasphemy laws, abductions of Christian girls, and forced conversions/marriages adds a layer of physical and legal threat. • Other sources: Cartels and criminal groups in parts of Latin America that target Christians who oppose them; residual or renewed violence in parts of the Middle East (for example, the June 2025 suicide bombing at a church in Damascus); and localized ethnic or political violence that singles out Christian communities. These patterns are consistent across monitoring organizations (Open Doors, Aid to the Church in Need, USCIRF, and others). In the West, where the earlier meme about “forcing people to become Christians” was directed, the situation is the reverse of that claim: Christians are not running forced-conversion campaigns, while large-scale physical targeting of Christians is concentrated in other regions and driven by the groups listed above.

Where is the force Michael? Where? Chill out. There is no country or major Christian group today running a program of forced conversions to Christianity (threats of death, violence, legal penalties for remaining non-Christian, or mass coerced baptisms). In the US and other Western democracies, conversion is voluntary. Proselytizing happens through preaching, media, missions, personal conversations, and cultural influence. No one is jailed, fined, or attacked for refusing to become Christian. Christian Nationalist voices sometimes push for laws reflecting traditional Christian moral views (on abortion, marriage, education, etc.) or greater public acknowledgment of Christianity’s historical role, but that is not the same as forcing belief or baptism. Fringe online accounts occasionally talk about mandatory church attendance or “cultural Christianity,” but these have no institutional power or mainstream support.⁠ Theological point from mainstream Christian sources: Forced conversion is rejected because genuine faith cannot be compelled. It is treated as a free response to God’s grace (see Ephesians 2:8–9 and similar passages). Outward compliance under pressure does not produce an actual Christian.⁠

How many jobs have you created Jerry?

The recent stampede of New American Communist Drones, with their tantrums, melt-downs, and calls for nationalization of private businesses has turned into quite the spectacle.