Covering claims of religious persecution

By EditorUpdated on . Posted on
President Donald J. Trump meets with survivors of religious persecution from 17 countries Wednesday, July 17, 2019, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Religious persecution is a profoundly human story.

Deeply held beliefs, issues of identity and belonging, power and exclusion, violence and reconciliation all play a role in telling that story, which makes it particularly compelling for reporters to cover.

Yet religious persecution is among the most complex issues journalists can report on.

Across the globe, individuals and communities face threats to their freedom of religion or belief.  Such threats include limitations on, not only how people worship and care for their sacred spaces, but also on how they live their public and private lives — because of who they are and what they believe. At the same time, narratives about these violations can be shaped, amplified or distorted by political interests, cultural anxieties and media ecosystems that reward simplicity and dissension over nuance and systems-thinking. 

Journalists have a responsibility to illuminate injustice without reinforcing misleading tropes or inflaming tensions.

This guide offers reporters the tools to navigate the topic as it plays out abroad — and how it is covered in the US — offering background, resources, tips, suggestions and expert sources for your next story. 

Background

The topic of religious persecution — and what counts as religious persecution — remains a widespread and multifaceted, but often misunderstood, global issue, affecting billions of people around the world.

It is almost impossible to read the newspaper, listen to the radio or go online and not find a report about someone being harassed, discriminated against, detained or persecuted for who they are, what they believe and how they have chosen to express their convictions. There are fewer stories, however, about how these communities live their daily lives, with many taking steps to empower themselves and their communities.

Many of these people and their communities have been prevented from enjoying the most fundamental human rights. And one of these essential rights is the right to freedom of religion or belief.

Though there is no single, universally agreed-upon legal definition, religious persecution is recognized under international law as the systematic, severe, and intentional mistreatment of individuals or groups based on their religious beliefs, affiliation, or lack thereof. This persecution often involves serious violations of basic human rights and may include government-supported discrimination, violence, imprisonment or restrictions on individuals’ or a community’s fundamental freedoms.

According to a comprehensive 2022 Pew Research Center study of 198 countries, harassment of religious groups by governments or social actors occurred in 192 countries in 2022, with physical harassment reported in roughly 73 % of places studied — including property damage, detentions, displacement and killings. 

A variety of organizations track specific dimensions of persecution, often with a focus on a particular religious tradition. For example, the advocacy group Open Doors publishes an annual World Watch List that assesses where Christians face the most severe threats. Its 2025 and 2026 reports estimated that around 380 – 388 million Christians globally experienced “high-level” persecution or discrimination, meaning they faced violence, legal harassment, displacement or threats because of their faith. 

These figures include thousands of killings tied to religious identity, with concentrated violence in countries such as Bangladesh, China, Haiti, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Importantly, persecution is not limited to Christians. The Pew Research Center’s data shows harassment against Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and people who are non-religious in many countries (as do numerous stories below), underscoring that the scale and nature of persecution vary significantly by region, actor and context. 

For journalists, understanding both quantitative data and nuanced context — including definitions, sources and local dynamics — is essential to avoid oversimplification, misrepresentation or reliance on rhetoric alone, whether it is coming from governments, non-state actors or advocacy groups.

Q&A with Candace Lukasik

Candace Lukasik is professor of religion and anthropology at Mississippi State University. In her new book, Martyrs and Migrants (NYU Press 2025), Lukasik explores how narratives of religious persecution shape migration, advocacy and public debate about Middle Eastern Christians in the US.

Drawing on her research with Egypt’s Copts, Lukasik discusses how lived experiences of violence, structural discrimination and theological understandings of suffering are translated into legal claims, media coverage and policy discourse.

In the following interview, she draws on that research to discuss what journalists should consider when reporting on claims of religious persecution.

How do persecution narratives shape both migration pathways and political advocacy, particularly in the US?

In the book, I argue that persecution is both a lived experience drawing on a Christian theological lineage and a politicized category that travels.

For many Middle Eastern Christians, including Egypt’s Copts, memories of violence and marginalization are woven into communal identity and religious tradition. Events of violence that produce martyrs are not merely episodic headlines circulating in the West; they recall bloody pasts and underscore a sense of otherness in this world.

At the same time, the global circulation of persecution narratives can make violence against Christians appear constant and unrelenting.

In reality, Muslims and Christians in places like Egypt live alongside one another in relationships marked by intimacy, cooperation and, at times, conflict. These histories, which oscillate between belonging and exclusion, shape how Middle Eastern Christians narrate migration and make sense of what they leave behind.

Meanwhile, US legal and political systems often rely on recognizably “persecution-like” narratives to grant protection.

The language of persecution can become a form of social and bureaucratic currency – stories that open doors in asylum courts or advocacy circles in Washington, DC. Yet this dynamic also renders certain experiences less understandable. Slow forms of violence like structural discrimination, economic precarity or everyday social exclusion frequently remain invisible because they do not conform to expected registers of dramatic victimhood.

Public debates often use the term “religious persecution” broadly and emotionally. What distinctions should journalists make when determining whether, and how, to use such language?

What gets labeled as “religious persecution” often collapses very different kinds of experience into a single narrative. There are moments of acute violence (e.g., attacks, killings and sectarian incidents) that are devastating and demand serious attention.

But focusing only on dramatic events can obscure slower, more ordinary forms of structural discrimination that shape daily life for many Copts: exclusion from leadership roles, unequal access to justice, biased treatment in schools or workplaces and the steady accumulation of everyday social exclusion.

These experiences are also uneven. A middle-class Copt in Cairo may encounter discrimination in professional or educational settings, while a poorer agricultural worker in Upper Egypt may face more immediate vulnerability, where everyday disputes can quickly take on religious dimensions and where access to protection or equal justice is far more limited. In both contexts, many Copts interpret these struggles through a longstanding Christian tradition of witness, understanding suffering not only politically but theologically as participation in a sacred history of martyrdom.

Journalists should remember that Coptic life is not defined by constant oppression. It unfolds within shifting balances of friendship and tension, interdependence and mistrust, coexistence and fear. Yet in the US, stories of Middle Eastern Christian suffering are frequently reframed through politicized lenses that compress this complexity into a civilizational story of unambiguous victimhood.

How do media portrayals of persecuted Christians—or other religious minorities—intersect with foreign policy, humanitarian intervention, or domestic culture wars in the US?

Media portrayals of suffering minorities are frequently absorbed into foreign policy debates, humanitarian advocacy and domestic culture wars, transforming distant violence into moral and geopolitical symbols.

When cast in civilizational or partisan terms, these accounts tend to frame Christianity and Islam as opposing blocs rather than as communities embedded in shared social worlds. The persecution of Middle Eastern Christians can then be mobilized not only as a call to protect vulnerable populations but as proof of an existential threat.

Such framing also affects foreign policy. Religious freedom initiatives and humanitarian campaigns often position Middle Eastern Christians as minorities in need of Western protection, which can reinforce perceptions that Christians are aligned with Western power rather than integral citizens of their own societies. Many Copts in Egypt have expressed concern that international advocacy can resemble imperial interference, potentially exacerbating sectarian tensions.

What practical advice would you give reporters covering claims of religious persecution?

One of the first questions to ask is: who is making the claim, and in what context? Persecution can appear as legal testimony, advocacy rhetoric, communal memory, or personal experience – each shaped by different audiences and stakes.

Reporters should also look beyond spectacular episodes of violence. Many communities experience marginalization through unequal access to justice, workplace or educational discrimination, and the cumulative weight of everyday exclusion. Stories about persecuted Christians – or any minority – are often pulled into larger civilizational narratives, but people’s lives rarely fit neatly into binaries such as “Christian versus Muslim” or “victim versus oppressor.”

Journalists should speak not only with prominent spokespeople or advocacy organizations but also with ordinary individuals, local scholars and community workers whose experiences may not match the most visible narratives. Listening across these different levels can reveal both suffering and resilience, situating minority experiences within the complexity of lives lived beyond the frames that politics so often imposes.

Tips and Suggestions

As suggested above, it is important for journalists to ground coverage in verified facts, contextualize violence within local and historical realities and recognize how persecution claims are used — constructively or manipulatively. 

That kind of reporting not only informs audiences, but honors the dignity of those whose lives are most affected.

Here are a few more tips to consider as you cover the topic of anti-religious violence and other attacks on religious freedom.

  1. Define terms precisely — Avoid using terms like “persecution,” “harassment,” “discrimination” or “violence” interchangeably. They are distinct. Clarify whether incidents involve state action, non-state actors, everyday social hostility, criminal activity and/or armed conflict. Always explain why the label matters.
  2. Scrutinize sources and data — Advocacy groups, governments and faith-based organizations often provide valuable data, but their methodologies, definitions and incentives vary. Cross-check statistics with independent research (e.g., Pew Research Center, UN Special Rapporteurs) and disclose limitations clearly.
  3. Provide local and historical context — Situate incidents within broader political, ethnic, economic or regional dynamics. Avoid framing the topic as timeless or inevitable. Instead, explain how laws, power structures or recent events shape current realities.
  4. Avoid zero-sum narratives — Reporting that frame the story as a competition between religious groups can obscure the fact that multiple communities may face overlapping threats in the same context.
  5. Center affected communities with care — When interviewing survivors or witnesses, prioritize safety, consent and dignity. Avoid sensational imagery or language that reduces people to symbols or reinforces stereotypes. The imperative is to do no harm.
  6. Examine how persecution narratives are used — Be alert to how claims of persecution may be mobilized for political, cultural or ideological ends. Do not be so critical as to dismiss genuine suffering, but be acutely aware of how your work might be used to further particular political ends. Journalism should illuminate both lived realities and the narratives built around them.
  7. Emphasize accuracy over amplification — In the end, the goal is not to validate or debunk claims, but to report what can be responsibly verified, what remains contested and why the distinctions matter to your audience.

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Relevant Sources

  • Mohammed Abu-Nimer

    Mohammed Abu-Nimer is a full professor in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at American University and the Chair of the Said Abdul Aziz for Peace and Conflict Resolution. He previously served as the director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute from 1999 to 2013 and is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. He has researched, intervened and conducted conflict resolution workshops around the world, including in the Palestinian territories, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, the Philippines (Mindanao) and Sri Lanka. Abu-Nimer is also a senior adviser to KAICIID, the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

  • Oluwafunke Adeoye

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  • Wissam al-Saliby

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  • Kaydor Aukatsang

    Kaydor Aukatsang is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and president of the Asia Freedom Institute. He previously served as head of the Office of Tibet in New York; special adviser to Lobsang Sangay, the elected leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile; and president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California.

  • Council on Foreign Relations

    The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank and publisher dedicated to helping its members better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

  • Teresa Flores

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  • FoRB Women’s Alliance

    FoRB Women’s Alliance is an international community of religious freedom and human rights advocates seeking to advance, facilitate and support solutions for freedom of religion or belief for women.

  • Nalika Gajaweera

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  • Nazila Ghanea

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  • Hindu American Foundation

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  • Hindus for Human Rights

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  • Pari Ibrahim

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  • International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB)

    The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) is a network of parliamentarians and legislators from around the world committed to combatting religious persecution and advancing freedom of religion or belief.

  • John Inazu

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  • International Christian Concern

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  • Candace Lukasik

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  • Katherine Marshall

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  • Wai Wai Nu

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  • Office of International Religious Freedom

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  • Open Doors International

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  • Religions for Peace

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    Contact: 212-687-2163.

  • Lindsay Rodriguez

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  • Knox Thames

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  • Asma Uddin

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  • Gina Zurlo

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  • Ani Zonneveld

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