Protestant ministers in the United States generally believe that religious persecution is a major problem in today's world, and they believe the U.S. should impose sanctions against countries where this is occurring. These findings have just been released from a research study conducted among Protestant clergy in America.

The growing awareness of worldwide Christian persecution can hardly be explained by the actions of a few people or the dramatic events in a specific country. So the following list of "top" stories for 2000 should be viewed only as a representative sample of significant news stories that have taken place this year. The list is also limited to areas where Compass Direct correspondents were able to provide in-depth coverage. Some of the stories come from isolated events. Others describe the ongoing oppression Christians often face. All help give us a glimpse of the difficult situations faced by the church around the world.

HONG KONG (Compass) -- Christians in Laos continue to suffer persecution from a government crackdown on believers, and they cannot visit friends or travel freely because the secret police follow them every everywhere. Some have been forced to recant their faith.

Support for persecuted religious minorities around the world has received new impetus this month following the inauguration of a strategic new network of UK Christian agencies. The Christian Forum in Support of Persecuted Religious Minorities Worldwide was launched at a London conference on 20th July 2002, which attracted nearly 200 participants. Agency backing for the group has come from a range of mission and human rights groups who are keen that membership is now widened to maximise the impact that the forum can have.

The World Evangelical Alliance told the U.N. last month that Christians are "the largest single group in the world which is being denied human rights on the basis of their faith."

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (ANS) -- Former Taliban prisoners Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry told more than 1,800 attendees at the 42nd annual Minnesota Prayer Breakfast how they coped with their three-month incarceration in an Afghan jail.

While it would be impossible to relate all the untold or lesser-known stories of persecuted Christians worldwide, below are updates of a few in danger of being forgotten.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (Oct. 30, 2002) - Open Doors with Brother Andrew is calling on churches and Christians around the world to pray for suffering Christians during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday, Nov. 10.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The revelation by North Korea that it had engaged in a clandestine operation to develop nuclear weapons, contrary to promises made to the Clinton administration in 1994, thrust the Asian nation again into the news. However, many in the United States have had the communist nation on their minds and in their prayers for years for its shoddy record in human rights.

WASHINGTON (BP)--The considerable influence of American Christians can make a difference in the lives of persecuted believers in North Korea and Sudan, participants at a May 1 summit on the issue were told.

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- As aerial military strikes by U.S. forces continued to pound Afghanistan for the fourth consecutive day, the defense lawyer for eight Western relief workers imprisoned in Kabul left Pakistan this morning via the Khyber Pass to return to the Afghan capital.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) -- As the United States began a second day of air and missile attacks against Afghanistan Monday October 8, round the clock prayers intensified for twenty-four Christian aid workers held in a prison of the country's ruling Taliban regime.

Read the top 10 Christian Persecution News Stories of 2005 according to Compass Direct.

An association of Christian agencies and individuals advocating human rights of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, remained concerned Wednesday, October 22, over the situation of several Christian prisoners, some of whom may be executed under recently adopted legislation.

WASHINGTON (BP)--The State Department's second report on global religious liberty presents a challenge for the U.S. government to act against persecution, the chairman of a federal commission said.