Are Christians attacked more than muslims
Executive summary
Available reporting shows both Christians and Muslims are widely targeted around the world, but whether “Christians are attacked more than Muslims” depends on how “attacked” is measured: raw counts reported by advocacy groups suggest very large numbers of persecuted Christians (often in Muslim-majority settings), while neutral social-science surveys emphasize that Christians and Muslims are harassed in roughly comparable numbers of countries and that severity varies by place and actor (state vs. non‑state) [1] [2] [3].
1. Defining the question: what does “attacked” mean here?
Counting “attacks” can mean deaths, kidnappings, legal restrictions, or the number of countries reporting harassment; different sources use different measures, so comparisons can mislead if the metric is not specified—Open Doors focuses on Christians in countries with high or extreme persecution and tallies millions affected [1], while Pew counts the number of countries reporting harassment of Christians and Muslims without measuring severity [2]; academic critiques also warn against conflating breadth (how many countries) with intensity (how violent or systemic the persecution is) [4].
2. Evidence that Christians face extensive, often violent persecution
Multiple advocacy and reporting sources document very large numbers of Christians facing high levels of persecution: Open Doors’ World Watch List reports hundreds of millions of Christians living under “very high or extreme” pressure in its top-50 countries and is frequently cited in political resolutions decrying persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority countries [1] [5]; counting exercises by Open Doors and others have produced headlines that “one in seven” or hundreds of millions of Christians face discrimination or violence in recent years [1] [6].
3. Evidence that Muslims also face widespread persecution and harassment
Social‑science surveys and regional reporting show Islam is often among the most persecuted faiths in specific states and regions: the Lausanne summary says globally Islam is the most persecuted religion with notable persecution in India, China, and Myanmar [3], and Pew Research finds Muslims are among the largest groups targeted across a wide swath of countries, with Christians and Muslims the two most frequently harassed groups in global country counts [2].
4. Regional, actor and methodological differences erase simple comparisons
Context matters: in the Middle East and parts of Africa, Christians may suffer targeted violence or displacement at the hands of extremist non‑state actors or discriminatory state policies [7] [8], while in other contexts Muslims face severe state repression or communal violence [3]. Pew’s country-count approach shows Christians and Muslims are harassed in a similar number of countries but explicitly cautions that country counts do not indicate which group suffers more severe persecution in absolute or proportional terms [2]. Scholarly work further cautions that advocacy organizations’ quantifications can be shaped by organizational missions, producing social constructions of “Christian persecution” that are influential but not exhaustive [4].
5. Bottom line — a balanced answer
There is strong evidence that Christians are heavily persecuted in many places and that hundreds of millions live under significant restrictions or threats according to advocacy groups [1] [6], and there is equally strong evidence that Muslims also experience widespread harassment and severe persecution in many countries [3] [2]. Because sources measure different things—number of people affected, number of countries with incidents, severity of violence—and because regional dynamics differ, a blanket claim that “Christians are attacked more than Muslims” cannot be supported without specifying the metric and scope; the best-supported statement from the available reporting is that Christians and Muslims are the two religious groups most widely targeted worldwide, but which group suffers more depends on the indicators and geographies chosen [2] [4].