The world has become an exceedingly dangerous place for Christians. The severity of the persecution varies from country to country, and takes many forms, but it is inarguable that such persecution is occurring. In the U.S., so far the persecution is primarily non-violent, and takes the form of infringements upon our freedom of religion. Around the world, Christians face much, much worse.

Under the outgoing Obama administration, America, founded by Christian pilgrims seeking refuge from persecution, has become hostile to the religion of our fathers. Though Barack Obama claims to be a Christian, he has worked tirelessly to restrict Christianity to the walls of our homes and churches, and sometimes not even there.

Under the (Un)Affordable Care Act, Obama sought to force Christian-owned businesses and Catholic nuns to provide insurance coverage for abortions and abortion-inducing drugs. He and his progressive hounds led the charge to eviscerate the rights of Christians (and us all) to freedom of religion, speech and association, publicly supporting states where Christian bakers, florists, photographers and others were being forced to provide services to same-sex “weddings” in violation of their religious convictions, or face huge fines and the loss of the businesses they’d worked decades to build.

Though the progressive pro-LGBT crowd claims to desire tolerance, they are the most intolerant, hateful people in the country — hence our moniker for them: “Rainbow Mafia.” The bakers and florists they persecute were not publicly condemning homosexuality, they simply declined to provide a service. Every one of them even offered to refer the would-be clients to another business.

That’s not enough for the intolerant Left, who desire nothing less than full endorsement of their lifestyle choices. They have shut down these businesses, and harassed and threatened the owners and their families. The Rainbow Mafia even successfully shut down Catholic adoption services for refusing to place children in homes of same-sex parents.

In another recent case, gospel singer and pastor Kim Burrell was disinvited from a guest appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show after video surfaced of her preaching that homosexuality is a sin. DeGeneres, of course, is a well-known lesbian. Following the DeGeneres cancellation, Burrell had her radio show canceled by Texas Southern University, and was disinvited from the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, despite being a co-honoree.

Ironically, the stated reason for these punishments is that Burrell was a purveyor of anti-LGBT prejudice. Apparently, it’s an unpardonable sin to disagree with the lifestyle choices of the gender disoriented, but a badge of honor to be prejudiced against Christians and participate in their persecution.

Yet as discouraging as these developments are in America, the persecution of Christians here pales in comparison to the suffering of Christians around the world — especially in Asia and Africa, where Christians are driven from their homes, raped, tortured, beheaded, crucified and burned alive.

According to a recent report by the Center for Studies on New Religion, Christians are the most persecuted group on the world, with a staggering 90,000 Christians killed worldwide in 2016 by jihadis in the Islamic State and Boko Haram, by Muslim governments, tribal conflicts in Africa and non-religious state actors like North Korea. That number has held steady for a decade.

An analysis of the report shows, “The Christian population in Iraq alone has plummeted from 1.5 million in 2003 to current estimates of 275,000 and could be gone for good within just a few years … due to genocide, refugees fleeing to other countries, those who are internally displaced, and others hiding in plain sight and not allowing their faith to be publicly known.”

Disgracefully, Obama has not only done next to nothing to assist Christians facing genocide (less than 1% of the Syrian refugees allowed into the U.S. by Obama are Christian), he has actually gone out of his way to punish Christians who make it here.

In 2015, more than two dozen Chaldean Christians seeking asylum were held for months in a San Diego facility surrounded by barbed wire. The Obama administration not only denied asylum, but expedited their deportation orders, even though returning them home meant certain death at the hands of Islamists. This cruel fate is all the more heinous when one considers that at the same time, Obama was releasing 20,000 illegal alien felons, including murderers and rapists, onto an unsuspecting American people.

As Mark Arabo, head of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation, whose parents fled Iraq in 1979, sadly stated, “The disheartening thing is it seems that our border is open to anyone unless you’re a Christian fleeing genocide.”

Though billions of dollars have been appropriated for the relief of persecuted minorities and refugees around the world, almost none of that money is going to aid Christians, who are often being slaughtered en mass. U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), after visiting persecuted Christians in Iraq and seeing the intense suffering first-hand, introduced a bill in Congress to provide aid and security for the suffering minorities. Yet the bill never even received a vote in Congress.

Though Muslim refugees have access to these billions, the U.S. government and NGO’s like the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children don’t lift a finger to aid Christians. In Mark 8:35, Jesus Christ declared to His followers, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”

There may be times when a Christian will face that choice, but that doesn’t mean we should abandon them as sheep to the slaughter before evil, violent savages. A failure to aid and protect these innocent believers will forever be a stain on the moral conscience of our nation.