As we prepare to watch fireworks light the night sky and warm up the grills to sizzle this Fourth of July, many Americans will rightly pause to give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy. The right to worship openly, speak freely, and gather without fear is a rare gift in human history. But while we celebrate, Christians across the globe are facing a very different reality – one of danger, displacement, and death.
According to the Open Doors World Watch List 2025, more than 380 million Christians around the world now face high levels of persecution. In the past year alone, 4,476 were murdered for their faith, over 7,600 churches or Christian properties were attacked, and 209,771 Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes. These are not just numbers. These are pastors, children, elderly grandmothers, and entire families targeted simply because they belong to Jesus Christ.
In Nigeria, just days ago, extremists massacred nearly 200 Christians in a marketplace run by a local church. The attackers opened fire while chanting religious slogans, killing men, women, and children without hesitation. In Myanmar, believers are being pushed from their villages as military forces destroy churches and occupy Christian towns. Some flee into jungles with nothing but the clothes on their backs. In Algeria, the government continues to shut down churches and prosecute pastors for sharing their faith.
Persecution comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s a bomb or a bullet. Other times, it’s a police raid, a courtroom ruling, or a neighbor’s quiet threat. In some countries, the government does the work. In others, the community itself becomes the enforcer of intolerance. Either way, the result is the same. Christians are forced to hide, run, or suffer for the very same faith we proclaim openly on Sundays and every other day of the week.
These warnings from abroad are a reminder that freedom is fragile. Without watchfulness, the same hostility we see abroad can creep into our own systems, dressed in legal language and cultural pressure. That is why every Christian voter must stay engaged. Local school board elections. Statewide judicial races. Federal elections. These all matter deeply.
The Fourth of July reminds us that liberty can be won. However, the persecuted church reminds us that it can also be lost without faithful men and women who take their faith everywhere, even into the voting booth.