In its 2026 Global Prayer Guide, Voice of the Martyrs reports there are 42 countries where being outed as a Christian risks arrest and punishment by the government. Another 26 countries are considered hostile to the gospel, where the government may claim to protect you from harm but Christians are at risk from your neighbors or dangerous political groups.
“In more than 70 nations, it is a regular part of following Christ to pay a price for that,” Todd Nettleton, VOM vice president, told AFN.
Meanwhile, in the United States, an annual religious freedom survey called the Religious Freedom Index hit its highest overall score in seven years of publication.
Becket, the religious liberty law firm, publishes the Religious Freedom Index to track American opinion on religious freedom and First Amendment rights.
Derringer Dick, who performs strategic research for Becket, said the 0-100 score measures support for religious liberty. Some of the survey topics include expressing faith in public and the right of parents to educate their children.
“Zero is very bad and 100 indicates very strong support for religious freedom,” he explained. “This year it rose to 71. It's up one point from last year, so that's good."
Because the Religious Freedom Index surveys a wide range of ages, Dick said the answers from Generation Z challenged assumptions about the views of the country’s youngest voters.
"We're living in times that can sometimes be polarizing or even divisive,” he observed. “But we're seeing that religious freedom, in general, as being a topic that Americans can actually come together on and support.”
Meanwhile, around the globe, Nettleton and Voice of the Martyrs are reporting a crackdown on Christians in Nicaragua, which is new to the annual report, and ongoing slaughter of Christians in Nigeria at the hands of Islamic terrorists.
