While North Korea remains No. 1 because of its total repression of faith, the organization reports in its 2011 listing of dangers, “the most dangerous countries in which to practice Christianity are overwhelmingly Islamic.”

North Korea, that reclusive, violent nation where dictator Kim Jong-il demands his subjects worship him and often executes those who don’t, remains atop the 2011 World Watch List assembled by Open Doors, but eight of the top 10 nations are dominated by Muslims, whose persecution of Christians is surging.

The Santa Ana, Calif., ministry works with indigenous Christians worldwide where they are persecuted by governments or majority populations, and has since founder Brother Andrew started delivering Bibles behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s. Its assessment of the threat to Christians comes from the individuals who face those dangers daily…

“Of the top 10 countries on the 2011 WWL, eight have Islamic majorities. Persecution has increased in seven of them,” the ministry reported today.

“They are Iran, which clamps down on a growing house church movement; Afghanistan, where thousands of believers cluster deep underground; and Saudi Arabia, which still refuses to allow any Saudi person to convert to Christianity. Others are lawless Somalia, ruled by bloodthirsty terrorists threatening to kill Christian aid workers who feed Somalia’s starving, impoverished people; tiny Maldives, which mistakenly boasts it is 100 percent Islamic; Yemen with its determination to expel all Christian workers; and Iraq, which saw extremists massacre 58 Christians in a Baghdad cathedral on Oct. 31,” the report said.

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