In Bangladesh, Christian converts come from a Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu background. They face the most pressure from family and community, as well as from Islamic extremist groups and religious leaders.

Pastors often receive death threats and believers can be denied access to resources within the community. Christians can also be forced into marriages or giving up their businesses in order to pressure them to deny Jesus. Christian children are even persecuted at school and are mocked by their school teachers for their faith.

As demands to introduce Sharia (Islamic) law in Bangladesh increase, Christians are regularly monitored and treated with hostility, especially those who have converted from Islam. Christian converts are often forced to meet in secret and it can be dangerous to even own a Bible.

PERSECUTION IN BANGLADESH

In July 2016, a number of Christian shop, restaurant, hotels and other business owners were threatened with death by radical Islamic groups if they did not comply with a list of eight rules. The rules included removing paintings or images of their own religion, only playing Islamic music, banning women not wearing a hijab or burka from working there, and inscribing the invocation 'Bismillah Rahman Rahim' (which can be translated as: 'in the name of Allah, the Clement, the Merciful') over the business entrances.

Next to its internal power struggles, Bangladesh faces a very real and serious threat from militant Islamist groups. The largest of these groups, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) and the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), have claimed responsibility for a number of politically and religiously targeted killings, and have also made links with the so-called Islamic State (IS).

Though Bangladesh has a secular government and its secularism is laid down in the country's constitution, at the same time the consitution declares that Islam is the state religion.Religious conversion is not forbidden by law, but pressure to recant the Christian faith is exerted by family, friends and neighbours. There have been several reports of Christians having to give up their shops or businesses due to the pressure by the Muslim majority. Converts themselves are isolated from their family frequently, and registration of converts' children is problematical as in most cases they are automatically registered as Muslims.

Churches, especially house churches where believers from a Muslim background meet, prefer not to display any Christian symbols in order to avoid being recognised. Sometimes, even historic or mainline churches face opposition and restrictions in putting up a cross or other religious symbols.

HOW WE HELP

Christians in Bangladesh contend with the reality of persecution every day. Open Doors works together with local churches to supports persecuted believers through:

• Equipping and training Christian believers, with special emphasis on emerging leadership and believers from a Muslim background
• Providing Bibles (including study Bibles for graduates) and other Christian literature
• Providing assistance through literacy and socio-economic development
• Providing advocacy and immediate relief to victims of persecution
• Preparing believers to deal with persecution through Standing Strong Through the Storm seminars.