Nepal: One of the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world

On 15 February 2021 Christian Post published an article about the remarkable growth of the Christian community in Nepal. Despite persecution and poverty, the Nepalese church has grown incredibly quickly and, in an attempt to stop this, the government introduced a law on religion on 20 September 2015. This law states that "'any act that causes a religious conversion will be punished". Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, explains: "Thanks to the rapid growth of the number of Christians in Nepal since 1961, Christianity in Nepal is facing increasing oppression. One of the main catalysts for such growth in numbers has been the widespread offer of prayer for sick people and the resulting healings. However, state media and government officials see this growth as dangerous and think Christian faith will destroy Nepalese culture. The very unspecific wording of the 2015 law on religion is used by police to punish Christians for even mentioning the name of Jesus in public, and Hindu radicals who attack Christians also justify their actions by saying they were only enforcing the law. Due to the current political chaos and the growing strength of Hindu radicalism (due mainly to the influence from neighboring India), Christians in Nepal are likely to face increasing levels of persecution in the future."