The Effect of Christian Persecution on a Country's Measure of Freedom and Wellbeing

CHARLESTON, S.C. - April 16, 2019 - PRLog -- Human freedom is a cornerstone in providing wellbeing to individuals, whether political, economic, health-related, emotional or religious. Accordingly, Teleios Research analyzed the top 50 countries from the Human Freedom Index (https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new) compared to the 50 top countries persecuting Christians from the Open Doors 2018 World Watch List (https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWL2018-BookletNew.pdf). Christianity recently has been identified as the world's most persecuted religion (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/21/key-findings-on-the-global-rise-in-religious-restrictions/).

This study found that the freest countries, compared to countries that persecute Christians, demonstrate greater percent of people thriving (23% vs.18%). Further, freer countries show better scores in each measure analyzed in this study, that might affect wellbeing (free countries' values listed first): literacy rate (98% vs. 81%), life expectancy (79 vs. 70 years), GDP/capita (40,270 vs.17,928 USD), women's wellbeing (0.8 vs. 0.6; scale range 0 -1), children's rights (8.7 vs. 6.9; scale range 0 -10), corruption (66 vs. 33; scale range 0 -100), rule of law (1.1 vs. -0.6; scale range -2.5 - 2.5), economic freedom (72 vs. 57; scale range 0-100), terrorism (1.6 vs. 4.3; scale range 0-10), and homicide rate (2.4 vs. 4.7 per 100,000); P ≤ 0.008 for each comparison).

Additionally, of the top 50 countries on the Human Freedom Index, 35 were listed as Christian countries by the Central Intelligence Agency versus 4 in the persecuting countries (P < 0.01).

This study suggests countries that are most free not only demonstrate better average wellbeing but are associated with numerous economic, legal, security, health, and educational measures associated potentially with enhanced wellbeing for the entire population as well as for women and children. Further, freer countries are much more likely to be Christian.

In contrast, countries which persecute Christians are associated with poorer measures for freedom and wellbeing for the entire population.

Other findings from Teleios Research are on our website (http://www.teleiosresearch.com/).

WC Stewart, AC Kleinhans, JA Stewart, LA Nelson

About Teleios - Teleios is a non-profit foundation that seeks to demonstrate the truth of scripture and the Christian faith through scientific methods by providing evidence for the positive results of a biblically-based lifestyle. Prior studies conducted by Teleios have shown that the practice of the Christian faith (praise, prayer, fellowship, service and Bible study) and security of salvation increases well-being while reducing guilt.