The Money Behind the Persecution of Christians
Daniel St John's report, circulated by ICC, traces the money networks that sustain ISKP in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Türkiye and Europe.
Attacking Christians costs money. Daniel St John's report, circulated by International Christian Concern (ICC), traces the financial networks behind the persecution of Christians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Türkiye and Europe.
The paper is titled "The Terrorism Economy: Islamic State's Operations Against Christians" and focuses on Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), active in an area that spans present-day Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia and Pakistan. St John is an ICC fellow. You won't find a body count here: the work takes apart the administrative and systemic mechanisms that make the attacks possible. It is the third in a series, after those on Nigeria and East Africa.
When foreign policy is read as faith
For ISIS, Western foreign policy is the same thing as Christianity. The report describes how that equation fuels retaliation: attacks on Christians are presented as a response to bombings and military operations against Muslims. The result is a logic of labels. If "the West" works as a synonym for "Christian," any believer becomes a target for revenge, no matter where they live or what language they pray in.
«Money makes the world go round, and it also drives evil.»
It's worth looking at this with a clear head. It is propaganda, not a description of the faith you hold.
The calendar as a weapon
The group's propaganda urges its followers to attack during religious holidays, Christmas among them. The slogan ICC cites is brutal: "turn the celebrations into funerals" (translation by Sígueme). If you celebrate Christmas in Phoenix or in Madrid, the news may sound far away. For a believer in Khorasan, that date is marked in red by people who want to kill them.
Cutting off the flow
The report argues that disrupting ISKP's financing networks is decisive in stopping new attacks. It cites Je-Yoon Shin, former president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF): terrorism needs money to plan and carry out attacks. Without access to the financial system, ISKP's operational capacity is severely limited.
The logic is simple: if an attack requires a budget, making that budget more expensive limits its reach. That is why ICC wrote the document with lawmakers and organizations that defend Christians in mind: it wants them to understand the link between international Islamist financing and persecution. The stated goal is to create an environment hostile to terrorism and, with it, reduce the threat to Christian communities in Khorasan and beyond.
Money makes the world go round, and it also drives evil. Scripture does not condemn money, but the love of it: "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils" (1 Timothy 6:10, ESV). And no network, however large it may seem, escapes the rule of God, who brings the counsel of the nations to nothing (see Psalm 33:10).
There is a step within your reach. Pray for the Christians of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Türkiye and Europe; follow the issue in outlets that document it with names and facts; and support those who stand with the persecuted with their time, prayer or money. Careful language matters too: here, specific networks and perpetrators are named, not an entire community because of its religion.
What will you do this week with what you now know?
Sources
- #persecución de cristianos
- #ISKP
- #International Christian Concern
- #libertad religiosa
- #financiamiento del terrorismo
