Trump's presidency will fail if he does not aid persecuted Christians, warns Open Doors

The persecution watchdog group Open Doors has urged President-elect Donald Trump to help persecuted Christians, warning that his administration might fail if he does not take the issue into consideration.

Open Doors has recently published its 2017 World Watch List, which documents the 50 worst countries where Christians experience oppression.

"The 2017 World Watch List and the information it represents presents one of the most complex and pressing challenges to President-elect Donald Trump and his administration," said David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, according to The Christian Post.

The fact sheet provided by the organization indicated that as many as 1,207 Christians were killed around the globe for their faith from Nov. 1, 2015 to Oct. 31, 2016, which is the reporting period for the 2017 list.

Curry, who met with aides to Trump last Tuesday, said that religious liberty "is the central issue that they're going to have to deal with, whether you're looking at it through the lens of immigration, whether you're looking at it through the lens of terrorism."

"We're hopeful that they take it seriously. If they don't I think we will see this administration fail," Curry stated, as reported by Religion News Service.

Islamic extremism remains to be the most common cause of oppression against Christians, and it has seen a sharp rise in Africa, where more people were killed for their faith than in anywhere else in the world.

At the top of the list is North Korea, which has held its rank for the 15th consecutive year.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith was one of the public officials who were present at the Washington news conference at which the 2017 World Watch List was unveiled. He has campaigned to push religious persecution against minorities higher on the priority of both Congress and presidential administrations since he won a seat in the House in 1980.

Smith said that he had not spoken with Trump about the issue, but he had given Vice President-elect Mike Pence a copy of a bill he is sponsoring that would strengthen protections for Christians abroad.

The congressman complained that the U.S. government have done little to help the Christians who have fled Mosul in the Nineveh Plain. There have been concerns that Iraqi Christians could become extinct in their ancient homelands if there are no assurances that they will be protected when they return.