The Parish Magazine June 2023

PARISH NOTICEBOARD — 4
Christians persecuted in
nine Commonwealth
countries
The Parish Magazine - June 2023 13
THE persecuted church by colin bailey
Commonwealth States flags line The Mall for the Coronation
At the time of writing, the weekend
of the Coronation of King Charles
III, it is interesting to consider the
position of the Commonwealth
countries regarding monarchy.
There are 15 Commonwealth
countries where the monarch is
head of state: the UK, Antigua and
Barbuda, Australia, Belize, Canada,
Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Solomon Islands,
The Bahamas and Tuvalu.
A recent poll by Lord Ashcroft,
former Conservative Party
chairman, involved interviewing
22,000 people in all Commonwealth
countries, and of the 15 nations
mentioned above, six voted in
favour of replacing the monarchy
(Australia, Canada, Jamaica, the
Bahamas, Solomon Islands and
Antigua and Barbuda).
VOLUNTARY
The Commonwealth of Nations
is a voluntary association of 56
independent and equal countries in
Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe
and the Pacific. It is home to 2.5
billion people, one-third of the
world’s population. Most member
countries have historic ties to
Britain.
Many former colonies are
still part of the Commonwealth.
Barbados was the most recent to
establish its own head of state. It has
been an independent nation since
1966 and abolished the monarchy
at the end of November 2021. Any
country can join the Commonwealth:
the last to do so were Gabon and
Togo in 2022.
Going back to 1949, the
Commonwealth consisted of eight
countries, each having King George
VI as monarch. When India wished
to become a republic but did not
want to leave the Commonwealth,
the title Head of the Commonwealth
was created. This is a ceremonial role
with no constitutional relevance to
any of the Commonwealth’s member
states. The position is not however
hereditary and successors are chosen
by the Commonwealth heads of
government. Notwithstanding this,
letters patent issued by the late
Queen in 1958 and King Charles in
2022 state that the Prince of Wales
and his heirs and successors shall be
future heads of the Commonwealth.
DANGEROUS
A cross-referencing of
the member nations of the
Commonwealth to the Open Doors
World Watch List of the 50 countries
in which it is most dangerous to be a
Christian shows that there are nine
Commonwealth countries in the 2023
World Watch List. They are listed
below along with their ranking in
this year’s World Watch List:
Cameroon (#45), Mozambique
(#32), Nigeria (#6), Bangladesh (#30),
Brunei (#46), India (#11), Malaysia
(#43), Maldives (#15), Pakistan (#7).
Some of these countries and
the situation therein of persecuted
Christians have been featured in
earlier editions of The Parish Magazine
— Nigeria as recently as last month,
Mozambique in January 2023, India in
October last year, and Pakistan in both
March and May 2022.
Dominic Dudley, dreamstime.com
As for the others appearing in
the World Watch List: Cameroon is
officially a secular country but there
are predominantly Muslim areas
where Islamic extremism is growing.
Boko Haram is violently active in the
north of the country. Bangladesh
has a population where just 0.5%
turn to page 15
THE FULL LIST OF COUNTRIES WHO
MAKE UP THE COMMONWEALTH
AFRICA (21)
Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, The
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of
Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United
Republic of Tanzania, Zambia.
ASIA (8)
Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia,
Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore,
Sri Lanka.
CARIBBEAN AND AMERICAS (13):
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Canada, Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint
Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent
and the Grenadines, Trinidad and
Tobago.
EUROPE (3)
Cyprus, Malta, United Kingdom.
PACIFIC (11)
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Vanuatu.