Philadelphia, PA – April 28, 2026 – The Middle East Forum (MEF) today announced the publication of the first research paper from its newly established Dhimmitude Project. Titled “Neo-Dhimmitude in the Land of the Pure: Pakistan’s Native Christians and the Betrayal of Pluralism,” the study by Rice University scholar Craig Considine documents the severe and ongoing persecution of Pakistan’s approximately 3.3 million Christians (roughly 1.5 to 2 percent of the population).
Pakistani Christians endure systematic legal, social, and economic subordination, including the routine weaponization of blasphemy laws leading to mob violence, false accusations, and death sentences.
The paper reveals how Pakistani Christians endure systematic legal, social, and economic subordination, including the routine weaponization of blasphemy laws leading to mob violence, false accusations, and death sentences; forced relegation to menial sanitation jobs rooted in a fusion of Islamic hierarchy and local caste systems; employment discrimination; barriers to constructing and maintaining churches; and routine social segregation. These practices create a climate of fear and conditional tolerance, reducing Christians to second-class status in their own country.
This timely release launches the Dhimmitude Project’s inaugural research series, “Dhimmitude in the Contemporary World.” The series follows directly in the tradition of Bat Ye’or and David Littman, whose pioneering scholarship first exposed the theological and political mechanisms of dhimmitude—the classical Islamic system that grants limited protection to non-Muslims in exchange for submission and subordination. The Project builds on that foundation with rigorous, empirical documentation of how these patterns persist today in Muslim-majority countries and in Western contexts with large Muslim populations.
“The plight of religious minorities from Egypt to Pakistan to Indonesia has never been more urgent—yet it remains one of the least understood crises in global politics,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum. “Pakistan’s treatment of its Christian community is a textbook case: blasphemy laws weaponized to justify mob violence, employment discrimination that confines families to menial labor for generations, and social segregation that reduces an ancient community to second-class status in its own homeland.”
Roman added: “Bat Ye’or and David Littman gave us the intellectual framework. Now we are building the empirical record—country by country, community by community—to give policymakers and advocates the facts they need to act.”
The project incorporates diverse scholarly voices—Christian, Jewish, secular, and Muslim—to ensure nuanced, fact-driven analysis.
The Dhimmitude Project operates as a research hub dedicated to producing a comprehensive series of commissioned research papers. Its initial phase will examine dhimmitude practices in 10 countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and Indonesia, while also assessing the effects of Islamic practices on non-Muslims in Western cities with significant Muslim populations. Researchers will document restrictions on religious practices, differential legal treatment, barriers to religious construction, employment discrimination, and informal social pressures. The project incorporates diverse scholarly voices—Christian, Jewish, secular, and Muslim—to ensure nuanced, fact-driven analysis.
“Craig Considine’s thorough study on Pakistan is just the beginning,” Roman said. “Our research program will systematically document these patterns of persecution across the Muslim world and beyond, giving scholars, policymakers, and advocates the concrete facts needed to promote religious freedom and challenge dhimmitude in all its forms.”
Papers will be published on a rolling basis and made available at the Dhimmitude Project.
The full Pakistan study is available here.
The Middle East Forum is a Philadelphia-based think-and-do tank that promotes U.S. interests in the Middle East and protects Western civilization from Islamist threats. Founded in 1994, MEF combines policy research with direct-action programs to advance U.S. leadership, support Israel, and defend religious liberty worldwide.
Media Contact:
Gregg Roman
roman@meforum.org
+1 (215) 546-5406
For more information on the Dhimmitude Project or to submit research proposals, contact:
Dexter Van Zile at vanzile@meforum.org
