Prayer and Action results in the release of 37 Christians held by ISIS, but dozens more remain in danger of imminent execution

This is what Christian persecution looks like.

Prayer and action has resulted in the release of 37 Christians from ISIS captivity, but another 124 remain under the threat of execution by the terrorist organization. Meanwhile, some Americans believe Christian persecution comes in the form of a coffee cup.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - ISIS has released 37 Assyrian Christians following negotiations. However, the terrorists still hold another 124 people and may still execute them if subsequent negotiations fail. Most of the released hostages, 27, were women.

The Assyrian Christians have been widely persecuted by the Islamic State and thousands have fled ancient Christian communities in Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State has demanded the conversion or immediate exile of Christians in territories it holds, and has executed those who stay and refuse to convert. An unknown number of Christians, including children, have been killed by the terror organization.

The Islamic State is a theocratic terrorist organization that has managed to occupy a large swathe of land in Syria and Iraq and impose strict sharia law, as it would have been applied during the time of Mohamed. The regime imposes bloody punishments on people including beheadings, amputations, crucifixions and stonings.

While most punishments are meted out to fellow Muslims, who are the vast majority of the people there, a tiny Christian population remains in both Syria and Iraq. When the Islamic State conducts a raid into Christian communities, Christians are commonly rounded up and persecuted. Forced conversion, rape, theft, enslavement and even murder are common fates. Most Christians have fled the region, but some linger in spite of the threat, for various reasons.

Across the Middle East, Christians are targeted by ISIS cells. In Egypt, Coptic Christians have been rounded up and beheaded in mass executions, filmed by the terror organization for broadcast to the world. The hope is that the broadcasts will showcase the impunity with which the organization strikes, and that it will attract other like-minded Muslims to the Islamic State's banner. It is also intended to draw adversaries into a fight.

The organization is also a religious cult that believes it can facilitate the Muslim apocalypse by drawing all the nations of the world into combat in Dabiq, Syria.

Meanwhile, Americans continue to debate what they perceive as "Christian persecution" in the United States. Most recently, a pastor recorded a viral video complaining that the Starbucks coffee chain has removed Christmas decorations from its cups and that this is somehow a form of Christian persecution. Of course, this is a ridiculous statement in a world where Christians are actually being executed for their faith overseas.

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