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When many Americans think of Kazakhstan, they think of Borat singing, “Throw the Jew down the well.” But Kazakhstan has a very small Jewish population: it’s the Christians who face persecution and oppression in the Muslim country. And the numbers tell the troubling story.

Kazakhstan’s 2009 census showed a Christian population of 4.2 million. By 2021, that number had dropped to 3.3 million. The disappearance of nearly 1 million Christians occasioned no interest or commentary from the UN, whose agencies filed it as mere data, from the same international communities that agonize over the plight of invasive Muslim populations in India, Myanmar and Israel, and claim that every Islamic displacement is a form of genocide.

Had 900,000 Muslims disappeared from a non-Muslim country, we would find them conveniently squatting in refugee camps, appearing on CNN and being the subject of UN interventions.

But the Christians of even the most oppressive Muslim nations, like Pakistan, are ignored. There are no Christian refugee camps, no Christian terror groups, if they survive, they move on. If they don’t, not the UN or the State Department or the world pays any attention to their plight.

The vanishing Christians of Kazakhstan are yet another example.

Within a decade, Christians went from a quarter of Kazakhstan to 17%. The next census is likely to show an even further decrease as Muslims tighten their grip on power in the Central Asian nation where Christians are disappearing as they are throughout the Muslim world.

Pew noted that “Kazakhstan experienced the biggest increase in the Muslim share of its population… partially driven by the departure of some Christians… Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country that tightly restricts religious activity.” Nothing more than that. The displacement of a few hundred thousand Rohingya was seen as a global human rights crisis, but a drastic drop in the number of Christians in a Muslim country remains a minor footnote.

Aside from Christian groups like Open Doors, which listed Kazakhstan as number 38 on its list of countries where Christians are persecuted, there’s been little interest from human rights organizations. Even the State Department’s annual religious freedom report focuses more on how Kazakhstan is ‘violating the rights’ of Muslim terrorists through religious restrictions than Christians. The 2023 report spends more time defending Jihadis and hijabs than Christians.

Where did 900,000 Kazakh Christians go? And why did they disappear?

Two years after the 2009 census, Kazakhstan passed its ‘Religion Law’  and began cracking down on the Catholic Church and various Protestant groups. This is not unusual in the region, including in Russia, where ‘recognized’ religions are integrated into the state, and churches, especially American ones, are denounced as ‘cults’, but the decline in the number of Christians suggests an especially onerous situation that has led to a massive population shift.

Some Christians may not have actually disappeared, but may be hiding in plain sight. The number of those refusing to disclose their religious identity jumped from 81,000 to over 2 million. And while Kazakhstan may have some ‘unbelievers’, as they tend to be listed in government surveys, the Central Asian county is not exactly an ideal hotbed for atheists and the ‘none-of-the-aboves’ who proliferate in the censuses of western nations. It’s possible that some of those 2 million who won’t discuss their religion are Christians from persecuted denominations trying to avoid government scrutiny. And that is one way to make Christians disappear.

But multiple sources also document a migration of Christians out of Kazakhstan for various destinations. Some ethnic Russians may have gone to Russia. But the high point of Kazakhstan’s persecution of Russians took place a while back and the Russian Orthodox church has been largely spared the persecution experienced by other religious organizations.

The most persecuted Christians in Kazakhstan are indigenous and would not simply be able to move to Russia. Some Christians from Kazakhstan have come to America as refugees, but the Biden administration spent more time touting LGBTQ refugee admissions from Kazakhstan than Christians. It has also reportedly provided refugee status to Muslims from Kazakhstan. That is something that the Trump administration ought to change. Refugee admission slots from Pakistan ought to be reserved for Christians and not for Muslims. As the oppressive majority, Muslims in Kazakhstan cannot and should not be exploiting the privileges of refugees.

Kazakhstan is certainly not the part of the Muslim world where Christians face the most persecution, yet it’s revealing that a massive drop in the number of Christians in a Muslim country sets off no alarms for human rights activists. The double standard for Muslims and non-Muslims takes place in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, it persists whether Muslims are the minority or the majority, the victims or the oppressed, and it pervades everything.

Muslims have been able to commit genocide against non-Muslims. Actual ethnic cleansing in the Muslim world gets no attention. There are no marches or rallies for the Hindus of Bangladesh, the Jews of Northern Israel or the Christians of Kazakhstan.

And that ought to change.

The Trump administration broke ideological ground by speaking, for the first time, about the mistreatment of South Africa’s white minority. It has the opportunity to bring real change by talking about the persecution inflicted on Christians in the Muslim world.

And then holding Muslim governments accountable.

Finally, Kazakhstan is one of a litany of lessons for America, Europe and the West about what happens when Christianity and Islam meet. Every country with a Muslim majority also has a shrinking historical Christian population with a high degree of migration. Christianity and Islam, like Islam and any minority group, are not compatible in the long term. Kazakhstan is as benign as it gets with the Muslim majority growing, taking power and repressing Christians under various pretexts, but a true Muslim country run under Sharia Islamic law would do worse.

What then does the future of America, Europe and the rest of the West look like?

Unless we fundamentally reform immigration and citizenship, Kazakhstan will be our best case scenario. The worst ones, from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, are not hard to find.

If we do not change our immigration system, we will one day be the Christians of Kazakhstan.