Cornelis Hulsman is from a conservative Christian Reformed family in the Netherlands but developed a fascination for the Coptic Orthodox Church. He became a member in 1985. Many stories of Christian persecution in Muslim countries come from the Dutch Christian organization Open Doors,  which has an excellent reputation in Evangelical and Reformed circles in the Netherlands, the USA, and several other countries. Cornelis Hulsman grew up in this context and in 1996 was encouraged by Open Doors founder Anne van der Bijl (Brother Andrew) to engage with Muslims and learn of their views about Christians. But where Anne van der Bijl was a missionary who wanted to preach the Gospel, Cornelis Hulsman was a Christian sociologist who aimed for dialogue, mutual understanding and restoring harmony after tensions had occurred. After differences with Open Doors affiliate Compass Direct about how to report about the Muslim-Christians clashes in the Egyptian city of al-Kosheh [al-Kushḥ] in 1998, Hulsman stopped working for Compass Direct. Hulsman remained in Egypt, investigated numerous stories, and called in 2006 and 2007 for more caution in reporting about alleged Christian persecution in two Dutch Christian daily newspapers that hold Open Doors in high esteem. In 2015 he produced an 82 page report about the weaknesses of Open Doors reporting about Egypt covering the period from November 1, 2014 – October 31, 2015. In this article, Cornelis writes about the influence of Open Doors in Dutch churches that started with the work of their founder Anne van der Bijl who passed away on September 27, 2022. Hulsman also describes how he gradually grew apart from Open Doors. According to Hulsman, one cannot label all Christian hardship ‘persecution.’ Many of the stories Open Doors reported stem from numerous social problems. Describing the origin and context of those problems is needed to find ways to address them. Simply putting the blame on Muslims as happens in many persecution stories is unfair and counterproductive.