A lack of Bibles and Christian literature in Laos is now becoming “the biggest threat” to rapidly growing Christian communities in rural areas of the Communist Asian nation, evangelical leaders said Wednesday, August 10.
Eleven months after Iranian police arrested Hamid Pourmand for converting to Christianity, authorities at Tehran’s Evin Prison continue to pressure the former Muslim to return to Islam.
He quietly says he still believes in Jesus Christ. But he can no longer admit it publicly. Since 42-year old Phouthone Chansombat became the chief of Tao Tan, a village 135 kilometers (about 85 miles) from Laos’ capital Vientiane, he had to renounce his faith in Christ. “I can no longer be a Christian,” Chansombat says, fighting back tears.
Christian Freedom International (CFI), a leading human rights organization, expressed concern Monday, August 8, about “a major crackdown” on Christians in China.
Two Christians in Madhya Pradesh, India, await their first appearance in court after Hindu villagers accused them of attempted forced conversion.
Hostile spectators filled a courtroom in West Java, Indonesia on July 28 as the fifth hearing in a controversial trial against three Christian women began. The women were accused of attempting to convert Muslim children through a Christian education program.
The Indian government has proposed a law to more closely regulate foreign donations for “anti-national activities.” Christian leaders in India fear the new law would be misused to reduce foreign donations to churches in India.
Two Christian men of a non-governmental organization in Bangladesh have been “hacked to death” and officials believe Islamic extremists were “likely” responsible for the murders, news reports said Thursday, August 4.
Baptists in Turkmenistan faced another difficult Sunday, July 31, after a private home where they gathered regularly was stormed by police who beat the handicapped host with her own Bible and threatened to hang her, human rights activists reported.
Flooding caused by India’s heaviest rain ever recorded has killed hundreds of people in the slums of the country’s commercial capital Mumbai and also destroyed a dozen churches and a bible college there, missionaries said Friday, July 29.
The High Court of Orissa state has asked local officials to examine complaints of “forced conversions” and ordered strict enforcement of the state anti-conversion law.
A human rights group has expressed concern about the plight of native and other missionaries in Ethiopia amid reported anti-Christian violence and warnings Thursday, July 28, of famine in several areas.
While believers met for prayer in the District 2 Mennonite center Sunday evening — just five days after authorities demolished half of the building — officials forced their way in to disband the meeting.
A band of Muslim militants, which had pronounced a death sentence on a Christian family because one of its young members allegedly sold pork, has assaulted her 57-year-old father, Emma Osagie.
On Tuesday morning, July 19, about 200 officials cordoned off the Vietnam Mennonite Church center in this city’s District 2 and sent in a large work force that tore down the rear 8.8 meters of the 4.5 meter-wide building — including the home of Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his family.
Wide-ranging persecution of Chinese Christians in recent months has dashed hopes of greater religious freedom from a new law on religion that took effect in March.
Christians in Pakistan faced a new period of uncertainty Monday, July 18, amid news of increased violence against believers and the adoption of what human rights groups call “a move towards a Taliban-style government” in a key region.
Sri Lanka’s government is allowing Christian native missionaries to save children who narrowly survived the recent Tsunami disaster, following news that some are being abducted into forced labor or child prostitution by people posing as aid workers, BosNewsLife established Monday, July 18.
Anti-conversion laws are once again on the agenda in Sri Lanka after a fall-out in parliament that left President Chandrika Kumaratunga desperately in need of Buddhist support.
Evangelical churches are experiencing an unprecedented revival between death and destruction in Iraq, a Christian news agency reported following an investigation in the area. Compass Direct, which was monitored by BosNewsLife Monday, July 11, said especially Iraqi Kurdistan is becoming increasingly a haven for Christian activity as the two rival Kurdish governments grow in their toleration of Muslims becoming Christians. In the south, the evangelical church is growing rapidly.