A Pakistani Christian reportedly spent his first full day in freedom Wednesday, May 31, after more than seven years of imprisonment for allegedly burning the Koran, a crime he says he never committed.
Animist worshipers of nature in a village in Jharkhand state this week humiliated and drove out a local family for becoming Christians.
Vietnam’s well-known Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, whose church and adjacent home in Ho Chi Minh City was raided by security forces, said Saturday, May 27, he was “badly beaten” at his thighs and stomach and warned his congregation will sue the Communist government.
Christian aid workers rushed to the heartland of Indonesia’s main island of Java Saturday, May 27, hours after a dawn earthquake killed nearly 5,000 people, and injured and displaced many thousands.
Several indigenous Degar Montagnard Christians in Vietnam’s Central Highlands recovered from their injuries Sunday, May 28, after they were detained and tortured by Vietnamese security forces for refusing to abandon their Christian faith and follow the ‘official’ Communist-backed church, their friends said.
Christians in and outside Iran launched 40 days of prayer and fasting “for the salvation” of Iran on ‘Ascension Day’, Thursday, May 25, amid concerns over reports of a government backed crackdown on Christian converts and churches in the Islamic state.
An Iranian Christian who converted from Islam 33 years ago is under arrest and interrogation in northern Iran, where secret police have held him incommunicado for the past three weeks.
With Cairo reeling from two weeks of clashes between thousands of police and demonstrators over the trial of two judges, Egypt appears to have forgotten its promises to investigate the April 14 stabbing of Christians in Alexandria.
Amid widespread criticism of the Rajasthan anti-conversion bill by Christian and human rights organizations, Rajasthan Gov. Pratibha Patil on Friday (May 19) refused to sign it into law, saying its provisions would violate religious freedom.
Vietnamese troops continued to surround several villages of predominantly Christian Montagnard Degar people Monday, May 22, amid fresh concerns over a government crackdown against this ethnic group, their representatives said.
Chinese security forces carried out massive arrests of house church pastors in two provinces and at least one church leader from South Korea was expelled from the country, investigators said Monday, May 15.
Hindu extremists yesterday vandalized an independent church in Gauri Nadi village, about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from Jabalpur city in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh. The mob beat a church member and lodged a police complaint against a pastor for ‘;forcibly converting’ Hindus.
Christians in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province worshipped Sunday, May 14, amid concerns over the future of their award-winning Good News Community Radio (GNCR) which was ordered to stop broadcasting by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), officials said.
Unruly mobs have attacked three churches over the past fortnight, in one incident setting car tires on fire in front of a Methodist church to prevent people from entering for Sunday worship.
Police in Indonesia announced Wednesday (May 10) that suspected Islamic terrorists have confessed to beheading three Indonesian schoolgirls in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi, in October 2005.
A woman in the city of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh state, has accused six of her uncles and their pastor of trying to forcefully convert her to Christianity.
Police in India’s northeastern state of Punjab have urged Christians to remain calm and promised protection after a house church in Bhatinda district was attacked by Hindu extremists during an Easter service, news reports said Tuesday, May 9.
Two Anglican priests in Nigeria were out of their comas Friday, May 5, after crowds of traditional animists reportedly beat them nearly to death and destroyed their properties for ‘making gods angry’ with church services.
Evangelical Christians in the ex-Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were on edge Saturday, May 6, ahead of Sunday worship services as security forces in both countries reportedly raided church gatherings and threatened believers, including children, while confiscating Bibles.
Facing threats from a local Muslim militia leader, Christians in central Sudan have decided to leave their church half-built after it went up in flames the day after Christmas last year.