A group of Chinese Christians faced a difficult period Thursday, November 2, after their house church building located in the campus of Changchun Agricultural University in the suburb of Changchun city, Jilin province was reportedly demolished forcibly by local authorities.
Tensions remained high in a city of China’s Gansu province Wednesday, November 1, after hundreds of Christians reportedly demanded the return of their church property 40 years after it was taken away from then during the Cultural Revolution.
Leaders of one of India’s largest Hindu parties have urged the arrest and deportation of Christian missionaries, and several of them have been attacked in tribal areas, BosNewsLife established Wednesday, November 1.
A Turkish prosecutor slapped criminal charges against two converts to Christianity earlier this month, accusing them of “insulting Turkishness,†inciting hatred against Islam and secretly compiling data on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence course.
Vietnamese authorities advised the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi that 18 Vietnamese churches had been registered while not informing the churches themselves. Observers believe this is an indication that the country has stepped up efforts to convince the United States of improvements in its religious freedom record as two key U.S. decisions approach.
Police last Friday (October 27) arrested a 25-year-old believer for “causing communal disharmony†after Hindu extremists harassed him for selling Christian literature at an evangelistic event in the eastern state of Orissa.
There was mounting international concern Tuesday, October 31, about the persecution of Christian teenagers in Iraq amid reports that a 14-year old boy was beheaded while a 13-year-old girl is being held in prison.
A Pakistani Christian who spent over two years in jail for allegedly degrading Islam has died and there were fears he may have been tortured, fellow Christians said Monday, October 30.
In a large-scale roundup the past week, Eritrean authorities have detained 150 Christians from at least five of the country’s outlawed churches.
Two Christian believers in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were recovering from their injuries Sunday, October 29, after angry villagers and militants were beating them for their refusal to return to Hinduism, their previous religion.
Eight organizations supporting persecuted churches have urged Christians worldwide to pray for 200 million Christians who they claim suffer “interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ.”
Local police raided Qilin Mountain Villa in the suburb of Uramqi City, Xijiang Autonomous Region, when some Christians were having a Bible training program held by a Korean pastor from America.
Police this morning arrested a recent convert in Mayapuri, Madhya Pradesh state for the second time in three days in an apparent attempt to pressure him to give evidence that his pastor forcibly converted him. By nightfall in India, the new believer was charged with “insulting religious beliefs.”
Tensions are rising across the Horn of Africa – there is death and danger. Irredentist Somali Islamists have declared jihad against Ethiopia. Christians are being attacked and murdered by Muslims in Ethiopia. Eritrea, which is accused of arming the Somali Islamists, is exploiting an opportunity and has breached the 2000 cease-fire agreement by moving troops into the Eritrea-Ethiopia border buffer zone. Two Protestant Christians were recently tortured to death in Eritrea. The savagery of persecution appears to be escalating in proportion to regional tensions — and it could be about to get much worse.
There were hopes Tuesday, October 24, that at least five prominent Chinese church leaders jailed for their alleged role in resisting police forces while defending their church building would be released, after a prosecutor decided not to prosecute them because of “a lack of evidence,” supporters said.
Belarusian authorities may be preparing to reverse their position towards New Life Church in the capital Minsk, members of which have been on a hunger strike in order to resist efforts by the government to close them down.
A former Muslim sheikh remained in an Egypt jail Saturday, October 21, after 18 months of “provisional detention” for allegedly “insulting Islam” by becoming a Christian.
China sentenced a crippled prominent house church leader to two years in prison on charges of “illegal business practices” after he printed and distributed Bibles for other Christians “free of charge”, fellow believers confirmed Friday, October 20.
Religious rights investigators expressed concern Thursday, October 19, about the situation of evangelical Christians in Ethiopia after Muslim leaders reportedly attacked dozens of believers, seriously injuring 12 people, including a pregnant woman, outside Addis Ababa, the capital.
Pakistan has released a psychiatrically disordered man who was accused of setting alight some pages of Quran, the Muslims holy book last year, ANS has learnt.