Hindu extremists investigating the activities of Varghese Thomas, an evangelist in Karnakata state, laid a trap for him on Sunday (September 3), before beating him and his wife. Thomas is 60 and his wife, Leelama, is 57.
Dozens of Hindu militants stormed a Christian school in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh late Sunday, September 10, threatening nuns and vandalizing the complex, Indian Christians told BosNewsLife.
Nearly two thousand Christians spent another Sunday, behind bars in Eritrea where they are allegedly subjected to torture and forced labor because of their religious beliefs.
Christians in Indonesia’s volatile province of Aceh on Saturday, September 9, were without their Indonesia Evangelical Mission Church Saturday, after an angry Muslim mob set fire to the complex because evangelicals planned, ‘revival’ meetings there, several sources said.
Thousands of Dalits in India’s Tamil Nadu state faced a difficult Saturday, September 9, amid fresh reports that they may be deported from their homes. Elsewhere in India, pastors were attacked on charges of “forcibly converting” villagers.
The military government of Burma has launched a new violent campaign against a largely Christian ethnic group and its churches, BosNewsLife learned Friday, September 8.
Chinese police in Beijing arrested Thursday, September 7, Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist and close friend of a well-known detained Christian lawyer, several sources confirmed.
A Canadian evangelist in Canada’s province of Alberta was due in court Thursday, September 7, on charges of “obstruction of justice, trespassing and disturbing the peace” during a theater festival where he preached and spoke with tarot card readers and other occult practitioners.
The demand for Bibles is rising in China and India, the most populous countries of the world.
Tensions remained high Wednesday, September 6, in an area of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state after dozens of Hindu militants stormed a church and attacked Christians, including women and children, as they were attending a Sunday worship service, local Christians said.
A long-time jailed member of Vietnam’s predominantly Christian Montagnard Degar community has been tortured to death, BosNewsLife learned from supporters Wednesday, September 6.
An Iranian court has temporarily released an Iranian man who Christians say may be executed for converting from Islam to Christianity, reports said Monday, September 4.
For over 200 days an evangelical congregation in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been providing “church asylum” to a Vietnamese Christian amid fears he may be deported by local German authorities, news reports said Sunday, September 3.
Fearing beatings, detentions and deportations “many” Uzbek Protestant church leaders and their families were in hiding Friday, September 1, as Uzbekistan celebrated its 15th anniversary of independence, Christians said.
Two pastors and five Bible school students were reportedly free Saturday, September 2, after a court in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir granted them bail following their detention on charges of “concealing identity” and “forced conversion.”
There was international concern Wednesday, August 30, that a reported decision by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to further restrict evangelizing among Muslims would lead to oppression of evangelical Christians and other minorities in the Asian nation.
Leading Christian and secular human rights groups welcomed Thursday, August 31 the release of a church leader and a well-known Internet activist as part of Vietnam’s National Day of amnesty of thousands of prisoners.
Chinese authorities sent a female Mongolian missionary to a labor camp and dissidents, including a blind activist, to prison amid a crackdown on evangelical churches and political dissent, investigators said Monday, August 28.
Multiple attacks and arrests in recent weeks demonstrate ongoing hostility towards Christians in India. Police have cooperated with Hindu extremists, in some cases claiming “tremendous pressure” to charge Christian ministers with forced conversion.
There was uncertainty Saturday, August 26, about the fate of three Catholics sentenced to death for their alleged role in massacring Muslims after reports that they received an “indefinite” stay of execution from Indonesian authorities.