New clashes between Hindus and Christians in India’s eastern state of Orissa has left at least one woman dead and more than a dozen people injured, some critically, police said Tuesday, September 30.
Residents in North Jakarta have ordered the pastor of a small congregation to cease holding services in his home, despite a letter of permission issued by the Religious Affairs department.
An international Christian aid group said Thursday, September 25, it has begun helping to rebuild a mainly Christian village in a remote area of Indonesia, which was destroyed by Muslim militants earlier this year.
An Eritrean evangelist who has been imprisoned since 2006 has reportedly told friends he may die soon as he receives harsh prison treatment because of his evangelistic activities among fellow inmates, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, September 25.
Belarus has banned a Christian music festival, initiated by Catholics, minutes before it was due to begin, a religious rights group said Thursday, September 25.
Dozens of Christian villagers in Laos were reportedly facing uncertainty Thursday, September 25, after local authorities told them they will be expelled because several Christian families refuse to renounce their faith in Christ. It came as a widow said she had forgiven those who killed her husband because of his church activities, the latest in several violent incidents against Christian villagers in parts of the Communist nation.
A closed-door trial in China will decide this week whether evangelical Pastor Zhang Zhongxin must continue serving a two-year forced labor sentence for his activities related to evangelism and training Christian missionaries, an advocacy group said Wednesday, September 24.
Authorities were under pressure Wednesday, September 24, to investigate the death of at least four Christians in the Iraqi town of Mosul, amid signs of a fresh wave of anti-Christian violence in Iraq.
An evangelist imprisoned since 2006 for his Christian activities is receiving especially harsh treatment because of his ministry to inmates.
The unprecedented wave of anti-Christian attacks that began a month ago continued in the past week with more incidents of murder, rape and arson, mostly in the eastern state of Orissa and southern state of Karnataka. Two Christians were also found murdered in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Without international pressure there is little to stop the Iranian government from ratifying a bill that will make “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, a capital crime, say human rights groups and experts.
After three weeks of widespread attacks on Christians and their property in Orissa state and other parts of the country, the federal government finally warned two states that their failure to prevent violence could lead to the imposition of “President’s Rule.”
There was concern Wednesday, September 17, about the whereabouts of possibly dozens of Degar Montagnard Christians who have been detained in Vietnam’s Central Highlands as part of a major crackdown on unregistered worship, friends said.
Suspected Hindu militants attacked nine churches in parts of India’s southern state of Karnataka Sunday, September 14, as part of ongoing violent protests against the alleged conversion of Hindus into Christianity by missionaries, police said.
Several Baptist Churches in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan continue have been raided by police because they refuse state registration on principal grounds, BosNewsLife learned Monday, September 15.
The Iranian Parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of a bill stipulating the death penalty for apostasy. The bill was approved by 196 votes for, seven against, and two abstentions.
Attacks on Christians continue to increase in Karnataka State.
As tensions continued in the eastern state of Orissa, Hindu nationalist groups intensified attacks on churches and Christian institutions in the southern state of Karnataka.
Five arrests in three cities across Iran in August suggest a continued crackdown on Iranian Christians by authorities, sources told Compass.
Two Iranian Christians from Muslim backgrounds may receive the death penalty on charges of apostasy, according to prosecution documents published Tuesday, September 9.