ISTANBUL, December 3 (Compass) — Five weeks after Islamic extremists gunned down 15 Pakistani Christians in a Sunday morning worship service, church leaders across Pakistan admitted that their congregations remain “tense and fearful” as Christmas approaches.
ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES – The once calm, peaceful and loving people of the City of Zamboanga will never be the same again after 200 heavily armed Muslim rebels held 81 Christian hostages last week and exchanged gunfire with the military forces that left two soldiers, four Muslim rebels and four civilians dead.
BANGALORE, India (Compass) — The Indian government has launched its own “war on terrorism” against two fronts: terrorists and missionaries. The Hindu fundamentalist government is planning to introduce two bills that are being condemned as “draconian” by religious minorities in India.
A refugee camp on the Thailand/Burma border has been overrun by troops sent by the Burmese military junta.
Heavy shellfire preceded the attack on the Ler Per Hur camp just inside the Burma border which was later torched by the soldiers on December 29.
The military government of Myanmar (also known as Burma) has issued a degree banning Christians from worshipping in building less that 100 years old. Church buildings that are more than 100 years old are forbidden from ringing their church bells and crosses are not allowed to be placed on the buildings. Dozens of churches throughout the country have been forced to close. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that while believers have been allowed to worship in private homes in Hlaing Tai Yar, they have been ordered not to sing.
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Over this past weekend 17 more Christians were rescued from Islamic Jihad militants in Indonesia.
Since January a total of 1400 Christians trapped by radical Muslim warriors in the islands of North Maluku in Indonesia have been rescued. These Christians are among the more than 7000 who were being held hostage by Muslim Jihad fighters.
Rescue Operations Continue
Missions Insider – Since January a total of 1400 Christians trapped by radical Muslim warriors in the islands of North Maluku in Indonesia have been rescued. These Christians are among the more than 7000 who were being held hostage by Muslim Jihad fighters.
A militant Hindu hate website displaying the names of international evangelists, secular and Christian scholars from India, and other “enemies of Hinduism” on its “hit-list” was back on-line after it was salvaged by a radical Jewish organization in Brooklyn, New York. The website calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against the men and women listed.
Christian leaders in Tentena, in Indonesia’s central Sulawesi province, pleaded with Open Doors to “be our voice” in the face of increased atrocities being perpetrated against them in Poso district, known as a “second Ambon.” The most recent atrocity involved a police elite force attacking a Christian village elder and his family on June 27th. A woman neighbor, five months pregnant, was killed in the attack. When Christians went to the local police station to complain, they found all the policemen had fled.
In a new twist to the violence against Christians in eastern Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, Muslim Jihad fighters dressed like Japanese “ninjas” have begun targeting individuals under cover of darkness.
The letter below — the cry of a frustrated and persecuted Vietnamese Mennonite pastor named Nguyen Hong Quang — is an appeal for religious freedom in Vietnam and for support from the international Christian community.
There has been a long history of persecution of minority Christians in Vietnam’s Western Highlands, where churches have largely had to operate underground since the communist takeover in 1975.
In a fresh attack on Christians and Muslims, the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in demanding the “Indianization” of Christians and Muslims in the country.
Thousands of extremist Muslim fighters armed with automatic weapons are attacking Christian villages in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, burning churches and thousands of homes and sending residents fleeing.
Believing for Bhutan
A Bhutanese man gives his grandson attention during a festival. It is illegal to hold Christian services and authorities have been cracking down on Christians. Pray that God will protect local churches. Pray that believers would also find favor in the eyes of the government to overturn this decision.
Details emerging from recent detentions and interrogations of Christians in Brunei point to a growing government concern that the growth of “cults” in this predominately-Muslim nation could lead to political and religious instability.
WASHINGTON (BP)–Christians in the country of Bhutan are facing a much-escalated level of opposition and persecution, according to a report to the Baptist World Alliance from D. Kitbok Ryntathiang, director of the Christian Academy, Shillong, in northeast India.
Reports from Laos say authorities closed two churches in the southern part of the country earlier this year.