Open Doors Issues Persecution World Watch List

SANTA ANA, CA (July 18, 2000) (ASSIST) — Although Indonesia is only 25th on the Open Doors .World Watch List of worst persecutors of Christians, it is “rapidly getting out of control,” says Terry Madison, USA President and CEO of Open Doors with Brother Andrew.

Two churches hit with bomb attacks in India

Bomb blasts damaged two churches in India’s southern Karnataka state over the weekend as Christians across the nation staged marches and rallies to protest sectarian violence.

Indonesian military leader calls for martial law in Maluku

25 June 2000 (Newsroom) — Indonesia’s top military leader wants martial law imposed on the eastern province of Maluku to stem growing anarchy in the wake of last week’s slaughter of 156 Christians by Muslim militia, the Jakarta Post reported. Since Wednesday, at least 47 Muslims and Christians have been killed and hundreds have been injured in clashes in the provincial capital of Ambon.

Man accused of killing missionary to seek public office in India

Hindu militants in Orissa have announced that the man accused of masterminding the brutal killings last year of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons will be the chief minister candidate of their newly formed political party in the eastern state.

India’s Christians Face New Century with Confidence

More than a year after Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, Timothy and Phillip, were brutally murdered in Orissa state, Christians in India continue to be harassed and persecuted. And according to church leaders, the Sangh Parivar (family of Hindu fundamentalist groups) sponsors much of it in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. These states have become the laboratory of “Hindutva” (cultural nationalism).

Christians in Laos forced to recant their Faith

Christians in Laos continue to suffer persecution from a government crackdown on believers, and they cannot visit friends or travel freely because the secret police follow them every everywhere. Some have been forced to recant their faith.

Fewer Christians Imprisoned in Laos

Reports from Laos say the number of Christians held by the government has dropped in recent months. Although the Lao Constitution provides for freedom of religion, the government continues to restrict the right to practice religion.

Christians in India’s Parliament demand an end to attacks

NEW DELHI, 14 May 2000 (Newsroom) — Christian members of India’s Parliament have formed a committee to focus attention on growing intolerance of religious minorities throughout the country and demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government take immediate steps to stop the attacks on Christians.

Six missionaries beaten during gospel campaign in India

Six Christian missionaries participating in a gospel campaign called “Love Ahmedabad” were beaten so savagely in the state of Gujarat last week that one of the men may lose his arms and legs.

Christians attacked by mob near Bombay

More than 60 Christians attending a two-day religious convention were beaten by a mob of suspected Hindu nationalists in a village about 100 miles northeast of Bombay. None of the injured were hospitalized.

Executions of Christians Suspected in North Korea

by Alex Buchan LONDON (Compass) — Credible reports of seven Christians executed for their faith inside North Korea have reached reliable sources in China. The seven, all men ranging in age from 15 to 58 years of age, were executed in April. The circumstances surrounding their deaths cannot be revealed. North Korea, a fanatically communist state, continues to hound all religious believers. The U.S. Department of State’s 2000 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom said there were unconfirmed reports of 23 Christians executed between October 1999 and April 2000. Some say that a number of Christians were rounded up and … Read more

Christians in Indonesia’s Moluccas fear ‘religious cleansing’

Christian communities in Indonesia’s Moluccas fear the onslaught of “religious cleansing” as some 3,000 extremist Muslim fighters prepare to converge on the archipelago, according to a British-based group that recently returned from a fact-finding mission. Many families already have fled to other islands as predominantly Christian villages have been razed, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said.

Christians are being shot in public by Firing Squads in North Korea

Since October 1999 some 23 Christians have been killed in public by firing squads on falsified criminal charges in North Korea reports Open Doors, the ministry begun 45 years ago by Brother Andrew, the Dutch-born author of “God’s Smuggler.”

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