A Presbyterian church building in Rawalpindi District, Pakistan was burned to the ground in a suspected arson attack on Saturday, one day after a local Muslim threatened that he would not allow the congregation to celebrate Easter in their building, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
The Religious Liberty Commission of Evangelical Fellowship of India (RLC) warns in a new report that Christians in India faced an “alarmingly steep rise” in violent persecution against them in the year leading up to the spring elections of 2024. The RLC gave its assessment in its latest annual report titled “Hate and Targeted Violence Against Christians in India, 2023.”
A Vietnamese evangelical pastor whose body was found hanging in a cemetery in Vietnam’s Dak Lak Province is believed by local Christians to have been killed by government authorities who had forced him to renounce his faith in Christ and leave his church, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
More than 20 Christians were injured, and five were arrested and imprisoned on false pretenses, after a mob of some 200 Hindus attacked their Methodist church in India’s Telangana state earlier this month, Open Doors reports.
A Christian couple in India’s Chhattisgarh state have had to leave their children with relatives and go into hiding after being attacked by neighbors who demanded they recant their faith in Christ, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
A court in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has sentenced a Christian couple to two years imprisonment for allegedly offering a job to a Hindu relative of theirs in exchange for his conversion to Christianity, UCA News reports.
The Christian parents of a 10-year-old girl in Pakistan are concerned she may fall into the hands of sex traffickers after being abducted by a Muslim man known for kidnapping children to forcibly convert them to Islam, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Muslim-majority Pakistan ranks seventh on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
An 18-year-old Christian man in Pakistan is in prison awaiting trial after a former classmate accused him of insulting Islam by saying he did not believe in Allah and questioning the right of Muslim men to have four wives, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. With notoriously harsh blasphemy laws, Islamic-majority Pakistan ranks seven on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
Alarmed at the number of people charged and incarcerated for blasphemy in Pakistan, rights advocates are demanding legislative charges to protect against blatant Islamic extremist abuse of blasphemy laws to persecute not only those of minority faiths but Muslims as well, Christian Daily reports.
In an effort to curb evangelism, Hindu lawmakers in India’s Assam state have passed a law criminalizing “magical” prayer for healing, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
Vietnam’s ruling Communist party has designated as terrorist organizations two human rights groups which support the country’s largely Christian Montagnard minority indigenous community, Premier Christian News (PCN) reports.
A court in Faisalabad, Pakistan has acquitted the two Christian men who were falsely accused of committing blasphemy offenses that led to major riot in Jaranwala on Aug.16 last year, Morning Star News reports.
Devoted Indonesian Christians say they remain concerned about churches being targeted by Islamists despite government pledges to improve the situation for minority faiths in the world’s largest Muslim nation.
In a piece of welcome news for historically persecuted Christians in Indonesia, Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas has requested the Directorate General to ascertain whether regional Indonesian churches have been unjustly refused building permits and to facilitate the establishment of places of worship, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Christianity is legal in Indonesia, but the Muslim-majority country has consistently blocked the establishment of churches and impeded believers’ right to express their faith.
An attorney in Pakistan has expressed hope for a young Christian man on death row for “blasphemy” against Islam after a court acquitted him in a case related to the same alleged incident.
A pastor in Nepal is seeking to be given a fine instead of the one-year prison sentence he has received for proselytizing, despite being ordered by the Nepalese Supreme Court to begin his jail sentence pending appeal, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
A 72-year-old Christian widower in Punjab Province, Pakistan is facing a life sentence of imprisonment after a Muslim neighbor falsely accused him of desecrating the Quran in retaliation over a property dispute, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
An Additional Sessions Court in Punjab Province, Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life imprisonment for allegedly posting a blasphemous remark about the Islamic prophet Mohammed while using a phone that had actually been stolen from him. Fanson Shahid was convicted after being tortured into confessing to the charge, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Feb. 13 rebuked the Punjab Province government for only charging 18 of the 304 Muslims who were arrested for attacking Christians during a riot in Jaranwala last summer, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Authorities in India’s Assam state have fined two American Christians $500 each for allegedly violating their tourist visas by preaching the Gospel and leading people to Christ at various locations, Christian Today India (CTI) reports.