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.
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.
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.
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.
The demand for Bibles is rising in China and India, the most populous countries of the world.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Muslim cleric has accused three Christians including a pastor of the village, 55/2 L, some 2 Kms from the city, of blaspheming the Quran, the Muslims holy book.
Lina Joy, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, has gone into hiding after extremists issued death threats against her and the lawyers supporting her cause.
Two Protestant Christians have been arrested in southern Laos to stop them from pursuing their evangelization work, according to the Lao Human Rights Movement (LHRM), which is critical of Vientiane’s Communist regime.
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.
The Congress Party-led government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh has decided to enact a law banning preaching of any religion other than Hinduism in Tirupati, a “temple town” in large measure under the administration of its shrines.
Tensions remained high Thursday in India’s northeastern state of Manipur after a pastor was killed and five others injured when Indian security forces reportedly opened at a Baptist church.
Hindu extremists on Sunday (August 20) beat four Christians, including a pastor, who were later arrested on charges of ‘forced conversion’ in Madhya Pradesh state.
Three computer users jailed for comments they made on an Internet forum and website dedicated to religious freedom in Vietnam have been released by Vietnamese authorities after a story by Christian news agency BosNewsLife sparked international protests, fellow activists confirmed, Friday, August 18.