Turkey: Land Grab Threatens Return of Minorities
A lawyer in Diyarbakir estimated that land grabs have targeted thousands of Christians and Yazidis in southeastern Turkey, according to Al-Monitor.
A lawyer in Diyarbakir estimated that land grabs have targeted thousands of Christians and Yazidis in southeastern Turkey, according to Al-Monitor.
A Christian bakery in Northern Ireland must pay compensation or face legal action after an equality commission declared that it was guilty of committing “unlawful religious, political and sexual orientation discrimination” for declining to bake a “gay” cake, according to Christian News.
A Scandinavian rights group has filed a lawsuit against the Swedish government on behalf of a Christian midwife who was fired for refusing to perform abortions, according to International Christian Concern.
A Turkish legislator is demanding an investigation into why the website of a Turkish church was classified as pornography and blocked online from Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, according to Morning Star News.
A Baptist church in the UK was recently investigated by police after displaying a sign suggesting that unbeleivers would “burn in hell,” according to the Mail Online.
Last year, the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly decided that it couldn’t condone same-sex marriages or civil partnerships, yet its commissioners approved a proposal that allowed individual congregations to hire gay ministers while the assembly continues to debate their ordination.
The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that a Hungarian law had violated the rights of churches and other religious groups by stripping them of their state registrations, according to Barnabas Aid.
Under a new Turkish law, five confessed Christian killers slated to be released on bail will instead remain under house arrest, according to Morning Star News.
Almost 60 Christians from around the world were detained last month for distributing Greek New Testaments to Greeks, according to Assist News Service.
The Hungarian government has been criticized for changes to the country’s constitution that threaten religious freedoms and other rights.
A Christian woman has won a court case concerning her right to visibly wear a cross in the workplace.
Two wolves who infiltrated a Turkish congregation were among more than a dozen suspects arrested as police foiled a plot to assassinate the pastor.
A prosecutor probing a possible link between the assassination of a Christian newspaper editor and the Malatya murders of Turkish Christians was abruptly transferred last week to another court.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the Secretary of State name Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern in its 2012 Annual Report.
Protestants in the eastern Turkish province of Van have finally succeeded in opening a house church after seven years of struggling with local bureaucracies, yet they are still concerned by the hostile rhetoric coming from their local officials.
A British family doctor defended suggesting faith in Jesus Christ to a patient last year despite facing disciplinary action and concerns he could lose his job.
Kazakh Christians gathering without government approval were expected to face more punishments after officials said Kazakhstan’s long-time President Nursultan Nazarbayev won Sunday’s presidential poll.
A Christian father spent another day in a German prison Saturday, March 26, after refusing to pay a fine for not allowing his children to attend government-run “sexual education” classes, his lawyers said.
A Turkish court on Monday, March 21, ordered five military officers and two civilians jailed as part of an investigation into the 2007 killings of three Christians at a Bible-publishing house.
After a lengthy legal battle, a Turkish judge acquitted two Christians of insulting Turkey and its people by spreading Christianity, but not without imposing a heavy fine for another unrelated charge.