Indonesian Christians are learning the hard way what it means to “forsake all and follow Christ.”
Christian Aid’s contact in Indonesia said Sunday that Christians in some villages that have been taken over by Laskar Jihad militant Muslims are being offered the opportunity to leave their villages, but on one condition: They must relinquish all right to their homes, businesses and properties, and never return to their villages again.
Christians in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon are appealing to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to send peacekeeping forces in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
ISTANBUL, March 18 (Compass) — Unidentified terrorists hurled grenades into a Protestant worship service in the diplomatic quarter of Pakistan’s capital city yesterday, killing five worshippers and wounding another 40 members of the congregation.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 5 (Compass) — Dr. Christy Munir was discharged from an Islamabad hospital yesterday, 10 weeks after a deadly church attack in Pakistan’s capital city almost took his life.
ISTANBUL, September 25 (Compass) — Armed gunmen attacked a Pakistani Christian welfare organization in Karachi this morning, then escaped after killing seven Christians and leaving an eighth critically injured.
Christians in Laos still suffer from strict oppression of religious activity, according to recent reports, while at least one brother’s Christian work is being tolerated.
Sources of the The Voice of the Martyrs in Indonesia say members of the militant Islamic group Laskar Jihad are likely responsible for a bus bomb blast near Poso on Wednesday. VOM has learned more details about the attack that killed at least four people and injured 17 others.
Families of jailed South China Church leaders complained about mistreatment and injustice in an open letter to United Nations officials.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (ANS) — A Hungarian Reformed Pastor continues to preach the Gospel despite alleged death threats and opposition from Russia and Communists who he says still rule the Hungarian village of Doboz, near the Romanian border.
NUKUS / BUDAPEST, (ANS) — A correspondent of the Keston News Service (KNS), which covers religious persecution, was harassed by the security service of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, KNS reported Thursday, June 6.
ASTANA / BUDAPEST , (ANS) — Leaders and other believers of non registered Baptist and Evangelical churches in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan are experiencing a new period of persecution by central authorities, reports said Monday July 1.
The World Evangelical Alliance told the U.N. last month that Christians are “the largest single group in the world which is being denied human rights on the basis of their faith.”
Support for persecuted religious minorities around the world has received new impetus this month following the inauguration of a strategic new network of UK Christian agencies. The Christian Forum in Support of Persecuted Religious Minorities Worldwide was launched at a London conference on 20th July 2002, which attracted nearly 200 participants. Agency backing for the group has come from a range of mission and human rights groups who are keen that membership is now widened to maximise the impact that the forum can have.
ISTANBUL, February 7 (Compass) — A Sudanese convert to Christianity was forced into hiding this week after severe beatings and torture by state security police, who for the second time refused to allow the former Muslim to leave Sudan through the Khartoum airport.
STANBUL, October 8 (Compass) — A Sudanese student who converted from Islam to Christianity was severely beaten and tortured by security police in Khartoum two weeks ago, apparently at his own family’s instigation.
ISTANBUL, February 27 (Compass) — Sudanese security police have mounted a widening manhunt to track down a local convert to Christianity who went into hiding in Khartoum three weeks ago to escape arrest and possible death.
KAMPALA, UGANDA (ANS) — You can find them by following the sounds of the singing. The familiar tune of “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” carries over the crying of children, the honking of the horns, and the general confusion created by cramming 25,000 people into one run down slum.
Christians, including four clergymen, who were taking part in a prayer procession for peaceful elections were arrested in Zimbabwe.A total of 11 Christians were arrested in the city of Bulawayo on February 16 after taking part in the ecumenical procession.
MADA, Nigeria (Compass) — Two Nigerian Muslims who converted to the Christian faith in Mada village of northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state are missing, possibly at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists seeking to kill them for changing their faith.
HO CHI MINH CITY (Compass) — In April, 26 years after the communist takeover of Vietnam, authorities granted legal status to Protestants of the southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN). Optimists felt this might signal a change in the oppressive religious policy that has long marked Vietnamese communism, especially with the rise of “moderate” Nong Duc Manh to general secretary of the Communist Party.