New legislation awaiting agreement by the Kazakhstan authorities looks set to undermine religious freedom.
The Keston Institute reports that if adopted, the law will require all missionaries to be registered and allow unregistered religious groups to be banned.
A recent VOM report from Ghana tells of the needs faced by our Christian brothers and sisters who face persecution from animists and Muslims in the countryside. Recently VOM workers had to disguise themselves as they traveled into one region, as the local people view strangers with great suspicion. Believers there face being killed by their neighbours. They live in great poverty and have not nearly enough Bibles for the number of Christians. Bibles, Bible portions and Christian literature in the local language are smuggled into the area by Ghanaian believers at great risk. Recently 32 Christians were sent out of the region by pastoral leadership for fear that they might be killed because of their conversion to Christianity.
BANGALORE, India (Compass) — The Indian government has launched its own “war on terrorism” against two fronts: terrorists and missionaries. The Hindu fundamentalist government is planning to introduce two bills that are being condemned as “draconian” by religious minorities in India.
(Compass) – “This especially applies to Sokodé and the areas of mid and northern Togo. I know of four men and four women who keep their Bibles hidden and read them when no one else is around. They told me that since they have been reading the Bible, they have peace in their hearts,” he said.
BUDAPEST/PRISTINA (ANS) — The NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo (K-FOR) has identified a British soldier who died while guarding a Serbian Orthodox Church in the regional Capital Pristina, ASSIST News Service learned Wednesday December 19.
A refugee camp on the Thailand/Burma border has been overrun by troops sent by the Burmese military junta.
Heavy shellfire preceded the attack on the Ler Per Hur camp just inside the Burma border which was later torched by the soldiers on December 29.
The military government of Myanmar (also known as Burma) has issued a degree banning Christians from worshipping in building less that 100 years old. Church buildings that are more than 100 years old are forbidden from ringing their church bells and crosses are not allowed to be placed on the buildings. Dozens of churches throughout the country have been forced to close. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that while believers have been allowed to worship in private homes in Hlaing Tai Yar, they have been ordered not to sing.
Byron, CA–The staff of the Byron Union School District and especially of its Excelsior School have spent the day fielding indignant and often threatening phone calls, e-mails, and faxes–virtually all from outside the community–based on a story by the Reverend Austin Miles of the ASSIST News Service and picked up by radio station 560 KSFO.
WASHINGTON (BP)–Two Christians have been killed in the Chinese government’s crackdown on pastor Gong Shengliang and his South China Church in central Hubei Province, according to a letter from members of the underground church revealing graphic details and new information about the persecution.
Soon after winning the right to host the 2008 Olympics, China is showing the world that being a non-registered Christian is a most dangerous sport.
South China Church Pastor Gong Shengliang to be executed within days if his appeal is denied
The Voice of the Martyrs is making an urgent appeal to Christians around the world to pray for Pastor Gong Shengliang. Pastor Gong was reportedly sentenced to death last month after a court in Hubei Province declared him guilty of using an “evil cult” to “undermine the enforcement of the law” and of “complicity of rape.”
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) – American Christian tourists visiting Israel with David Hocking’s Hope for Today radio show, were just feet from where Palestinian gunmen assassinated Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi on Wednesday, October 17.
ISTANBUL, November 27 (Compass) — More than a dozen foreign Christians remain jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where local authorities have for months ignored inquiries and notes of protest from consulates requesting diplomatic access to their imprisoned citizens.
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Indian Christian, Prabhu Isaac, is due to be deported from Jiddah tonight after spending more than six months in Saudi prisons in connection with his Christian faith.
Listening via television to evangelist Billy Graham’s stirring words of spiritual comfort and encouragement at the national prayer and memorial service in Washington DC on Friday, I recalled that the last time I saw the towering World Trade Center was the same day I spoke at his ministry headquarters in Minneapolis. It was a great honor to address his staff of over 300 dedicated workers last August 6 just before boarding a plane to Newark airport on my way back to my home at the center of the world, Jerusalem Israel.
Since January a total of 1400 Christians trapped by radical Muslim warriors in the islands of North Maluku in Indonesia have been rescued. These Christians are among the more than 7000 who were being held hostage by Muslim Jihad fighters.
Rescue Operations Continue
Missions Insider – Since January a total of 1400 Christians trapped by radical Muslim warriors in the islands of North Maluku in Indonesia have been rescued. These Christians are among the more than 7000 who were being held hostage by Muslim Jihad fighters.
Turkmenistan has moved to fifth place on the Open Doors World Watch List of worst persecutors of Christians, behind Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Laos and China, causing “great concern” to persecution watchers around the world.
(Washington, DC) – The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed a petition for certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to hear an equal access case from Arizona and to overturn a federal appeals court decision that said the City of Tucson acted properly when it discriminated against a couple, Patricia and Robert Gentala, who organized a public event celebrating the National Day of Prayer in 1997.