A Christian doctor in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has been suspended from working with COVID-19 patients, and is facing criminal charges, for offering to pray for the healing of one someone in her care, International Christian Concern reports.
A report has been submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee about the persecution of Protestant Christians in Turkey, and about restrictions imposed against foreign Christians in the country, International Christian Concern reported Sunday.
The large-scale, years-long onslaught of killing and kidnapping of Christians in Nigeria by Muslim extremists continues unabated and under-reported: a further 1470 Christians were murdered, and 2200 abducted, by Islamic Jihadists in the first four months of 2021 alone, the Intersociety for Civil Liberty and Rule of Law has attested in a new report. This time last year, the Nigerian Voice reported that Islamic militants had butchered 32,000 Christians since 2009; that number is now much higher.
On April 28, two Christian preachers in China were arrested and placed in detention, in what has been described as the Chinese government’s effort to root out house churches in the country, International Christian Concern reports. No reason has yet been given for why Preachers Qie Jiafu and Huang Chunzi have been detained: both preachers were part of Zion Church, a large Beijing house church that was founded in 2007 and shut down by authorities in 2018.
While Christian convert Majidreza Souzanchi was released from Iran’s Greater Tehran Penitentiary on April 8, four other Christians were arrested and detained by Iranian intelligence officials on April 19, International Christian Persecution reports. Iran currently ranks 8 on the Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith.
Devoted Christians in Europe and North America are increasingly among those being persecuted for their faith in Christ, a rights report shows.
A mother of seven children in eastern Uganda has reportedly suffered severe wounds after her husband and other Muslim relatives attacked her on Easter Sunday for putting her faith in Christ.
While Christians in Ethiopia were already subject to persecution, they have seen intensified attacks against them amid the extreme violence of the current conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), International Christian Concern reports.
Rights groups report that Christian persecution in India has worsened since Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Whereas in 2013 India ranked 31st on the Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted, it now ranks 10th.
Around 30 tribal animists violently attacked Christians at a home worship service in India’s Chhattisgarh state on March 8, Morning Star News reported Tuesday. India currently ranks 10 on the Open Doors watch list of countries in which Christians are persecuted.
Authorities from the civil affairs bureau and police force in China’s Guizhou province raided a Protestant home Bible study Tuesday morning, reportedly detaining at least 12 people for questioning, Radio Free Asia reports. The Bible study was being attended by members of the Ren’ai Reformed Church, whose pastor Zhang Chulei was one of the first church leaders to sign the declaration of Christian faith initiated by jailed pastor Wang Yi.
A violent mob of around 70 people attacked a prayer meeting in a private home in India’s Chhattisgarh state Monday, destroying property, assaulting those gathered, and hospitalizing at least six believers with serious injuries, CSW reports. Chhattisgarh is one of nine states with controversial anti-conversion laws that are often used to harass and intimidate religious minorities from sharing their faith.
Five Christians were arrested Sunday morning during a police raid on a house church in China’s Chengdu, International Christian Concern reports. The Spring of Life Church (East Hall) was in the middle of a service when authorities arrived and took away the elder Cha Changping, who leads the church, his wife, and three others.
Hundreds of Pakistani Christian widows and their children rely on monthly food parcels in impoverished Pakistan amid Christian persecution and an ongoing coronavirus pandemic, aid workers told Worthy News Sunday.
Leading Christian rights activist, broadcaster, and author Faith McDonnell, has become director of advocacy at the U.S.-based Katartismos Global (KGI Global) charity. The group says it “exists to equip the Church for mission and ministry” by supporting persecuted Christians and other believers in need.
An Islamist terrorist organization operating in DR Congo is believed responsible for murdering 16 people and burning down a Catholic church in the northeastern Congolese province of Ituri, International Christian Concern reports.
Two Christian men were flogged by a Sharia law officer Monday for the criminalized offenses of drinking alcohol and gambling in Indonesia’s province of Aceh, the Christian Post reports. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia with the “legal right to apply Islamic law in full.”
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has reported that, even in the midst of coronavirus lockdowns affecting the whole country for months, there were over 300 incidents of religious persecution against Christians in India last year, International Christian Concern said. In its report, EFI noted that Christian persecution has more than doubled since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi and his right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
The Boko Haram Islamic terrorist group sent a young girl to murder 12 farmers in a “suicide” attack in the Mayo Tsanaga area of Northern Cameroon on January 8, 2021, International Christian Persecution (ICC) reports.
In regions where Christians risk intense persecution and even death because of their faith, Wycliffe Associates is helping believers translate the Bible for their language communities through its Tablets for National Translators initiative.