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.
Members of the Word of Life Pentecostal Church, human rights activists and some politicians have complained about the failure of the police or prosecutor’s office to take any action so far in the wake of last month’s attack on a Word of Life service in a cinema in the centre of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The mob raid – the latest in a long series of attacks on minority religious communities dating back to 1999 – was led by Basil Mkalavishvili, a defrocked priest of the Orthodox Church who enjoys de facto immunity from prosecution for his violent raids. (see KNS 26 September 2001) “We have not arrested Mkalavishvili,” the duty police officer at the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi district police told Keston News Service on 11 January. “Why should we?” His boss, district police chief Togo Gogua, confirmed later in the day that his officers had not arrested anyone in the wake of the latest attack. “I’m not the procurator and I’m not the judge. An investigation is underway,” Gogua declared. “They must be arrested,” the church’s pastor insisted to Keston. “It’s not a question of religious freedom but of hooliganism. Such hooligan gangs should not be allowed to exist.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
The Voice of the Martyrs rejoiced to learn yesterday that Chinese Christian “Sister Tong” has been released from prison following a 15 day prison sentence. A VOM worker in the area was able to pass financial support and encouragement to her.
An Assyrian Christian arrested a month ago for taking home videos in an ancient churchyard in Turkey’s heavily militarized Southeast was ordered released today by Diyarbakir’s State Security Court.
An American Christian working in Turkey has called for open dialogue on the issue of persecution of churches in that country.
Inescapably intertwined with Bible history, Egypt and much of her history has had great impact over the years on Judaism, then Christianity. From Joseph being appointed as second-in-command to Pharaoh, to Moses leading the Jews through the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula, to the infant Jesus and His family seeking refuge, the stories are familiar to us. Egypt’s recorded history dates back to 3200 BC. This land that straddles parts of two continents–Africa and Asia–rose to world wide prominence as a series of Pharaohs who ruled the Land of the Nile oversaw incredible feats of engineering that resulted in the … Read more
The letter below — the cry of a frustrated and persecuted Vietnamese Mennonite pastor named Nguyen Hong Quang — is an appeal for religious freedom in Vietnam and for support from the international Christian community.
Thirty-five house church Christians were arrested in Inner Mongolia and 15 were sent to labor camps after police raided a worship meeting being held on May 26 in Dongsheng, the Associated Press reported on May 30.