Members of one of China’s largest unregistered churches face a new crackdown by Chinese authorities after their leading pastor was sentenced to nine years imprisonment on charges linked to his Christian activities Communist-run nation.
The Czech Republic struggles with the aftermath of one of the most devastating and deadliest tornadoes in the nation’s modern history. Authorities said at least five people were killed and hundreds injured after buildings, including a church, suffered damage.
Several Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to the IRS Friday demanding the agency correct a ruling they say could have major implications for churches and faith-based organizations in the U.S.
Christians said Thursday they fear that the election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s president will lead to more persecution of religious minorities.
Security officials in Uganda have detained an imam who confessed to killing an evangelical church leader this month for evangelizing among Muslims, several sources confirmed Thursday.
The California-based rights group Vietnam Human Rights Network (VHRN) has published its 2020-2021 report, asserting that Vietnamese Christians are suffering persecution, including imprisonment and land confiscation at the hands of the country’s communist government, ICC reports.
Christians are among other persecuted religious minorities in Bangladesh who continue to actively protest the 1988 constitutional amendment that established Islam as the country’s state religion, the Christian Post reports.
As violent conflicts between the Burmese army and local forces in Myanmar continue unabated, five civilians sheltering in churches were recently killed as an increasing number of church buildings in Kayah and Shan states have been attacked in the fighting, International Christian Concern reports. Kayah state has one of the largest communities of Christians in Myanmar.
Evangelicals in Argentina have expressed alarm at a “blacklist” that appeared temporarily online of some 400 Argentinian individuals, churches and Christian organizations deemed “reactionary right” and “anti-democratic.”
A radical Islamist has confessed to the June 11 murder in Uganda’s Mpingire Sub-County of 70-year-old Bishop Francis Obo, senior pastor of Mpingire Pentecostal Revival Church Ministries International, Morning Star News reports. A resident of Odapako village, Mpingire Sub-County, the bishop oversaw 17 churches and is survived by his wife, Christine Obo, and 13 children.
Thousands have been displayed, and many face starvation after Myanmar’s army attacked internally displaced people (IDP) camps in the country’s Christian-majority Chin State, aid workers confirmed.
Armenians began voting Sunday in early parliamentary elections amid mounting tensions over their country’s military defeat in fighting against Azerbaijan over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia’s acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, hopes the elections will restore trust in him.
The Internal Revenue Service has denied tax-exempt status to the non-profit political activism group Christians Engaged, asserting that the group’s Bible teachings typically align with Republican party policies, and that it engages in “prohibited political campaign intervention.” The Texas-based organization is appealing the decision, asserting that the IRS denied tax exemption because Christians Engaged “teaches biblical values.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning state agencies and public officials from closing houses of worship.
Recent accusations by Vietnamese government authorities that Christians are responsible for spreading COVID-19 in the country may have caused long-lasting damage to Vietnam’s Evangelical community, Morning Star News.
Boko Haram Islamic terrorists in Nigeria’s Plateau State have released a Christian pastor they abducted last year, Our Nigeria reports. The release of Reverend Polycarp Zango is a flicker of light in a country that was recently described by US officials as a “killing field for Christians.”
Nevada is to pay Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley church $175,000 for legal fees it incurred in its lawsuit against state COVID-19 restrictions on houses of worship, the Christian Post reports. The Nevada Board of Examiners unanimously approved a request from the Office of the Attorney General to pay the funds as the result of a tort claim.
Christian leaders in India and Nepal are dying of COVID-19 at such a rate that “scores of Christian ministries” are in danger of closing as there is no one to lead them, aid workers say. ‘Black fungus’ now poses an additional deadly threat in India, where thousands of pastors and other Christian leaders reportedly died.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, is assisting with printing and distributing newly translated Scriptures through its Print On Demand initiative.
Christian aid workers are rushing dry food parcels to several nations amid concerns that many Christians face starvation.