The Burmese army attacked two churches in one week in Kayah State, Myanmar, killing four and wounding eight refugees who were sheltering in one of the church’s buildings, International Christian Concern reports. The attacks came amid intense fighting between the military and local resistance groups in the wake of the February 1 coup.
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced on May 18 that people who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 do not have to wear a mask indoors at businesses and faith institutions, but will have to show a card certifying their vaccination status, Christian Headlines reports.
Despite a promise to authorize the church after its building was burned down, on May 27 officials in Sudan demolished a building belonging to the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in the city of Omdurman, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports.
Religious freedom advocates are awaiting a major ruling from the Supreme Court this month. It hinges on LGBTQ advocates trying to force a faith-based foster agency to violate its religious beliefs.
Evangelical Christians in southwestern Nigeria are still searching for loved ones after suspected Islamic gunmen abducted eight believers, aid workers said.
Christian villagers in India’s eastern Odisha State were recovering Tuesday after some 150 Hindu extremists attacked and destroyed their church building, advocacy groups said.
China’s Communist Party police beat up a Christian pastor in Guiyang, Guizhou province on May 23, leaving him critically wounded, International Christian Concern reports. China currently ranks 17 on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries that persecute Christians.
The secretary of the Atheists in Kenya Society (AIK) has resigned his position after coming to faith in Jesus Christ, Tuko Kenya reports. Seth Mahiga had served as secretary of the society for 18 months before resigning on May 29.
Pope Francis has changed church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes.
Christians in Tennessee appealed for prayers after a small plane crash killed Christian “Tarzan” actor Joe Lara and his wife, Gwen Shamblin Lara, the founder of a Christian diet program, the Remnant Fellowship Church, plus five other church leaders.
A church planter and his 3-year old son were murdered by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s Niger state on May 21, International Christian Concern reports. Leviticus Makpa, 39, and his little boy Godsend are among the latest murder victims in a country which Gary L. Bauer of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom described in April as a “killing field” for Christians.
Christians in the U.S. town of Greenwood are among those commemorating the 100th anniversary of a massacre that destroyed the prosperous Black neighborhood.
More Protestant churches closed than opened in 2019, a trend that is expected to continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly restricted church activity and religious services.
California’s embattled Gov. Gavin Newsom has been dealt a fresh blow after a federal judge ordered him to pay $1.35 million over the state’s draconian lockdown of 3,000 churches during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Chinese Reformed pastor serves 15 days of detention without trial for not obeying religious guidelines by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, well-informed Christians told Worthy News Thursday.
Algerian Christians are pleased that authorities returned a church building but remain concerned about a pastor and fellow Christian sentenced to two years in jail for “shaking the faith of Muslims.”
Nigerian Church leaders have appealed for more security after dozens of Christians were killed by Muslim nomadic herdsmen from the Fulani tribe and bandits.
The Republican-led legislature in Texas has approved a bill that will allow people to carry a handgun with no license, background check, or firearm training, CBS News reports. Although law enforcement groups have said the bill will endanger both the police and the public, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will sign the measure into law.
Christian rights activists are concerned about tensions in Sudan, where at least 14 people were reportedly killed in recent violence in the disputed oil-rich region Abyei.
Christians in eastern India mourn the death of an evangelical pastor who was reportedly killed amid ongoing anti-Christian violence in the Hindu-majority nation.