A Pentecostal church in Yogyakarta, Indonesia has again been granted permission to build a worship center after a previous construction permit (IMB) was revoked by local authorities in 2019, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Renewing permission to build a church, the local regent also called for tolerance of other religions in the community.
Earlier this month a Christian youth leader in Sudan was reportedly detained and beaten by suspected national security forces because he spoke out against the January 3 burning of a church building, Morning Star News reports. The case highlights the continued vulnerability of Christians at a time of national transition from the brutal regime of Islamic dictator Omar al-Bashir (who was ousted in 2019) toward a government that seeks to root out long-term corruption and end religious intolerance in the country.
Two Christian congregations in central India were attacked on the same day by around 100 radical Hindu nationalists who stormed each of their worship gatherings on February 7, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. While there are no reports of the attackers being arrested, the pastor of one of the churches attacked was arrested and detained before being released on bail.
Sudanese authorities detained, mistreated, and threatened to kill a Christian leader who wants to rebuild a church destroyed in an arson attack, Worthy News learned late Monday.
A Canadian pastor is in police custody in Edmonton, Canada, after he refused to stop holding church services in defiance of local COVID-19 regulations, Christianity Today reports. Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church handed himself in to police on Tuesday last week, and twice refused bail conditions that he stop holding services that defy regulations.
In a scathing attack on Israel and its supporters, Rev. Frank Chikane, a leader of the World Council of Churches (WCC) told activists on a zoom call this month that “blood will be sought” from people who “support Israel to brutalize Palestinians,” Algemeiner reports. The list of participants to the February 6 call included highly influential activists such as Naim Ateek, founder of Sabeel, anti-Zionist authors Gary Burge and Don Wagner, Brian Grieves formerly a staffer with the Episcopal Church and Tom Getman, formerly of World Vision.
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.
Authorities say a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard has been deported from the United States. Friedrich Karl Berger arrived Saturday in his native Germany, where police were holding him for questioning in a case closely watched by Holocaust survivors.
Iranian Christian Ebrahim Firouzi who spent years in prison after abandoning Islam and was recently jailed, could be released this weekend, Christians told Worthy News.
At least 150 Christians remained jailed in Eritrea on Thursday after scores of more believers were unexpectedly released since late January, Worthy News learned.
Kenyan authorities have detained 10 people after five churches were set on fire in Kenya’s southwestern region, rights activists confirmed Thursday.
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.
Egyptian laws brought in since the 2011 revolution have resulted in significant restrictions on religious and other freedoms for Christians in the country, International Christian Concern reported Saturday.
The wide-reaching Equality Act championed by Democrats would put the hiring practices of faith-based organizations in “jeopardy” and will create additional religious freedom concerns for Christian schools, churches and ministries, a prominent legal nonprofit argues.
Arkansas has passed a new law that permits the governor to impose healthy and safety restrictions on churches, but only if those restrictions are applicable to all organizations and businesses, Christian Headlines reports.
Over 500 British churches have joined a UK-wide initiative to welcome Hong Kong residents escaping China’s increasingly oppressive policies in the city, the Christian Post reports.
A court in Somaliland on Wednesday extended the detention of four Christians for evangelism in the self-declared republic, which is mainly Muslim, trial observers told Worthy News.
Evangelicals in France are concerned a proposed law designed to end Muslim separatism and curtail Islamic extremism could end up infringing on Christians’ right to freedom of worship as well, Christianity Today reports.
A new census shows that the number of Protestants in Mexico now exceeds 10 percent of the predominantly Catholic population, Christianity Today reports. Mexico has historically been dominated by the Catholic Church and ranks as one of the most strongly Catholic countries in Latin America.
The government of Eritrea has released 70 Christians who had been in prison for between two to twelve years without trial, International Christian Concern reports. However, rights advocates do not believe this action by the military dictatorship signals a change in its abusive stance toward Evangelical Christians.