Islamic Fulani herdsmen in northern Nigeria wounded a pregnant woman and set homes on fire over the weekend after killing a pastor in attacks on Christian villages, Christians confirmed Monday.
A church elder was murdered, a pregnant woman wounded, and a home burned down in continued attacks against Christians in northern Nigeria by radicalized Fulani Islamic herdsmen earlier this month, Morning Star News reports. Nigeria had the highest number of Christians murdered for their faith last year, and ranks number one in the world for the number of Christians abducted by Islamic terrorists.
Hindu nationalists in Central India last month burned down the home of a Christian family that had been persecuted for years because of their faith, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Devoted Christians face a difficult Christmas season in Kazakhstan after legislators approved one of Europe’s harshest religious laws limiting worship or other faith-based events.
An Algerian court of appeals on December 1 upheld a hefty fine given to a Christian convert from Islam who had been charged with accepting donations without a license for the purpose of proselytization, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Hindu militants threatened more attacks against a Christian congregation in India’s southern state of Karnataka if it continues services ahead of expected “anti-conversion” legislation.
The Supreme Court looked likely on Wednesday to strike down a Maine law that excludes religious schools from a voucher program, strengthening parental rights to use taxpayer dollars at faith-based schools.
Following a massive outpouring of financial support this year, Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors USA is set to distribute 100,000 Bibles to persecuted believers around the world, Faithwire reports. Open Doors has been smuggling Bibles into countries that are hostile to Christianity since 1955.
The novel coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the public’s emotional well-being, but a newly released poll found that regular churchgoers report the highest levels of mental health while Democrats remain stuck at the back of the pack.
An evangelical pastor in Nepal received a two-year prison sentence for evangelism activities that violated the former Hindu kingdom’s anti-conversion laws, trial observers said Thursday.
Nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel have applied for religious waivers to avoid the COVID-19 vaccine but so far not a single one has been approved, publicly available Pentagon data show. This potentially paves the way for thousands of service members to be booted from the force in the coming months.
China’s ruling Communist Party is continuing its harassment of Christians by raiding house churches and detaining congregants: last month several believers from Shanghai and Sichuan were taken to police stations for questioning, and one woman was charged and detained, International Christian Concern (ICC reports).
Marcus D. Lamb, the co-founder and CEO of the Christian Daystar Television Network, officially died of COVID-19, but his wife defended his televised anti-vaccination views. He was 64.
An unnamed group has contacted Christians in Nigeria’s Zamfara state, telling them to close their churches or risk being subjected to “ferocious attacks,” International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. As Islamic militants continue to slaughter and terrorize thousands of Nigeria’s Christians, the country has been ranked number one in the world for believers murdered on account of their faith.
Daystar Television Network announced that its founder and president, Marcus Lamb, died Tuesday of complications from COVID-19. He was 64.
Just days after the United States removed Nigeria’s designation as engaging in or tolerating violations of religious rights, several Christians were killed by Islamic fighters, Christians said.
Christians in Afghanistan have reportedly turned off their phones and moved to undisclosed locations amid an ongoing crackdown by the ruling Islamist Taliban group.
Christian and government organizations have expressed fury at last week’s decision by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to remove Nigeria from a US list of countries identified as allowing or engaging in violent persecution of minority faith groups, Politico reports. Outrage at Blinken’s decision follows the bipartisan US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2021 report in which Nigeria is described as a “killing field for Christians.”
As Afghanistan descends further into chronic economic and political catastrophe, the nation’s Christians are facing hunger and even more severe employment discrimination than they were before the US withdrawal and the Taliban takeover in August, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Afghanistan ranked two on the US Open Doors Watch List 2021 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted – even before the Taliban took power this summer.
As the suppression of Christianity in India continues, earlier this month local authorities in Madhya Pradesh state imposed a ban on Christian religious gatherings in the Jhabua district, effectively shutting down over 50 house churches, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.