Leading rights groups and church officials will hold Thursday their annual protest and prayer vigil against the reported massive persecution of Christians in Eritrea for the first time online, amid ongoing coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Britain.
The brother-in-law of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced the death penalty for “blasphemy” against Islam, has been killed, local Christians confirmed Wednesday.
Describing Israel as a “deadly, cancerous growth,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei announced Friday that the “liberation of Palestine” is an Islamic goal, Jerusalem Online reported. The Ayatollah was speaking on the occasion of International Quds Day, a yearly anti-Israel, anti-Zionist event established by the Iranian regime in 1979 to express support for the Palestinian cause.
Sudan’s transitional government agreed last week to establish an independent national commission for religious freedom, The Christian Post reported. Together with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) group which fought against ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir, the Transitional Sovereign Council is forming the commission in order to “address all issues relating to religious freedom in order to affirm the principle of peaceful coexistence in the country.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked the Israeli government’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank and declared that the issue of Jerusalem was a “red line” for Muslims around the world.
Egypt’s government has recognized an additional 70 churches, but minority Christians fear more violence and threats in this mainly Muslim nation.
Iran has defended an anti-Israel poster published by the country’s leader calling for ”the final solution,” amid accusations that he wants genocide against Jews.
Pastor Tun N., who was abducted by rebels in Myanmar and thought to have been killed, has been reunited with his family, Worthy News learned Saturday.
In calling for the “elimination of Israel” on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini used the words ‘final solution,’ CBN news reports. The phrase Hitler applied to describe his plans for a Jewish genocide was adopted in a poster published to Khamenei’s website on the occasion of Quds Day, Iran’s annual anti-Israel event.
Four former Muslims who became Christians and part of Iran’s leading house church movements have been freed from an Iranian jail, Christian activists confirmed Thursday. Kathrin Sajadpour, Moslem Rahimi, and another Christian, of the ‘Church of Iran,’ were reportedly freed on a reduced bail of 200 million tomans ($11,500) this week, Wednesday.
Iranian officials have admitted that fire broke out at an ancient shrine viewed by Iran’s Jewish community as the resting place of the Biblical Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai. The announcement published by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) came after activists reported an overnight arson attack at the site.
The coronavirus pandemic made almost two-thirds of American believers of all faiths feel that God wants humanity to change how it lives, according to a new survey.
Dozens of villagers have been killed in the latest attack on Christian communities in northwestern Nigeria by suspected Fulani Muslim militants, rights investigators, told Worthy News late Wednesday. Among victims were reportedly five people who died when armed men of Fulani origin attacked Makyali village in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna state. One person was injured in Wednesday’s attack, added advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) in a statement.
Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s Plateau state shot a Christian school director in the head before shooting his wife in the back and his two children in the feet on May 5, sources told Morningstar News.
Rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Hungarian parliament’s rejection of an international treaty to combat violence against women amid a coronavirus pandemic. “This decision is extremely dangerous,” said David Vig, Amnesty’s Hungary director. “It comes at a time when reported domestic violence incidents in Hungary have doubled since the start of the [new coronavirus] COVID-19 lockdown” to halt the virus outbreak.
More than 1,000 people are reportedly fleeing their homes in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state after at least 13 Christians were killed in attacks and kidnappings by Muslim Fulani herdsmen. Local Christians identified the victims as members of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Catholic, Baptist, United Church of Christ in Nations (HEKAN), or Assemblies of God churches.
The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province has announced it will be compulsory for all students in all provincial universities to attend lectures on the Quran, The New International reports. The announcement has raised concerns for the welfare of the many Christian students in Punjab.
Christians in Nigeria continue to be murdered and kidnapped by Muslim Fulani herdsmen who also burn down homes and invade churches in their communities. One Christian couple was recently kidnapped from their own wedding ceremony in Niger state, Morning Star News reports.
A U.S. government advisory panel wants India on a religious freedom blacklist over a “drastic” downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering an angry reaction from New Delhi. In addition to India, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommends the inclusion of four more – Nigeria, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
In ongoing vicious attacks by Muslim Fulani herdsmen against Christian communities in Nigeria, two more people were killed and two others were kidnapped on April 22-23, Morningstar News reports. The herdsmen also burned down 25 homes and a church building in the raids.