Religious Liberty

Crackdown on Lao Churches Continues

Last church in Songkorn District targeted for closing, Lao authorities are pressing toward their goal of completely shutting down Christianity in their Communist regime.

Religious leaders renew call for hate-crimes legislation

WASHINGTON (ABP) — In light of newly released statistics reporting a rise in hate crimes, leaders of the Interfaith Alliance have sent a letter to U.S. senators asking for passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Justices consider Christian club’s use of public school facilities

WASHINGTON (ABP) — U.S. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Feb. 28 in a dispute over whether a Christian youth organization should be allowed to meet with children directly after school hours in an upstate New York public school. While the high court has before ruled in favor of religious groups using school facilities to discuss secular topics from a religious perspective, this raises new questions.

Religious Liberty Deteriorates During Wahid’s Impeachment Crisis

LONDON (Compass) — Mobs attacked five East Java churches, and six Ambon Christians were hacked to death in May in a sudden escalation of religious violence being played out in Indonesia against a backdrop of increasing political instability.

ACLJ Secures Additional Religious Liberty Victory For Minnesota State Employees

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) — The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, announced today that a federal appeals court has overturned a lower court decision giving three state employees in Minnesota the right to proceed to trial on their First Amendment claims against the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which punished them in 1997 for reading their Bibles during a “Gays and Lesbians in the Workplace” training session.

Kazakhstan: Prosecutor Issues Illegal Ban on Baptist Church

Two young men who lead a small Baptist church in the town of Kulsary, the centre of Jiloi district of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region on the Caspian Sea, have protested against an illegal order by the district prosecutor banning the church.

Kazakhstan: Prosecutor Issues Illegal Ban on Baptist Church

KULSARY, KAZAKHSTAN (ANS for KNS) — Two young men who lead a small Baptist church in the town of Kulsary, the centre of Jiloi district of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region on the Caspian Sea, have protested against an illegal order by the district prosecutor banning the church.

Baptist prisoner’s family pressured to convert to Islam in Turkmenistan

The wife and children of Baptist prisoner Shageldy Atakov in Turkmenistan have been told by the local mullah, administration officials and officers of the country’s political police, the KNB (former KGB), that they may not believe in Jesus Christ and must convert to Islam. According to a statement from local Baptists — passed on to Keston News Service by the German-based Friedensstimme mission — officials in the town of Kaakhka, close to Turkmenistan’s southern border with Iran, also warned Atakov’s wife, Artygyul, that the family home would be confiscated if Christians continue to meet there.

Southern Baptists ending talks with Roman Catholics

ATLANTA (ABP) — Southern Baptist leaders have informed the Roman Catholic Church that they are cutting off official conversations between the two groups that have been going off and on for 30 years.

House lawmakers introduce faith-based package

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Pressing forward despite criticism of President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers has unveiled the sweeping “Community Solutions Act.” The law would expand funding of religiously oriented social services and allow non-itemizers to deduct charitable giving from their taxable income.

Persecution of Christians Growing in the United States

More Christians died for their faith in the twentieth century than at any other time in history, says Christian Solidarity International. Global reports indicate that over 150,000 Christians were martyred last year, chiefly outside of the United States. However, statistics are changing: persecution of Christians is on the increase in the United States. What’s happening to bring about this change?

Rights groups fear French cult bill would curb religious liberty

5 July 2000 (Newsroom) — France is set to pass a law aimed at cults that human rights campaigners fear could lead to the persecution of minority religious groups and possibly make evangelism illegal. The bill, which was signed by all the Socialist members of the National Assembly, was approved on June 22 and now awaits Senate approval.

Two Chinese pastors in labor camp for holding meeting

25 May 2000 (Newsroom) — Two Chinese Protestant pastors accused of organizing an unauthorized Christian meeting are being held in labor camps near Beijing, a London-based religious rights group reported Thursday. Wang Li Gong, 34, and Yang Jing Fu, 36, are in two separate camps in Tianjing serving administrative sentences of one year, and one and one-half years, respectively, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said.

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