After police in the eastern state of Orissa confirmed this week that Maoists killed Hindu nationalist leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a Hindu extremist group circulated allegedly forged documents in an attempt to implicate a local church in the Aug. 23 murder.
Degar Montagnard Christians in Vietnam’s Central Highlands faced another tense day Monday, October 6, after investigators confirmed that a preacher was killed, apparently by Vietnamese security forces, as part of a crackdown on Christianity and ‘house churches’ in the area.
Seven Degar Montagnard Christians are among those being held in a Vietnamese prison after they were detained as part of a major government backed crackdown on ‘illegal’ house churches in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, their friends said.
Chinese security forces have raided an evangelical church, confiscating Christian properties including Bibles, hymnals, a large cross and the collection box, Christians said Wednesday, October 1.
An Eritrean evangelist who has been imprisoned since 2006 has reportedly told friends he may die soon as he receives harsh prison treatment because of his evangelistic activities among fellow inmates, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, September 25.
An international Christian aid group said Thursday, September 25, it has begun helping to rebuild a mainly Christian village in a remote area of Indonesia, which was destroyed by Muslim militants earlier this year.
The unprecedented wave of anti-Christian attacks that began a month ago continued in the past week with more incidents of murder, rape and arson, mostly in the eastern state of Orissa and southern state of Karnataka. Two Christians were also found murdered in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
An evangelist imprisoned since 2006 for his Christian activities is receiving especially harsh treatment because of his ministry to inmates.
Authorities were under pressure Wednesday, September 24, to investigate the death of at least four Christians in the Iraqi town of Mosul, amid signs of a fresh wave of anti-Christian violence in Iraq.
A closed-door trial in China will decide this week whether evangelical Pastor Zhang Zhongxin must continue serving a two-year forced labor sentence for his activities related to evangelism and training Christian missionaries, an advocacy group said Wednesday, September 24.
Without international pressure there is little to stop the Iranian government from ratifying a bill that will make “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, a capital crime, say human rights groups and experts.
After three weeks of widespread attacks on Christians and their property in Orissa state and other parts of the country, the federal government finally warned two states that their failure to prevent violence could lead to the imposition of “President’s Rule.”
There was concern Wednesday, September 17, about the whereabouts of possibly dozens of Degar Montagnard Christians who have been detained in Vietnam’s Central Highlands as part of a major crackdown on unregistered worship, friends said.
Several Baptist Churches in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan continue have been raided by police because they refuse state registration on principal grounds, BosNewsLife learned Monday, September 15.
The Iranian Parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of a bill stipulating the death penalty for apostasy. The bill was approved by 196 votes for, seven against, and two abstentions.
A Pakistani court has granted custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl to the Muslim man accused of abducting her, observers of the controversial case confirmed Wednesday, September 10.
An active Degar Montagnard Christian remained under house arrest in Vietnam’s Central Highlands Monday, September 8, after he was already forced to sign a statement renouncing Christianity and pledging to stop attending a local church, his friends said.
A land dispute led to two attacks on the headquarters of the Indonesian Christian Students’ Movement (GMKI) and its parent ministry, the Alliance of Indonesian Churches (PGI), last week (August 26 and 28).
Suspected Hindu militants set fire to several houses in India’s eastern state of Orissa Monday, September 1, where church groups said recent attacks against Christians left at least 36 people dead.
Native Christian missionaries were among victims in India’s Bihar State Tuesday, September 2, amid reports that hundreds of churches and homes were under water because of devastating floods, which have displaced some three million people and claimed at least 90 lives.