Pakistani Christians said Sunday they remain concerned about violence triggered by false blasphemy accusations despite a sharp decline in registered cases following a government and military crackdown on hardline Islamist groups.
A Christian pastor and six others have been executed in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains after being arrested by an armed faction, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
Two Christians, including a young man and a father of four, have been killed in separate attacks in Pakistan, highlighting growing concern about violence and discrimination facing the Christian minority in the Islamic nation, well-informed sources told Worthy News on Sunday.
The Trump administration is pressing Egypt to protect religious freedom amid mounting concerns over attacks, imprisonment and discrimination targeting the country’s large Christian community, including converts from Islam and members of the ancient Coptic Church.
Iraq’s highest appellate court has ordered authorities to recognize a woman’s Christian faith in state records rather than the Muslim designation forced on her under Iraqi law.
Egyptian authorities have executed the man convicted of murdering a Coptic Orthodox priest, bringing to a close a case that shocked Egypt’s Christian community more than four years after the fatal attack, Worthy News learned Tuesday
Seven Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state have been sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment following accusations that they used a child’s birthday party to conduct unlawful religious conversions.
Christians in Nigeria were mourning Wednesday after dozens of believers were killed in coordinated attacks on villages in the country’s northwestern Kaduna State, with local monitors warning the death toll may exceed 60.
Three Christian men who were detained in Pakistan for allegedly “desecrating” the Quran, viewed by Muslims as holy, have been released after police and authorities concluded the allegation “stemmed from a personal dispute rather than an act of blasphemy,” Christian advocates told Worthy News Wednesday.
The United States has condemned the “horrific killing” of nine relatives of Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, a Nigerian pastor whose earlier appeal warned that “fear has become a way of life” in Nigeria’s violence-plagued Plateau State.
Christians in southern Egypt were recovering from shock and injuries Friday after a violent crowd attacked a Coptic church in the latest reminder of the pressures facing believers despite government efforts to improve their status.
Concern mounted Friday over the disappearance of a young Christian businessman in Pakistan and the continued imprisonment of two Christian men held for years on blasphemy charges, underscoring the challenges facing the country’s Christian minority.
Christians worldwide were urged to pray after Chinese police reportedly raided several house churches in the city of Yueyang in central China’s Hunan Province, detaining numerous believers in what advocacy groups described as the latest crackdown on unregistered congregations.
Russia has added a U.S.-based Christian ministry focused on evangelizing children and caring for minors to its list of “undesirable organizations,” raising concerns about the safety of its workers as well as churches and organizations using the ministry’s materials, sources told Worthy News.
Christian missionaries told Worthy News Wednesday that their “pregnancy support ministry” in Jordan has helped nearly 200 pregnant refugee women and girls over the past year despite war, displacement and, in some cases, pressure to abort their unborn children.
Outspoken Christians and other government critics are expected to face mounting pressure after Nicaragua’s long-serving President Daniel Ortega said the Central American nation will no longer hold elections, eliminating any possibility of an electoral challenge when his current term ends next year and further consolidating the power he shares with his wife, Rosario Murillo.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that could suspend American assistance to Nigeria unless its government takes measurable steps to protect Christians and prosecute those responsible for religiously motivated violence.
Pakistani Christian advocacy leaders have praised the European Union’s legislature for condemning the persecution of Christians and other violations of freedom of religion or belief in Pakistan and several other countries.
Chinese authorities raided a worship gathering connected to Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan province, detaining 33 Christians and holding scores of other believers—including elderly members and families with children—inside the meeting hall for several hours, according to a statement issued by the church.
Chinese authorities have intensified a nationwide campaign against Christians who worship outside state-controlled churches, arresting thousands of believers and targeting some of the country’s largest underground congregations, according to an investigation by The Telegraph.