Real-time updates on incidents, legal cases, policy changes, and testimonies from the persecuted Church.
Belarus President Allows Christian Radio Show
Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003
Just over a month after he signed what critics call "Europe's most restrictive religion law," the president of Belarus has agreed to allow a Christian radio program to air daily in his ex-Soviet republic, an official said Tuesday,…
Free House Churches Banned in Belarus
Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003
Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Belarus have told Christians and other religious communities they can no longer hold meetings in their homes without prior permission, news reports said Friday, December 13.
Muslim Convert Butchered in the Holy Land
Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003
The body of a Muslim convert to Christianity who went missing in mid-July, has been returned to his family, slaughtered and cut into four pieces by Islamic extremists, according to a report from the Barnabas Fund which monitored…
Papua: Churches Burnt, 2 Pastors Killed in Military Crackdown
Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2003
Papua (Irian Jaya) is a former Dutch colony of Melanesian peoples on the western half of the island of New Guinea. Today, over 90% of all indigenous Papuans are officially reckoned as Christians. Papua was annexed by Indonesia…
Open Doors Asks For Prayers For Christians In India
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Given the climate of increasing violence against Christians and other religious minorities and recent laws that infringe their constitutional rights, church leaders in India have expressed regret over the United States government's refusal to designate India a "Country…
Compromise Reached in Vietnam Church Dispute
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2003
The Thu Thiem congregation in District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) has persisted in finishing construction of its new church building despite a police order in early June halting work at the site. Pastor Truong…
Pastor and Journalists Released from Laos Jail
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2003
A Lao-American pastor and two European journalists have been freed by the Laos government less than two weeks after being sentenced to 15 years in jail amid international pressure.
Christian Evangelist Escapes Kidnappers in Bangladesh
Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2003
The kidnapping of the Bengali evangelist known as “Moses” the last week of May confirms a worrying trend of violence against Christians in Bangladesh. An evangelist with Gospel for Asia (GFA), Moses was taken hostage by a Muslim…
Damanik Receives Three-Year Sentence in Indonesia
Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003
Judges have handed down a three-year sentence to Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, an Indonesian pastor accused of illegal weapons possession. Damanik and his defense team now have a week to decide whether they will accept the sentence or appeal…
Georgia’s Pentecostals Threatened With Death
Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003
Pentecostal Christians in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia are not allowed to gather for worship amid death threats, while a Baptist church was set on fire amid a government backed crack down against religious minorities, reports suggested Monday…
Secretive Survey Alarms Christians in Gujarat, India
Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2003
The government of India’s Gujarat state has again started gathering community-based information in villages of the Patan district in northern Gujarat, heightening suspicions among local Christians that census information will be misused by fundamentalist Hindu organizations to stir…
Saudi Arabia Deports Ethiopian Christian
Posted on Monday, June 2, 2003
Two and one-half weeks after an Ethiopian Christian was deported from Saudi Arabia for alleged “Christian activities,” a fellow Christian prisoner of Eritrean citizenship remains jailed in Jeddah.
Sudanese Priest Released in Khartoum
Posted on Friday, May 30, 2003
Six weeks after a Sudanese court jailed an Episcopal priest for refusing to tear down his own church, the Rev. Samuel Dobai Amum has been set free, with the legal process set in motion for his Khartoum North…
Brazilian Evangelicals Tried for ‘Hate Crime’ Violation
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2003
A heated debate over freedom of religion in Brazil has gone to court. Legal representatives of Umbanda and Candomble spiritist groups are pressing a lawsuit against Baptist pastor Joaquim de Andrade, 41, and Aldo dos Santos Menezes, 33,…
Four Christians Murdered in Colombia
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2003
Twenty-five armed men entered a rural church in northern Colombia Tuesday night, May 6, and murdered its 80-year-old evangelical pastor and three other believers, confirmed the head of the nations evangelical alliance.
Eritrean Protestants Arrested at Prayer Meeting
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2003
Asmara Police Jail, Punish 56 Prisoners Special to Compass Direct LOS ANGELES, May 8 (Compass) — Eritrean security police arrested two full-time evangelists and another 54 members of the Rema Church last night in Asmara, hauling them off…
Vietnam’s War Against Christianity
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Communist regimes like Vietnam have never been known for their tolerance of religion but recently in 2003 Hanoi has escalated the persecution of its “hill tribe” Christians to an unprecedented level. In the Central Highlands of Vietnam the…
Jordanian Christian Killed in Lebanon Attack
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2003
An Arab convert to Christianity was killed in a bomb blast last night outside his Tripoli apartment, adjacent to the home of a European missionary family thought to have been targeted in the attack.
