Real-time updates on incidents, legal cases, policy changes, and testimonies from the persecuted Church.
Protestant Churches Face Opposition In Ethiopia
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
by Geoff Stamp ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Compass)– A leading member of Ethiopia’s Protestant church says that freedom to practice religion is only “constitutional.” Yet despite ongoing persecution, Protestant churches are experiencing significant growth. “During the former regime of…
Gong’s “Accusers” Claim Torture Induced False Confessions
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
by Alex Buchan LONDON, January 31 (Compass)– In an attempt to ensure fair treatment of house church leader Gong Shengliang, six jailed female co-workers from the embattled South China Church authorized the release on January 29 of three…
Christian Converts Forced to Return to Hinduism in India
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
BANGALORE, India (Compass) -- Nineteen villagers who recently embraced Christianity have been forced to re-convert to Hinduism in the Korua village of Kendrapada district in India's Orissa state after undergoing sustained social ostracism from their fellow villagers. They…
Christians Surrounded in Central Indonesia
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
LONDON (Compass) -- A "second Ambon" is brewing in Indonesia according to Christian leaders as a 3,000-strong Muslim jihad force closes in on 28,000 Christians in Tentena, Central Sulawesi. Ambon refers to an area in eastern Indonesia where…
Christians Under Attack in Poso, Indonesia
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
Radical Islamic warriors are continuing their rain of terror on the Christians of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. A VOM source has confirmed that 21 Christian villages in the Poso coastal area have been burned and destroyed and at least…
Indonesia: The “Inside” Story
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
The events in Central Sulawesi are finally beginning to get the attention of major newspapers. An article in the New York Times December 1 said, "Thousands of Christian villagers on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are fleeing attacks…
Indonesia Central Sulawesi Under Jihad Attack
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
Jihad terrorists have mounted a campaign on Christians in Central Sulawesi, according to reports from Indonesia. For the past three months, jihad militants have been pouring into the area.
Indonesia: Temporary Deliverance; Renewed Troubles
Posted on Sunday, August 4, 2002
The gifts and prayers of Christians worldwide made quite a difference for Indonesian Christians under attack by Laskar Jihad extremists, says Jeff Hammond, Australian missionary directing a relief effort among 54,000 displaced believers in Sulawesi and Halmahera islands.
Coptic Church Attacked In Southern Egypt
Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2002
ISTANBUL, February 11 (Compass) -- Coptic Orthodox Christians who gathered yesterday to celebrate their first Sunday Mass in a small village church were attacked with rocks and firebombs by a Muslim mob near El-Minya, 140 miles south of…
Danforth appointment marks positive step on Sudan
Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2002
The appointment of former Senator John Danforth as special envoy to Sudan could result in positive action, according to The Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry organization focussed on serving the persecuted church.
Trial Detained Aid Workers On Hold in Afghanistan
Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2002
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) -- The German based Charity Shelter Now has warned the trial of its eight detained foreign Christian staff members in Afghanistan seems to have been put on hold. "No progress is being made," the evangelical…
China’s Persecution Dynamics
Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2002
A crucial paradox lies at the heart of China's persecution dynamics. Over the past 30 years, conditions have improved for Christians in China. But during the past five years, they have deteriorated markedly.
Chinese House Church Leader Granted Time to Appeal Death Sentence
Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2002
LONDON, January 7 (Compass) -- The forty-six-year-old founder of the "South China" house church movement, Gong Shengliang, was granted a reprieve from his death sentence, which was due to be carried out on Saturday, January 5. Gong was…
Sudanese Christians Attacked by the “Lord’s Resistance Army”
Posted on Friday, August 2, 2002
Sudanese Christian refugees living in the Maagi Refugee Camp in the Adjumani Resettlement area of Northern Uganda were attacked by 1200 members of the "Lord's Resistance Army" on Wednesday, July 17th. Five refugees were killed and 200 were…
South China Church Leaders Evade Execution
Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Leaders of the South China Church have had their sentences reduced by the same court that tried them the first time after a retrial was ordered by the Hubei Province Supreme Court.
Former Taliban Captives Tell How They Survived Imprisonment
Posted on Sunday, July 14, 2002
Former Taliban prisoners Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry told more than 1,800 attendees at the 42nd annual Minnesota Prayer Breakfast how they coped with their three-month incarceration in an Afghan jail.
Papuan Christians Fear Onslaught in Indonesia
Posted on Tuesday, July 2, 2002
Christians in the Indonesian province of Papua (Irian Jaya) are fearful that a violent campaign could be unleashed against them later this year as Laskar Jihad Islamic militants continue to flood into the province with the apparent collusion…
