MANADO, Indonesia (Compass) — “There are no Christians left in Ternate,” said George Saselah, who had left his farm there to join his wife and newborn daughter in a refugee camp in Manado, on Indonesia’s North Sulawesi island.
LONDON (Compass) — Maluku’s head of police admitted that authorities cannot dislodge the hundreds of Muslim jihad fighters scattered throughout eastern Indonesia’s Maluku province and who have escalated the inter-religious conflict as Christmas approaches. More than 100 Christians were reported killed in November fighting.
AMBON CITY, Indonesia (BP)–The mournful horn echoes in the still air at 4 a.m. The call to prayer resounds off bullet-pocked walls and empty buildings. The Christian remnant in this Indonesian village awakens to cry out to God for peace.
WASHINGTON (BP)–The State Department’s second report on global religious liberty presents a challenge for the U.S. government to act against persecution, the chairman of a federal commission said.
by Michael Fischer HONG KONG (Compass) — A fundamentalist Hindu mob attacked a church in the eastern Indian state of Tripura on February 25. Church leaders say the Krishnanagar Baptist Church in the capital Agartala was attacked as Christians were attending the Sunday service. The mob forced the pastor to stop the service. The church is registered under the Tripura Baptist Christian Union. Delegates from the Union met with the chief minister of Tripura on February 27. Another meeting to resolve the issue was held on March 3 with the chairman of the Agartala municipality, officials and church members. But … Read more
HONG KONG (Compass) — Christians in Laos continue to suffer persecution from a government crackdown on believers, and they cannot visit friends or travel freely because the secret police follow them every everywhere. Some have been forced to recant their faith.
MORE CHURCHES DESTROYED IN NORTHERN NIGERIA Sharia-related Tension Continues to Breed Violence by Obed Minchakpu GUSAU, Nigeria (Compass) — At least five churches were destroyed during February in northern Nigeria as the controversial implementation of Islamic law continued in several states. St. Dominic’s Catholic Church was demolished on February 14 in Dashi, a village located 12 kilometers from Gusau, the state capital of Zamfara state. Zamfara Governor Alhaji Ahmed Sani had forcefully converted the church into an Islamic school in January. Christian Leaders told Compass that some of the persons who attacked the church have been arrested and that it … Read more
LAGOS, Nigeria (Compass) — Disturbed by some northern Nigeria states’ widespread declaration that they are Islamic states and have adopted Islam as the state religion, Nigerian Christian churches have resolved to go to court to challenge what they see as an onslaught on their rights.
ISTANBUL, April 9 (Compass) — Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province registered another questionable blasphemy case against one of its Christian citizens on April 1, jailing a respected high school principal for slander he allegedly spoke two months ago against Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. Pervaiz Masih, founding director of the Iqbal Memorial High School in Chelay Kay village near Sialkot, was arrested at his home on April 1 during a late-night police raid.
Protestant ministers in the United States generally believe that religious persecution is a major problem in today’s world, and they believe the U.S. should impose sanctions against countries where this is occurring. These findings have just been released from a research study conducted among Protestant clergy in America.
BEIJING (Compass) — Christian leaders in both the unofficial house churches and the registered “Three Self” churches in eastern China confirmed in June that their situation has become more difficult.
SANTIAGO, Chile (Compass) — The issue of religious discrimination is in the public spotlight in Chile, due to the case of San Pedro de la Paz, a town some 300 miles south of Santiago. There a Baptist lawyer named Raul Romero has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Education and Gospel Task Force for Chile because of evident acts of religious discrimination against evangelical students in the community schools.
The Voice of the Martyrs rejoiced to learn yesterday that Chinese Christian “Sister Tong†has been released from prison following a 15 day prison sentence. A VOM worker in the area was able to pass financial support and encouragement to her.
ANHUI
“Here we only have one registered church, which is packed out with people standing in the courtyard. However, since the church was opened, none of the accounts listing all the believers’ donations have ever been made public to them. The pastor has dismissed several Christians who originally were responsible for the finances. He also hands over the donations to the Religious Affairs Bureau to use. Not long ago, several elderly believers formed a church, but the Three Self pastor asked the Religious Affairs Bureau not to grant them a license and called the police to come and arrest them. Can such a church be blessed by God? How can it cause the gospel to spread?”
— Letter from a Christian in Anhui dated March 29, 2000
(AgapePress) – A coalition opposed to the special trade privileges for Communist China is urging the new administration to reverse the Clinton-Gore policy mistakes of the past eight years.
HONG KONG (Compass) — Zhang Rongliang, also known as David Zhang, is at large in China despite receiving a three-years’ hard labor sentence in December 1999. Reliable reports from central China say he was able to buy himself out of jail. But Born Again movement leader Xu Yongze remains incarcerated, despite having completed his three-year sentence on March 15, and 10 more house church leaders were arrested in southeast China in May.
LOS ANGELES, August 23 (Compass) — A Christian community center in Malaysia was set ablaze on July 21 by suspected Muslim extremists. The building was unoccupied during the alleged arson attack, reported local fire and rescue officials.
ISTANBUL (Compass) — The supreme leader of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia warned on January 8 that his regime will apply the death penalty to any Muslim who converts to another faith.
LONDON (Compass) — Last July, authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui moved to discourage Christian work with young people through an article that appeared in the local Anhui “Xinan Evening News.”
Paul Crouch got it wrong. In fact, Christian leaders only get it that wrong once or twice a decade. The last time a Christian leader visited China and swallowed and disgorged official propaganda so obligingly for his Chinese hosts was Dr. George Carey, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, in September 1994.