Two Foreign Christians Remain Held by Saudi Authorities

Terry Madison, U.S. president and CEO of Open Doors with Brother Andrew has said that Saudi Arabia’s treatment of two expatriate Christians is further proof of why this desert Kingdom is among the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.

International Church Attacked in Pakistan

Unidentified terrorists hurled grenades into a Protestant worship service in the diplomatic quarter of Pakistan’s capital city yesterday, killing five worshippers and wounding another 40 members of the congregation.

Azerbaijan: Believers Unhappy over State Committee’s “Illegal” Demands

In addition to their unhappiness over the very need for re-registration of religious organisations and the way the compulsory re-registration process has been run, believers of a variety of religious denominations have complained to Keston News Service over the demands made of them by the State Committee for Relations with Religious Organizations, which is handling the process.

Laos: Persecuted Believers Persevere

Christians in Laos still suffer from strict oppression of religious activity, according to recent reports, while at least one brother’s Christian work is being tolerated.

Vietnam: Christians Denied Right to Exist

Christians in Vietnam are virtually being denied the right to exist, according to a visit there by a representative of a Washington, DC, based ministry recently.

Bush ‘Worship’ at Shinto Temple Troubles Christians in Japan and U.S.

When President Bush entered the ornately beautiful Shinto Temple erected to house the spirits of the late Emperor Meiji he clapped once and bowed deeply, following the common etiquette of worship at such shrines. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Japan was left sitting in the car–forbidden from entering the shrine by a postwar constitution written by the U.S.

Indonesian Christians Face Tough Decision

Christian Aid’s contact in Indonesia said Sunday that Christians in some villages that have been taken over by Laskar Jihad militant Muslims are being offered the opportunity to leave their villages, but on one condition: They must relinquish all right to their homes, businesses and properties, and never return to their villages again.

Abductors Will Make Missionaries Human Shields

With the U.S. military assistance to the Philippine government to help rescue Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham from their abductors the Abu Sayyaf Group, an Islamic rebel leader told ASSIST News Service that the abductors will use the Christian missionaries as their human shields when a U.S.-Philippine military joint rescue operation commences.

Turkmenistan: Further Baptists Fines

Six members of a Baptist congregation in the town of Khazar (formerly Cheleken) were fined in mid-January for holding “illegal services”, Keston News Service has learned. The instruction to fine them came from the political police, the KNB (former KGB), the six were told. The Turkmen authorities routinely fine members of unregistered religious congregations for holding religious meetings, even if such meetings take place in private homes.

Azerbaijan: Two-Week Prison for Pentecostal Leaders

Amid growing pressure on Protestant congregations, two leaders of the unregistered Pentecostal church Living Stones have been arrested and given fifteen-day prison terms, Protestant sources in the Azerbaijani capital Baku have told Keston News Service. The two – Yusuf Farkhadov and Kasym Kasymov – were detained in Sumgait, a town close to Baku, when police and National Security Ministry officers raided a prayer meeting last Friday (18 January) held in a private flat in the town’s 9th micro-district.

14 Churches Slated for Demolition in Northern Nigeria

Fourteen Churches in Zamfara State, in Northern Nigeria are now facing demolition threat by the state government, which claims that there are too many Christian worship centers in the state. Zamfara state, which spearheaded the adoption of Islamic law in northern Nigeria contrary to the country’s secular constitution, is predominantly Muslim, populated with less than a five percent Christian population.

Worthy Christian News