Rights groups, including Release International, are warning that the persecution of Christians in Afghanistan will likely intensify now the Taliban have taken power and the US and NATO have withdrawn, Christian Today (CT) reports. The Afghan church had been driven underground by Islamic apostasy laws even before the Taliban takeover, but the situation is now reported to be “dire.”
Two US Supreme Court have stated that a defamation lawsuit by D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) offers the Court an opportunity to review its controversial landmark defamation ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), Fox News reports. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch are calling for the Supreme Court to hear the case specifically in order to revisit the high standard of “actual malice” that was set in 1964, and which they say has rendered it excessively difficult for plaintiffs to prove libel.
Afghanistan’s Islamist militant Taliban group pledged Monday that it would “respect the rights of women” if they respect its strict interpretation of Islam. “They can work and have education within Islamic law,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid during his group’s first press conference since taking control over Afghanistan.
The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan and local Christian pastors facing the threat of intensified bloody persecution are standing in faith while calling on the worldwide Body of Christ for prayer. “God has a purpose and a plan,” an Afghan pastor told International Christian Concern (ICC).
Hungary and Bulgaria broke ranks with the European Union on Monday as the only EU states not to sign a declaration calling for all Afghans wishing to leave to be allowed to do so.
As the death toll of Haiti’s devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake rose to more than 1,400, Christians were among those mourning victims.
Hungary’s prime minister has urged Hungarians to look after each other after a massive bus crash killed eight people and injured dozens.
Much of Europe endured record temperatures as soaring heat, dubbed the Lucifer anti-cyclone, moved in amid ongoing wildfires in several countries.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents say they have now seized more than 121 shipments containing more than 3,000 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine cards this year alone.
Tropical Depression Grace threatens to hamper recovery efforts in Haiti after a devastating earthquake claimed the lives of thousands as the system is forecast to dump inches of rain across the island.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said on Monday that teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools and universities violates both state and federal law.
Palestinian terrorists fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip toward the town of Sderot on Monday afternoon in what appeared to be the first such attack since May’s 11-day conflict in the Palestinian enclave, the military said.
In response to the Taliban re-conquest of Afghanistan, Hamas on Monday congratulated the Afghan people for “defeating” the US.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that the takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamist Taliban group went more quickly than anticipated. Still, he defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn country. “American troops should not die in a war that Afghans are not willing to fight for themselves,” he told the nation in televised remarks from the White House.
Heartbreaking reports emerged Monday of Islamist Taliban fighters going house-to-house to find people who supported the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
Three Christians have been imprisoned in India’s Uttar Pradesh state after Hindu extremists beat them up and accused them of unlawfully converting people to Christianity, Morning Star News reports. Persecution against Christians in India has greatly intensified since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
U.S. President Joe Biden was to return to the White House on Monday to deliver long-delayed remarks on Afghanistan, the White House said.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has sent a team of chaplains to the English city of Plymouth to offer prayer and counseling to residents devastated by Thursday’s mass shooting there, Christian Today (CT) reports.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) on Friday reinstated Timothy Christian Schools’ recognition status after having revoked it for non-compliance with the state’s universal indoor mask mandate, the Daily Herald reports. Updating its health policy to comply with the mandate, Timothy Christian said it had not outrightly rejected Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school mask order, but had been conducting “due diligence” to assess its legality.
Continuing its policy of “Sinicizing” the church and country, China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) arrested four house church school teachers in Wuhu, Anhui Province earlier this month, and charged them with conducting “illegal business operations,” International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. China now ranks 17 on the US Open Doors 2021 Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.