Christian leaders are reported to be among people being detained in Cuba amid rare nationwide protests about the country’s lack of freedoms and worsening economic situation, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports. Responding to the demonstrations, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel has called for “revolutionaries” to fight against the protestors in order to defend the ‘Revolution.’
Police are investigating a suspected arson attack against the House of Prayer Alliance Church in south-east Calgary, Canada on Sunday evening, CBC News reports. A refugee from Vietnam, the church’s pastor Thai Nguyen said no one was in the building at the time of the attack, but that his congregation would still have to be “more careful” in the future.
A bomb attack seriously damaged the Memorial to the Bible in northeastern Brazil amid mounting anti-Christian sentiments in the South American nation, Christians say.
Evangelicals in Argentina have expressed alarm at a “blacklist” that appeared temporarily online of some 400 Argentinian individuals, churches and Christian organizations deemed “reactionary right” and “anti-democratic.”
Mexico’s Religious Affairs Unit has reported that 270 evangelical pastors have died of COVID-19 in the country, Evangelical Focus reports. Seventy-two Catholic priests, and 15 nuns have also died of the virus, the Unit reported.
The Canadian pastor who has been confronted repeatedly by law enforcement officials claimed over the weekend the garage at his private resident was set ablaze by arsonists.
The third church leader to be arrested in Canada this month, Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in southeast Calgary was arrested Sunday for holding a service in violation of COVID-19 restrictions. Local authorities said the arrest was made after weeks of attempting to collaborate with church leadership to address ongoing health concerns.
The pastor in Canada who last month ordered police and COVID-19 health inspectors to leave his church building was on Saturday arrested for holding an “illegal” service in breach of a new Alberta Health Services order.
Around 1,000 people attended a demonstration outside GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada on Sunday, to protest against the government’s physical closing of the church’s premises on the grounds it had violated COVID-19 restrictions, Christian Headlines reports. GraceLife is led by Pastor James Coates, who was arrested and detained for holding services in contravention of coronavirus regulations; Coates’ trial is set for May 3.
Seven Catholic clergy, including two French citizens, were abducted Sunday in Haiti, where kidnappers increasingly target churches, officials said.
The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that individual University of Iowa administrators are personally liable for monetary damages for breaching the First Amendment rights of the Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) student organization and removing it from the college campus.
Colorado baker Jack Phillips is back in court again, facing another lawsuit. For more than eight years, LGBT activists have targeted him for his beliefs. This time, he’s being sued for declining to bake a cake celebrating a transgender transition.
A new census shows that the number of Protestants in Mexico now exceeds 10 percent of the predominantly Catholic population, Christianity Today reports. Mexico has historically been dominated by the Catholic Church and ranks as one of the most strongly Catholic countries in Latin America.
Evangelical Christians in Mexico have been preaching the Gospel to their Syncretist Catholic neighbors, turning them toward Christ and away from idols, the Christian Post reports. According to a recent survey, the number of Mexican evangelical Christians has increased by 49% since 2010.
Pastor Karel Parra Rosabal, who was arrested and detained for 10 days in Cuba on the grounds that he leads an “illegal” church, has been released and told that all charges against him have been dropped, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports. Pastor Parra Rosabal leads the unregistered Fuego y Dinámica Apostolic Church in Jobabo, Las Tunas: the Cuban government refuses to recognize and register Apostolic churches.
The international Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) human rights organization has called for the immediate release of a pastor who is in custody in Cuba on what the group says are “trumped-up charges.” Cuban pastor Karel Parra Rosabal was arrested in Las Tunas on January 12 apparently because of his involvement with the Apostolic Movement, a network of independent churches that the Cuban government refuses to register, rendering them effectively illegal.
A group of Pentecostal Christians in Cuba’s second-largest city is without a place of worship after security forces reportedly destroyed their church and detained believers.
Government officials in Cuba have demolished an Assemblies of God church building and are preventing other churches from opening again after COVID-19 measures were lifted, Morning Star News reported Sunday. The Cuban government claimed the building was demolished to lay piping for a cement plant, but such infrastructure would have required the destruction of local homes and the relocation of residents: none of this has happened.
A Haitian pastor and his wife who had immigrated to the US were found murdered upon returning to their island as missionaries, the Christian Post reported Sunday. Pastor Jean Phillippe-Quetant (57) and his wife Erna Plancher-Quetant (54) were shot dead in their home during the course of an armed robbery. The couple are survived by five children.
A California Superior Court has ordered Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church to stop holding indoor services in defiance of county COVID-19 health regulations, Courthouse News reports. Giving his ruling on Thursday, LA County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff said he was making the order because “there is an immediate threat to public health and safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”