Tensions remained high Monday in southern Laos after villagers armed with hammers and knives destroyed Christian homes and local authorities tied a pastor to a pole for preaching the Gospel, Christians said.
Christian investigators say they are concerned about a series of attacks against Christians in Laos, including the recent killing of a pastor and the earlier murder of another church leader.
Officials in Laos are continuing to harass Christians by arresting them and then imprisoning them without charge for several weeks before releasing them. Amid intensifying persecution of Christians, the communist-led Buddhist-majority nation now ranks 21 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
An evangelical pastor in Laos who had been told to cease his “Christian activities” was murdered execution-style at his home last week, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Continuing a systemic crackdown on Christianity in Laos, authorities in Khammouane Province arrested a pastor and five other evangelical Christians on Saturday as they gathered in a home to pray for the next day’s Sunday service at their church, Christian Daily International (CDI) reports.
There was concern Tuesday about the plight of a Lao church leader and five other Christians who were detained in central Laos amid a crackdown on Christian worship in the openly communist Asian nation, representatives told Worthy News.
Authorities in southern Laos have told dozens of Christian converts to leave their homes because their faith goes against “the dominant village religious belief in animism or traditional spirits cults,” Christians told Worthy News Thursday.
Christian villagers in southern Laos have been threatened with detention and “huge fines” if they continue their church services, well-informed Christians told Worthy News.
Over a dozen families and their pastor have been driven from their homes in a majority-Buddhist village in Laos because they have converted to Christianity, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
A Christian pastor in Laos was tortured before being murdered last month in an attack police was likely on account of his faith, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
A Christian widow in Laos is living in a forest with her children after local authorities expropriated her land and villagers burned down her home, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Twelve Christians were driven out of their home by village neighbors in the Buddhist-majority Asian country of Laos, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. Laos ranks 26 on the US Open Doors Watch List 2022 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
Five Lao Christian families are still waiting to be rehoused after local authorities in the communist Asian country demolished their homes, International Christian Concern reports.
A pastor who was jailed in Laos for more than a year after refusing to end his church services has been released, supporters confirmed Thursday.
Authorities in Laos have released a Christian pastor who was imprisoned for a year for holding church services without a permit, Mission Network News reports. Laos currently ranks 22 on the Open Doors Watch List of countries that persecute Christians.
Authorities in Laos have released a pastor who was jailed early last year for refusing to halt worship services at the church he founded in the southeast Asian country, International Christian Concern reports. Pastor Sithon Thippavong was freed on April 9 after just over a year in prison.
A Laotian Christian who was jailed after praying for a convert to Christ has recently died from complications after he was denied medicine while imprisoned for nine months.
Five church leaders in Laos were convicted last week of being “illegal doctors” after they prayed for a sick woman who later died, according to Morning Star News.
Six Hmong families who converted to Christianity were forced to leave their village after local authorities ordered them to renounce their faith, according to Barnabas Aid.
Local officials in Laos have arrested seven Christians for worshiping together on Sunday, according to Morning Star News.