It’s been a tough time to be a Christian in Laos.
In Luang Namtha Province, Pastor Seng Aroun of Kon church and three other Christians from Sounya village were arrested in July by provincial authorities and detained at Luang Namtha’s provincial prison. Although most were soon released, the authorities ordered all Christians in Sounya village to stop worshiping in private homes, according to Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom.
Last month, in June, the Burmese (Myanmar) military ended a 17-year ceasefire causing more than 20,000 civilians to flee their homes in Kachin state, Worthy News has learned.
Police arrested three pastors of the Gospel Messengers Team along with the couple who hosted them in Bighapur on false charges of forcibly converting people of other religions.
Several Gospel for Asia missionaries are encountering intense opposition, but persecution is not uncommon in this part of the world: entire families have been forced to leave their homes and villages because of the cause of Christ.
Vietnamese security forces beheaded pastors and shot to death “many” other Hmong Christians who gathered to await Christ’s return after a false prophecy by an American preacher, according to a leading advocacy group’s leader.
Two pastors arrested six months ago on charges of holding a “secret meeting” during a Christmas celebration without government approval languish in prison without a trial. Officials continue to offer them the option of renouncing their faith and walking free.
Afghani Christians are warned of “dire consequences” should American forces leave Afghanistan, Worthy News has learned. “If U.S. troops are not in Afghanistan the Taliban will come to power,” said Obaid S. Christ, an Afghan Christian exiled to India, said last Tuesday. “We will have the same situation we had in the 1990s when the Russians left Afghanistan, when we had civil war and millions killed.”
An international advocacy group urged the U.S. government Friday, June 17, to condemn Indian authorities for reportedly asking three American Christians to leave India because they allegedly participated in evangelism.
Christians in Pakistan remained fearful Thursday, June 16, after a court in Pakistan acquitted 70 Muslims who were suspected of killing Christians in one of the country’s worst sectarian clashes in recent memory.
Christian rights campaigners on Wednesday, June 15, demanded the immediate release of seven Vietnamese activists, including three Christians, who were convicted of “attempting to overthrow the government” and jailed to between two and eight years.
An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamic cleric to one year in jail for provoking hundreds of people to riot, attacking police and burning churches.
Nepal’s government has defended a proposed law that Christians say effectively bans evangelism and could lead to a crackdown on devoted believers.
An international Christian rights group has expressed “grave concerns” about increased violence against Christians and other religious minorities in Indonesia and urged the government to tackle Islamic extremism.
After abolishing Hinduism as its state religion, Nepal is now proposing a new criminal code forbidding a person from one faith to “convert a person, or abet him to change his religion.”
Pakistani Christians are troubled by a Bible ban from radical Muslim clerics whose own prophet had never outlawed it.
A tense calm returned Thursday, June 2, to a Pakistani village in Pakistan’s turbulent Punjab province after local Christians announced they had forgiven armed Muslims who attacked their church, mediators said.
Christians in Pakistan remained concerned Monday, May 23, over the situation of Pastor Paul Ashraf and his family after they reportedly narrowly survived a drive by shooting by suspected Islamic militants in Punjab province, seriously injuring their eldest son.
Christians in Pakistan remained on high alert Friday, May 13, as at least 80 people were killed and 120 others injured in two bomb blasts that militants said were to avenge the killing of terrorist Osama bin Laden.
An Indian evangelist and pastor still needed medical treatment Wednesday, May 4, a month after Hindu militants opposing evangelism beat him in front of his children in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Christians said.
There was uncertainty in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi Thursday, April 14, over where American evangelist Luis Palau would preach as authorities delayed permissions for a massive evangelistic festival planned this weekend.