Macedonia’s controversial new Religion Law was due to come into force Thursday, May 1, a move rights groups say is designed to prevent the Serbian Orthodox Church of gaining legal status and could target unregistered Christian groups and congregations.
Christians in several parts of Indonesia faced another difficult day Wednesday, April 23, amid reports that Islamic militant groups and local governments in Indonesia have closed at least 110 churches from 2004 to 2007.
There was uncertainty Monday, April 21, about the status of hundreds of Dalit Christians who church leaders said were likely forced to re-convert to Hinduism, in what organizers called the "first ever mass conversion" in India’s state of Tamil Nadu.
A Vietnamese Degar Montagnard Christian who refused to join the Communist-backed church in Vietnam’s Central Highlands has been tortured to death in prison, while other detainees were beaten for declining to renounce their faith in Christ, representatives told BosNewsLife.
Islamic extremist groups and local governments in Indonesia closed 110 churches from 2004 to 2007, according to religious and human rights organizations.
Hindu extremists in a village in Madhya Pradesh who have harassed and threatened local Christians beat the grandparents and aunt of a 15-year-old girl last weekend when the Christian family refused to allow the group to rape her.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan state on Thursday (March 20) passed a new "anti-conversion" bill with more stringent and arbitrary provisions than previous legislation stalled by objections from the former governor.
Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists stormed two Easter Sunday services and beat at least 16 Christians, including two pastors, in the Karnataka state capital of Bangalore and in Shimoga district.
A Provincial Council member brandishing a gun assaulted a security guard at a Bible college in Lunuwila, Puttlam district two weeks after an attack on 10 of the institution’s students seriously injured two of them.
Some fourteen Indian Christians remained detained in Bangladesh Saturday, March 22, weeks after completing a three-month sentence for unwittingly crossing the border while evangelizing, because India has not request their repatriation, news reports said.
Burma anticipated a nationwide boycott of upcoming Buddhist religious exams Thursday, March 20, amid reports that thousands of Buddhist monks have turned to Christianity.
Hindu extremists recently carried out a well-planned scheme to lure to a temple and forcibly convert scores of Christians from villages around this capital city of Himachal Pradesh state.
At least 15 Christian families in Laos remained unaccounted for Sunday, March 16, after security forces raided their villages and Hmomg church leaders were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, human rights investigators said.
Laotian officials arrested 15 Hmong Christian families in Bokeo district on February 22, a day before a court sentenced nine area Hmong church leaders to 15 years in prison for conducting Christian ministry and meetings that had grown beyond acceptable levels for communist officials.
There was concern Wednesday, March 5, about the apparent escalation of violence against Christians in Sri Lanka amid fresh reports of attacks against churches and other Christian institutions.
At least 125 Hindu extremists here yesterday attacked one of the oldest and best-known churches in Madhya Pradesh state, Masihi Mandir Church, brutally beating one of the fleeing members.
Vietnamese security police tortured and killed a Degar Montagnard Christian who was jailed for allegedly preaching the Gospel in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and participating in-democracy rallies in 2004, an advocacy group representing him said Monday, February 25.
Hindu militants have threatened to wage fresh attacks against Christians in India’s troubled state of Orissa on Tuesday, February 26, Christian leaders said.
Gunmen in Sri Lanka shot dead a young Protestant pastor in a contract killing ordered by a husband whose wife converted to Christianity, a major newspaper reported Sunday, February 24, citing a police investigation.
A Christian doctor described receiving various death threats while kidnapped recently by Islamic extremists in an area of Pakistan reeling from extremist violence.