Maoist Rebels Murder Protestant Pastor in India
Indian church leaders have condemned the killing of a young Protestant missionary and pastor by suspected Maoist rebels in western India.
Christian Persecution
Christians Flee Turkish Bombardments In Iraq
Iraqi Christians want prayers for Christian and Kurdish families suffering from Turkish bombardments and incursions in Northern Iraq, aid workers say.
Christians Rejoice As Sudan Scraps Death Sentence For Leaving Islam
Christian converts in Sudan are rejoicing after the transitional government scrapped legislation that made leaving Islam punishable by death, Worthy News learned.
Iraqi Christian community under threat of extinction
An international humanitarian aid organization has said Christians living in the formerly ISIS-controlled Nineveh Plains of Iraq are now in danger of extinction, the Christian Post reports. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published a report this week in which it states that political and sectarian tensions are driving Christians out of the area.
UK Appeals Court: Christian adoption agency cannot refuse placements with same-sex couples when it works on behalf of local government authorities
A UK Appeals Court has ruled that, while it is working with government authorities, a Christian adoption and foster care agency cannot refuse to place children with same-sex couples, the Christian Post reports. The Court ruled Tuesday that the Cornerstone Adoption and Fostering Service can recruit carers who identify as evangelical, provided it does not legally require them to be heterosexual.
Eritrea Detains Dozens Of Christians
Dozens of Christians have been detained in Eritrea in the latest government crackdown on devoted believers, advocacy representatives said Friday.
Turkey Expels Foreign Christians In Crackdown
Turkey is expelling foreign Christians as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to increase support from conservative Islamic leaders, rights investigators told Worthy News.
Christians arrested in Iran
At least 12 Christians are understood to have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG) in what is believed to have been a coordinated round-up last week, the Christian Post reports. Announced by Article 18, a UK-based human rights non-profit organization, the arrests were said to have taken place in the cities of Tehran, Karaj and Malayer on June 30 and July 1.
Man Killed In India For Not Rejecting Christ
New details emerged Thursday of a young Christian man who was reportedly murdered in eastern India for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ.
Media must do more to report on murderous violence against Christians in Nigeria
The EYN Church of the Brethren, the largest Christian denomination in northeast Nigeria, has reported that over 8,370 of its members have been killed and more than 700,000 displaced by Boko Haram terrorists in the country, CSW News reports. In a statement made on July 2, EYN National President Reverend Joel Billi said that from the end of 2019 to June 2020 alone there had been fifty attacks on different communities – and that these were largely “unreported or under-reported by both the print and electronic media.”
India Christians Flee As Mob Attacks Prayer House
Christian villagers in rural northern India have reportedly fled their homes after an angry mob attacked their prayer house and threatened to kill or rape believers. Five suspects were briefly detained, but violence continued, rights activists told Worthy News.
Standoff Over Leaflets, Bibles Send Into North Korea
A standoff over information leaflets and Bibles being sent by defectors and Christian groups into North Korea has flared up again.
National Security law is a ‘threat to Christians’ in Hong Kong
The imposition of a draconian national security law in Hong Kong this week has given rise to fears over the fate of Christians.
Iran Detains, Threatens, Dozens of Christian Converts’
Iran has detained or intimidated dozens of devoted Christians in recent days as part of government efforts to halt the spread of Christianity in the Islamic nation, investigators say.
Christian Converts Sentenced In Iran
Seven people who turned from Islam to Christianity have received prison terms, fines, or work restrictions in Iran for “propaganda against the state,” trial observers confirmed Wednesday.
Messianic congregation wins decisive legal victory against anti-missionary organization
After suffering many years of sustained harassment by anti-missionary group Yad l’Achim, the Beit Hallel Messianic congregation in Ashdod has just won a lawsuit against the organization, Kehila News Israel (KNI) reports. In a resounding victory for believers in Israel, a local court issued a restraining order against Yad l’Achim activists that prevents them, among other things, from coming within 100 meters of Beit Hallel property and congregants’ private homes.
Yazidis and Christians face existential threat in northeast Syria following Turkish intervention and US pull back of troops
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) heard last week that President Donald Trump’s partial withdrawal of American troops from northeast Syria in 2019 created a vacuum in which Turkey and Turkish-backed militia have been able to threaten local vulnerable civilian populations including Christians and Yazidis. Condemning Turkey’s latest airstrikes and ground operations in the region, the USCIRF called for the US government to “utilize all diplomatic and economic leverage to protect vulnerable religious minorities in northern Iraq — as well as neighboring northeastern Syria — from Turkey’s indiscriminate military operations,” the Christian Post reported.
Iran Christian Convert: ‘15 Christians Detained for Faith’
An Iranian Christian rights activist who was jailed for protesting against Iran’s Islamic government says more than a dozen Christians remain behind bars in the country’s overcrowded prisons.
Iranian Christians Risk Their Lives to Help Neighbors in COVID-19 Crisis
Religious freedom group Open Doors USA has been told that Christians in Iran are risking their lives to help fellow citizens with food and hygiene parcels during the coronavirus outbreak, Fox News reported Thursday. Known internationally for its radical Islamic terrorism, Iran is the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East.
Christian Family Shot and Injured in Pakistan
Two members of a Christian family have been shot and wounded after buying a house in a Muslim neighborhood, Christian activists said Friday. The shooting happened after Nadeem Joseph reportedly purchased a home in the TV Colony in Pakistan’s volatile northwestern city of Peshawar in late May.