Christians were facing an ultimatum in India’s troubled state of Orissa to turn to Hinduism or face expulsion from their villages or even death following weekend violence in which at least two people were killed, missionaries said.
A major crackdown against house church Christians is proceeding in Iran.
When the 11-year-old daughter of Antonio Gomez became ill of a stomach ailment, her father decided that it was due to witchcraft committed by his evangelical neighbor.
A land dispute led to two attacks on the headquarters of the Indonesian Christian Students’ Movement (GMKI) and its parent ministry, the Alliance of Indonesian Churches (PGI), last week (August 26 and 28).
A major umbrella group representing numerous Christian denominations in Nigeria urged authorities Tuesday, September 2, to detain those responsible for the burning of an evangelical church in Ilorin, the capital of this African nation’s Kwara State.
Suspected Hindu militants set fire to several houses in India’s eastern state of Orissa Monday, September 1, where church groups said recent attacks against Christians left at least 36 people dead.
Native Christian missionaries were among victims in India’s Bihar State Tuesday, September 2, amid reports that hundreds of churches and homes were under water because of devastating floods, which have displaced some three million people and claimed at least 90 lives.
A Maoist group today claimed responsibility for killing Hindu extremist leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples in Orissa state on August 23, saying that fanatical Hindus’ claims that Christians murdered him were “lies.”
The violence against Christians in India is continuing unabated.
One of China’s most outspoken evangelists, Pastor Zhang ‘Bike’ Mingxuan, was free Sunday, August 31, after he and his wife were released from detention by Chinese security officials, representatives said.
Authorities in Laos have ordered families of three detained Christians in Savannakhet province to sign documents renouncing their faith in Jesus Christ, rights investigators said Thursday, August 28.
A Christian human rights organization has been monitoring the situation in Orissa, India and receiving status reports from those affected by what it calls “this massive outpouring of hate.”
Two persons, including a woman, were burned to death, a pastor critically injured and at least a dozen churches torched as anti Christian violence rocked the Indian state of Orissa, officials confirmed Tuesday, August 26.
More than 600 churches have been demolished, 4,000 Christians forced to flee from their villages, and at least 25 killed as a result of violent persecution in the state of Orissa in eastern India.
An American pastor who disappeared after being detained by Chinese authorities for his involvement in human rights protests has arrived in the United States, but a key Chinese bishop leader has been detained, his friends and representatives said Tuesday, August 26.
At least one Gospel for Asia missionary has been attacked, churches and homes have been destroyed and Christians are fleeing for their lives in India’s Orissa state in the wake of the murder of a leading anti-Christian activist leader.
As the Beijing Olympics drew to a close Sunday, August 24, with televised fireworks and a multi-million dollar show, there was concern over rights abuses of Christians in Communist-run China, amid reports that an American pastor disappeared.
At least some nine Christian converts remained detained in Yemen Friday, August 22, amid international concerns they may be tortured or even killed because of their decision to abandon Islam.
On Sunday (August 17) a Muslim mob stormed a church service in Cipayung, East Jakarta, forcing Christians to flee and then erecting banners in the street declaring a ban on “churches and religious services.”
Anti-Christian extremists brutally attacked Rasul Sarvak, a Bible college student, and seven Gospel for Asia missionaries on India’s Independence Day, August 15. The mob became enraged after they saw Rasul passing out Gospel literature with a team of other students from the college.