Egyptian Sisters Win Christian Identity
Two young Coptic Christian women whose father had converted to Islam when they were infants have won a court battle in Egypt to retain their official religious identity as Christians.
Christian Persecution
India Hindu Militants Attack Orphanage, Children and Pastors Injured
Indian Hindu militants attacked a Christian orphanage of Hopegivers International (HI), one of India’s leading mission organizations, injuring orphans and three pastors, its president confirmed Thursday, February 2, following a weeklong investigation.
Eritrean Military Jails 75 Protestant Conscripts
Eritrean military authorities jailed 75 Protestant Christians yesterday at the Sawa Military Training Camp for ‘reading Bibles and praying during their free time,’ local sources in the small East Africa nation confirmed.
India: Serial Violent Attacks on Christians Leave Several Needing Hospital Treatment
Three separate attacks on Christians in Madhya Pradesh, central India, have occurred within a period of four days, leaving a number of people needing hospital treatment. Latest reports suggest that yet more attacks on Christians have since taken place in the communally tense state.
Palestinian Militants Threaten Churches and Close EU Office Over Cartoons
Armed Islamic groups angered by cartoon drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad in European media, threatened to attack churches and closed down the European Union Commission office in Gaza Thursday, February 2, as anger over the published caricatures spread across the Muslim world.
British Government’s Religious Hatred Law Defeated
The British Government was considering its options Wednesday, February 1, after parliament voted against its version of a religious hatred bill, amid pressure from evangelical Christians and others who feared the law could lead to religious persecution.
Iraq Christians Urge Western Caution After Bombs Destroy Churches, Killing 3
Iraqi Christians have urged Westerners to be carefull with public comments on Iraq after three people were killed in apparently coordinated bomb attacks against churches over the weekend, a major religious rights group said Tuesday, January 31.
Nigerian Churches Marked for Demolition in Zamfara State
‘For your information, the state Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, has ordered that your church should be demolished before his arrival in this town tomorrow. So, we shall carry out this directive tomorrow morning.’
New Tribes Mission Venezula Forced to Relocate Personnel
In order to comply with a resolution ordering missionaries to leave tribal areas, New Tribes Mission of Venezuela has begun relocating personnel.
India Christians Injured As Hindu Violence Rocks State
At least 18 Christians, including children, were injured when Hindu militants armed with sticks, rods and other sharp weapons broke up a Christian seminar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the fourth such incident in as many days, a Christian news agency reported Monday, January 30.
Two Churches Attacked in Sri Lanka
Two churches in Sri Lanka were attacked last weekend as threats from Buddhist monks continued amid tensions between the government and Tamil rebels.
Major Rise in Attacks Against Christians in India State, Survey shows
A US-based religious rights group said Friday, January 27, that violence against the tiny Christian minority in India’s north-central state of Madhya Pradesh increased by 45 percent during the last two years.
Azerbaijani Soldiers Desecrate Armenian Christian Cemetery
The Washington, DC-based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org, has recently been informed that the government of Azerbaijan has destroyed an irreplaceable medieval Armenian Christian cemetery in the Djulfa region of Nakhichevan.
Christians Attacked, Houses Burned in Orissa, India
A pastor and his cousin charged with attempted forced conversion in Matiapada village, Orissa state, were released on bail yesterday, while five Hindu villagers charged with assault and setting fire to the pastor’s house are still in custody.
UK Evangelicals Warn Of Persecution Threats in Britain
The Evangelical Alliance United Kingdom (EAUK), an umbrella group representing one million evangelical Christians in the UK, prepared Tuesday, January 24, a major campaign to “alert” believers to “the dangers of the proposed religious hatred (law) and other legislation.”
Indonesian Court Rejects Legal Intervention for Jailed Teachers
Judges at Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on January 17 ruled that the Child Protection Act is in line with the constitution and should not be amended. The Rev. Ruyandi Hutasoit had challenged Article 86 of the Act, used as the basis for sentencing Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun to three years in prison on September 1, 2005. The Christian Sunday School teachers were arrested in May 2005 after members of a local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI or Muslim Clerics Council) in West Java accused them of trying to convert Muslim children. Judge Jimly Asshiddique said Rev. Hutasoit had no right to contest the Child Protection Act, since he had not experienced any ‘direct losses’ under it.
India Local Government OK’s ‘Anti-Christian’ Weapons Distribution
The government of India’s largest northwestern state, Rajasthan, has withdrawn criminal procedures against most militants of an influential Hindu nationalist organization involved in the massive distribution of ‘tridents’, three-sponged spears that have reportedly been used to intimidate the Christian minority, BosNewsLife learned Monday, January 23.
Romance Leads to Communal Hatred in Assam, India
At this time last year, Noor Jehan Ahmed, 55, lived peacefully in the village of Nagaon, in the northeastern state of Assam. She and her extended household of 29 people formed their own Christian enclave within the majority-Muslim community.
China Top Lawyers Start Association To Defend Christians
Prosecuted Chinese house churches on Saturday, January 21, were expecting more legal support after a group of top Chinese lawyers and legal scholars announced the establishment of an association dedicated to defending Chinese Christians.
Christians in India Attacked at Bus Stand and at House
Hindu extremists attacked Christians in two incidents in the same district of Andhra Pradesh state on January 12 and 13, in one case dragging a pastor from a child’s birthday party and kicking him unconscious.