There was international concern Wednesday, August 30, that a reported decision by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to further restrict evangelizing among Muslims would lead to oppression of evangelical Christians and other minorities in the Asian nation.
Leading Christian and secular human rights groups welcomed Thursday, August 31 the release of a church leader and a well-known Internet activist as part of Vietnam’s National Day of amnesty of thousands of prisoners.
Multiple attacks and arrests in recent weeks demonstrate ongoing hostility towards Christians in India. Police have cooperated with Hindu extremists, in some cases claiming “tremendous pressure” to charge Christian ministers with forced conversion.
Chinese authorities sent a female Mongolian missionary to a labor camp and dissidents, including a blind activist, to prison amid a crackdown on evangelical churches and political dissent, investigators said Monday, August 28.
Lina Joy, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, has gone into hiding after extremists issued death threats against her and the lawyers supporting her cause.
Prison authorities have “brutally beaten” Jorge Luis GarcÃa Perez (Antunez), an influential Christian dissident serving an 18-year prison sentence in Cuba on charges of “spreading propaganda”, he and fellow activists confirmed Friday, August 25.
A Muslim cleric has accused three Christians including a pastor of the village, 55/2 L, some 2 Kms from the city, of blaspheming the Quran, the Muslims holy book.
Two Protestant Christians have been arrested in southern Laos to stop them from pursuing their evangelization work, according to the Lao Human Rights Movement (LHRM), which is critical of Vientiane’s Communist regime.
There was uncertainty Saturday, August 26, about the fate of three Catholics sentenced to death for their alleged role in massacring Muslims after reports that they received an “indefinite” stay of execution from Indonesian authorities.
The Congress Party-led government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh has decided to enact a law banning preaching of any religion other than Hinduism in Tirupati, a “temple town” in large measure under the administration of its shrines.
Tensions remained high Thursday in India’s northeastern state of Manipur after a pastor was killed and five others injured when Indian security forces reportedly opened at a Baptist church.
Christians in China’s Zhejiang province faced another tense day Wednesday, August 23, amid reports that authorities destroyed another church building and arrested six house church leaders.
Hindu extremists on Sunday (August 20) beat four Christians, including a pastor, who were later arrested on charges of ‘forced conversion’ in Madhya Pradesh state.
Maronite Catholics attacked a newly-built, independent Baptist church near Beirut this month, mauling churchgoers preparing to host war refugees from southern Lebanon.
A Muslim ex-convict reportedly stabbed and killed a Christian cobbler northeast of Cairo saying he had planned to murder him because he was an ‘infidel’ who made a comment that offended him, BosNewsLife monitored Sunday, August 20.
Three computer users jailed for comments they made on an Internet forum and website dedicated to religious freedom in Vietnam have been released by Vietnamese authorities after a story by Christian news agency BosNewsLife sparked international protests, fellow activists confirmed, Friday, August 18.
Christians in a village near Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, continued rebuilding their shattered lives Friday, August 18, after Muslim militants attacked believers, including women and children, and threw hand grenades at the local church during a worship service, investigators said.
An ailing Christian evangelist serving a four-year prison sentence in Indonesia’s West Java province for allegedly defaming Islam has been abused in jail by Muslim militants, Christian investigators said Thursday, August 17.
Native Christian missionaries in India say recently passed anti-conversion laws in several states have added to an atmosphere of hatred against them and will makes it more difficult to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, BosNewsLife learned Thursday, August 17.
Missionaries on Wednesday, August 16, said Vietnamese authorities have stepped up attacks against predominantly Christian tribes in remote areas of the Communist-run country shortly after a Christian prisoner was allegedly killed by police.