Christian prisoners in Iran were treated to a rare act of mercy by the state as the country’s judiciary granted them 10 days’ leave to be with their families during the Christmas holidays, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reports.
China’s Communist regime has announced harsh new restrictions to online religious activities, effectively banning online church services for Chinese believers that are not part of the state-approved Three-Self church movement, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The move follows China’s prior banning of in-person religious gatherings, supposedly due to the pandemic.
The intensifying persecution of believers by Hindu nationalists in India has now even caught the attention of mainstream international media, with the Guardian UK joining Christian organizations in reporting on a spate of attacks against Christianity in the country over the Christmas period.
A British pastor who was fined over £16,000 for running her ministry to the homeless during a UK lockdown was told this month that the prosecution has withdrawn the case against her, Christian Legal Centre reports. Pastor Chizumie Dyer, who runs her ‘Church on the Streets’ ministry in Nottingham, England, was issued fines by police in February 2021.
The pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas has extended forgiveness to a vandal who caused between $100,000 – $300,000 damage to the church building on Christmas Eve, CBN reports. Pastor Eric Borchers said the attack would not stop his congregation from enjoying Christmas services as parishioners rallied to clean up the damage.
A Somali-born Christian convert in northeastern Kenya is recovering after four ethnic Somali Muslims attempted to murder him for leaving Islam to follow Christ, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. The population of Kenya is 80% Christian but converts from Islam remain vulnerable to attacks from radicalized Muslims.
The international Save the Children aid organization reported Saturday that two of its members were missing in Myanmar after the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) murdered 35 civilians on Friday and burned the bodies beyond recognition, the Washington Times reports. The slaughter on Christmas Eve was the latest atrocity committed by the Tatmadaw in seeking to control Myanmar and impose Buddhism as the national religion.
Myanmar’s Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) burned alive at least 35 civilians, including elderly people and children, in Karenni state on Christmas Eve, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports. The Tatmadaw rogue army has been slaughtering and displacing non-Buddhists since it overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in a February 1 coup.
Five people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Christmas Day when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hotel restaurant in North Kivu, an area where Christians are known to live, Christian Today (CT) reports.
Hungarian churches and charities have begun distributing support to thousands of impoverished children, including those who lost parents amid the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Seventeen U.S.-based missionaries kidnapped in Haiti could celebrate Christmas in freedom after most of them miraculously escaped the street gang 400 Mawozo, who held them for two months, a spokesman said.
A bishop leading the first Christian TV network in Zanzibar has received government permission to broadcast its first Christmas programs on the Muslim-majority archipelago.
Christians urged prayers for a grieving widow in northern Mozambique after her husband, a pastor, was beheaded by Islamic militants.
China’s President Xi Jinping has declared that Christian leaders in the country must “immediately” implement new government directives on attaining close alignment with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) principles, Bitter Winter reports.
On December 19, Boko Haram terrorists affiliated with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) murdered 12 Christians in Borno state, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
China’s communist regime raided two more Christian schools last week, as part of its ongoing effort to suppress Christianity in the country, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Christians in India’s southern state of Karnataka anticipated a sad Christmas as details emerged of a perceived “draconian” law proposal against religious conversions.
Christians have helped to rebuild a church in the Syrian city of Raqqa that was destroyed during the 2014-2017 Islamic State reign of terror there, CBN reports. The Raqqa church was rededicated following an effort led by the Free Burma Rangers aid agency and the Grace Community Church in Fulton, Maryland.
Islamist militants decapitated a pastor in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique on Wednesday, and made his wife carry his head to a local police station, International Chrisitan Concern (ICC) reports. The atrocity was the latest attack in an insurgency that has killed over 3,000 Mozambicans since 2017.
A Christian pastor in Myanmar died during a brutal interrogation by the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) earlier this month, Myanmar Now reports. Following the February 1 military coup, the Tatmadaw is trying to violently impose Buddhism on the whole of Myanmar; Christians currently make up around 8.2 percent of the country’s population.