Reports are emerging that underground ministries are losing contact with Christians in Afghanistan who are now living under the violent rule of the Islamic extremist Taliban, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The Taliban are violently opposed to anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity and, as most believers in Afghanistan are former Muslims, they face death, torture, and abduction if found.
The UK’s prosecution service has dropped charges brought against a street preacher who refused to stop his outdoor ministry during England’s first COVID-19 lockdown last year, Christian Concern (CC) reports. Christian street lay minister Mike Overd was due to appear in court this month after police issued him with a fine for preaching and offering prayer and Bibles in Somerset, southern England on April 2, 2020.
In continued governmental, systemic harassment of Christians in China, on September 4 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials raided a Christian music school in Heilongjiang province and took away the school principal, who has not been heard of since, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The CCP considers Christians a threat to its authority and seeks to suppress them through persecution and a nationwide Sinicization program.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is calling on Mexico to address a “culture of impunity” that has allowed two Protestant families from the First Baptist Church in La Mesa Limantitla to be threatened with forced displacement on account of their faith by Catholic community leaders, CSW reports.
Another three Christian men from a heavily persecuted believing community in Iran were arrested by Iranian intelligence authorities on September 5 and taken to an unknown location for interrogation, International Christian Concern reports.
While in grave danger under the new rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Afghan church is understood to be standing firm in the faith and hopeful for spiritual revival in their country, Global Catalytic Ministries (GCM) has reported on its Facebook page. GCM is a Christian organization dedicated to “Discipling Muslims in Restricted-Access Nations to Jesus Christ,” and is in close contact with the underground church in Afghanistan.
A Christian community in Nigeria’s Plateau state has held its first service since being attacked by Fulani jihadists in July, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Jebbu Miango gathered Sunday to thank God for sparing their lives during the attack which displaced 5,000 people.
The U.S. government has expressed concern after dozens of people were injured in clashes as the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro installed its new leader.
Christians stuck in Afghanistan face imminent death after the Islamist Taliban group announced on Wednesday, the formation of a government.
As the sustained slaughter of Christians in Nigeria continues unabated, Fulani herdsmen and local Islamists hacked and burned to death 40 Christians in attacks in and near Jos, Nigeria on August 25 and August 15, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Having refused to renounce his faith in Christ, a pastor in India’s Uttar Pradesh state was forced into hiding after a mob of 100 Hindu nationalists accused him of forcibly converting people to Christianity, International Christian Concern reports.
Christians in Myanmar are living in a conflict zone as General Min Aung Hlaing of the ruling Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) announced last month that the country is now a “Buddhist majority” nation, International Christian Concern reports. Myanmar believers are reportedly arrested, tortured, and killed by the Tatmadaw on a daily basis.
Christians in central India are recovering from injuries after hundreds of anti-Christian activists attacked them for refusing to abandon their faith in Christ, several sources confirmed.
Diverse American faith groups, including Protestant and Catholic churches, Islamic organizations and Jewish agencies are helping Afghan refugees who were evacuated to the US after the Taliban took over Afghanistan last month, Just the News (JN) reports.
Christians in central and northern Nigeria say they are mourning scores of fellow-believers killed in recent weeks by Islamic militants. They also remain concerned about ongoing kidnappings of Christian students, including in the nation’s troubled northeast, Worthy News learned.
Algerian Christian and refugee Sulieman Buhafss was arrested by Tunisian secret police on August 25, and sent back to Algeria over alleged involvement with the Movement for Self-Determination for the Kabylie (Le MAK), a political group designated by Algeria as a terror organization, Christian Worldwide Solidarity (CSW) reports. Le MAK is a group that aims to protect the rights of Algeria’s minority, mostly Sunni Muslim, Berber population.
A court in Iran has reduced the five-year prison sentences of three Iranian Christians who were appealing against their convictions for engaging in anti-Islamic propaganda, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports. Amin Khaki, Milad Goudarzi, and Alireza Nourmohammadi each saw their prison sentence reduced to three years, although their overall appeal was denied.
A young pastor in India’s Chhattisgarh state was beaten up Sunday by a mob of around 100 people enraged at his conversion to Christianity, The New India Express (TNIE) reports. India ranks 10 on the US Open Doors Watch List 2021 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
Referencing the ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria at the hands of Fulani jihadists, the Rev. Jacob Kwashi, Anglican bishop of Zonkwa Diocese said this month that “the government is fully in support of the bloodshed in this country,” Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
The director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom has stated that Christians in Afghanistan are being killed by the ruling Taliban Islamic extremists, Christian Today reports. Nina Shea made her remarks after the Taliban took over Afghanistan again on August 15, and as US troops prepared to leave.