American evangelist Franklin Graham has urged believers to pray for the “thousands of people desperately trying to escape from Afghanistan,” including Afghan Christians and up to 15,000 Americans as well as their allies. Graham, son of the late legendary preacher Billy Graham, appealed “after the country’s fall to the Taliban” group, which he called Islamic extremists.
Christians in Iran meeting mostly in secret house groups to avoid detection by police face new challenges as the Islamic government seeks more internet restrictions, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The international rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has publicly condemned a new law issued by the Cuban government which restricts freedom of speech online by criminalizing calls to peaceful protest and criticism of the government. Touted as a ‘cybersecurity law, Legal Decree 35 was published on August 17 in the wake of last month’s nationwide protests against the government.
In addition to being continually attacked by Islamic terrorists, Christians in Nigeria are persecuted by the government as well: a pastor’s son was shot to death in Borno state last week by government officials sent to demolish a church building, Christian Today reports.
Sudanese government officials have detained a shipment of Bibles by demanding customs fees from which it is exempt, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. The officials’ actions are cause for concern in light of the new government’s pledge to allow religious freedom in Sudan following the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Haitian Christians have issued an urgent call for prayer after another deadly earthquake violently shook their already-embattled island nation at the weekend, killing nearly 2,000 people and injuring and displacing thousands more, Christianity Today reports. Saturday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck as Haitians were still processing the assassination of their president Jovenel Moïse last month, an act of violence that illustrates the long-term death-grip that violence, poverty, and corruption have had on Haiti.
Islamist Taliban militants ruling Afghanistan have begun executing Christians who refuse to renounce their faith, a well-informed Christian broadcaster said Tuesday.
There was fresh hope Tuesday that Christian students kidnapped seven years ago in northeast Nigeria will be found after Islamist militants released two young women.
Rights groups, including Release International, are warning that the persecution of Christians in Afghanistan will likely intensify now the Taliban have taken power and the US and NATO have withdrawn, Christian Today (CT) reports. The Afghan church had been driven underground by Islamic apostasy laws even before the Taliban takeover, but the situation is now reported to be “dire.”
The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan and local Christian pastors facing the threat of intensified bloody persecution are standing in faith while calling on the worldwide Body of Christ for prayer. “God has a purpose and a plan,” an Afghan pastor told International Christian Concern (ICC).
As the death toll of Haiti’s devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake rose to more than 1,400, Christians were among those mourning victims.
Three Christians have been imprisoned in India’s Uttar Pradesh state after Hindu extremists beat them up and accused them of unlawfully converting people to Christianity, Morning Star News reports. Persecution against Christians in India has greatly intensified since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has sent a team of chaplains to the English city of Plymouth to offer prayer and counseling to residents devastated by Thursday’s mass shooting there, Christian Today (CT) reports.
Continuing its policy of “Sinicizing” the church and country, China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) arrested four house church school teachers in Wuhu, Anhui Province earlier this month, and charged them with conducting “illegal business operations,” International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. China now ranks 17 on the US Open Doors 2021 Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
On July 11th, a Cuban pastor by the name of Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, and his 17-year-old son, were arrested by State Security officers during a peaceful protest against President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s televised “military order” for revolutionaries to retake the streets by force. Although Pastor Fajardo has not yet been tried or sentenced, he has now been transferred to the Boniato Maximum Security Prison outside of Santiago de Cuba.
As the death toll of western Haiti’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake rose to 1,300, churches struggled to provide hope and relief to a wounded nation.
Dozens of devoted Christians have fled their homes in southeastern Bangladesh after militant Buddhists damaged their church, church sources say.
Jews and others believing in Jesus as the Messiah reportedly face attacks in southern Israel by followers of a strict Orthodox sect. Details of the incident in Arad emerged Thursday, with rights investigators blaming the Gur Hasidim group.
Three elderly “semi-retired pastors” have been arrested in Eritrea’s capital Asmara apparently, for their faith in Christ, an advocacy group said late Thursday.
As Fulani jihadists continue their sustained campaign of terror attacks against Christians in Nigeria, they have now attacked and destroyed a Christian orphanage in the country’s Plateau state, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.