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.
Indonesian police have charged a Christian man with the imprisonable offense of blasphemy after he uploaded a Youtube video which went viral and caused offense to local Muslims, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
A Christian youth was horribly burned with acid in a suspected anti-Christian attack in northern India’s Bihar state last week, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Christian persecution in India has intensified dangerously since the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014; India now ranks 10 on the US Open Doors 2021 Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted.
There was mounting concern Friday about the plight of devoted Christians in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian separatists reportedly banned more Christian books.
Christians in Aceh, Indonesia’s only province governed by Islamic Sharia law, have urged the central government to help prevent the demolition of churches, Worthy News learned.
Many of thousands of Afghan Christians are fleeing through mountains and other challenging terrains to neighboring nations amid fears they will be killed by Afghanistan’s ruling Islamist Taliban group, according to multiple sources.
The Christ Embassy at Blacktown congregation in Sydney, Australia has been fined nearly AUS $50,000 (USD $36,000) for breaching public COVID-19 orders on two occasions, ABC.Au reports.
Fulani jihadist terrorists murdered 37 Christians on Tuesday night during a raid on a village in Nigeria’s Plateau state, Reuters reports. With little opposition from the government, Fulani jihadists have murdered thousands of Christians in Nigeria, triggering international rights groups to warn of a genocide.
China’s communist authorities have jailed four Christian businessmen for selling audio Bibles amid a government crackdown on Christians engaged in “illegal” faith-related activities, trial observers told Worthy News.
While thousands of Christians now live in grave danger of murder at the hands of the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, an Afghan-believing family has managed to escape and arrive safely in Italy, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
The heavily persecuted house church Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in Chengdu, China was raided by government authorities again on August 22, and 28 members were taken away during a worship service, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Traumatized by the invasion of ISIS in 2014, Christians in Iraq remain nervous of outsiders, International Christian Concern reports. Constituting one of the oldest believing communities in the world, the Christians of Bartella near Mosul are reportedly wary of the influx of new arrivals to their district.
Following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban on August 15, Afghan Christians began fleeing to the mountains to escape the Islamist rulers, who reportedly have a hit-list of believers to kill and who are going door-to-door taking women and children, Fair Mission (FAI) reported.
A Polish-born Canadian pastor who faces a four-year prison term in Canada for leading church services despite coronavirus restrictions says the “tyranny” of formerly communist Poland has reached the West.