Afghan Christians are calling for prayer and international advocacy as they are now targets for intense, violent persecution by the new Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported Monday. The most recent call for prayer came through Mission Network News.
A mob of Sikhs and Hindus armed with swords and wooden rods attacked a church meeting in India’s Punjab state last month, breaking the leg of a pastor’s wife and slashing the head of a teenaged congregant, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. India ranks 10 on the Open Doors USA World Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
A group of Christians in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland have been released from detention after charges related to alleged crimes against the state religion of Islam were dismissed following prayers, Christians said Monday.
A UK court has dismissed the case against a female Christian street preacher who was charged with causing “harassment, alarm and distress” while preaching a message from the Bible outside a London subway station last year, Christian Concern (CC) reports. The Highbury Corner Magistrates Court ruled last month that preacher Hazel Lewis had “no case to answer.”
The leader of the underground church in Afghanistan has given a first-hand ground report, explaining that believers are in grave danger and that the Taliban have a “hit-list” of Christians they are searching for to murder, the Christian Post (CP) reports. Known as “Pastor X” for security reasons, the church leader gave his report to the Global Catalytic Ministries non-profit organization.
A pastor and his family in Malibhimdal, India have been driven into hiding following death threats by local Hindu nationalists enraged at their conversion from Hinduism to Christianity, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Persecution against Christians in India has intensified since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014.
Pope Francis has offered condolences to victims’ families after two Catholic nuns were shot and killed along a highway in South Sudan.
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.