Sixteen Christian families from a church in India’s Jharkhand were physically threatened every night for nearly three weeks by gangs of animist worshippers demanding they reconvert to the Sarna religion, Morning Star News reported on May 26. The families (around 130 people) have ancestral connections to the religion, whose followers worship a god called Dharmes.
Leading rights groups and church officials will hold Thursday their annual protest and prayer vigil against the reported massive persecution of Christians in Eritrea for the first time online, amid ongoing coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Britain.
The brother-in-law of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced the death penalty for “blasphemy” against Islam, has been killed, local Christians confirmed Wednesday.
Sudan’s transitional government agreed last week to establish an independent national commission for religious freedom, The Christian Post reported. Together with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) group which fought against ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir, the Transitional Sovereign Council is forming the commission in order to “address all issues relating to religious freedom in order to affirm the principle of peaceful coexistence in the country.”
Supporters of detained Iranian Christian Ismaeil Maghrebinejad say a court has increased his prison sentence for evangelical activities in Iran.
Egypt’s government has recognized an additional 70 churches, but minority Christians fear more violence and threats in this mainly Muslim nation.
Islamic militants have brutally murdered at least hundreds of Christians in Nigeria this year, a new investigative report claims.
Smoke and screams of panicked people filled central Hong Kong on Sunday as security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
Pastor Tun N., who was abducted by rebels in Myanmar and thought to have been killed, has been reunited with his family, Worthy News learned Saturday.
Tensions were rising Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded that states allow churches and other houses of worship to reopen from stay-at-home restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Saying America needed more prayer, Trump threatened to override governors’ orders though he faced constitutional limits to enforce these policies.
In calling for the “elimination of Israel” on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini used the words ‘final solution,’ CBN news reports. The phrase Hitler applied to describe his plans for a Jewish genocide was adopted in a poster published to Khamenei’s website on the occasion of Quds Day, Iran’s annual anti-Israel event.
Four former Muslims who became Christians and part of Iran’s leading house church movements have been freed from an Iranian jail, Christian activists confirmed Thursday. Kathrin Sajadpour, Moslem Rahimi, and another Christian, of the ‘Church of Iran,’ were reportedly freed on a reduced bail of 200 million tomans ($11,500) this week, Wednesday.
An Iranian Christian father and his young son were among hundreds of asylum seekers on their way to more freedom Thursday after Hungary’s government closed prison-like transit zones.
According to the records of a Nigerian civil liberties organization, Islamic militants have killed at least 620 Christians in the country since the beginning of 2020, CBN News reports. The International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (ISCLRL) published the number murders in a report which said militant Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram have stepped up violence against Christians in the old Middle Belt and Northeast regions of Nigeria.
An American pastor has arrived home after more than seven months of detention in India on controversial charges of tax evasion.
India-born evangelist Ravi Zacharias, who built a global mission group for the intellectual defense of his faith in Jesus Christ, has died of cancer in the United States, his family confirmed. The founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) was 74 when he passed away Tuesday at his Atlanta home.
An administrative court in France has overturned a government ban on meetings in churches and other places of worship. The case underscored broader tensions in coronavirus-hit Europe over religious freedom amid an ongoing pandemic.
Evangelical leaders have asked Congress to grant religious organizations immunity from potential negligence suits arising from decisions to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christian Post reports. Evangelicals joined some 300 interfaith leaders in signing a letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary last week, in which they suggested immunity granted could be similar to that given health-care workers.
A Christian woman was among many fearfully hiding Friday as parts of the Philippines were devastated by winds and rain from Typhoon Vongfong. “It is always scary,” Virgie Overdevest told Worthy News. “We already had a minor earthquake here.”
Churches across the United States are planning to defy bans on indoor worship and will open for in-person services this Sunday, May 17, Worthy News learned. The move is part of the “Peaceably Gather Sunday” initiative in which congregations seek a balance between safety against the coronavirus and worshipping without restrictions.