As Christians around the world face increasingly intense persecution, the number of Christian refugees being allowed entry to the US has dropped by 90% since 2015, CBN News reports. This year the Trump administration set the total maximum number of Christian and non-Christian refugees to be allowed in at 18,000. Historically, the yearly average was 81,000.
Indian church leaders have condemned the killing of a young Protestant missionary and pastor by suspected Maoist rebels in western India.
Iraqi Christians want prayers for Christian and Kurdish families suffering from Turkish bombardments and incursions in Northern Iraq, aid workers say.
Christian converts in Sudan are rejoicing after the transitional government scrapped legislation that made leaving Islam punishable by death, Worthy News learned.
An international humanitarian aid organization has said Christians living in the formerly ISIS-controlled Nineveh Plains of Iraq are now in danger of extinction, the Christian Post reports. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published a report this week in which it states that political and sectarian tensions are driving Christians out of the area.
Turkey’s top administrative court decided Friday that the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral, which eventually became a museum, can be converted back into a mosque. Christian leaders condemned Friday’s ruling.
A UK Appeals Court has ruled that, while it is working with government authorities, a Christian adoption and foster care agency cannot refuse to place children with same-sex couples, the Christian Post reports. The Court ruled Tuesday that the Cornerstone Adoption and Fostering Service can recruit carers who identify as evangelical, provided it does not legally require them to be heterosexual.
Dozens of Christians have been detained in Eritrea in the latest government crackdown on devoted believers, advocacy representatives said Friday.
Turkey is expelling foreign Christians as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to increase support from conservative Islamic leaders, rights investigators told Worthy News.
At least 12 Christians are understood to have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG) in what is believed to have been a coordinated round-up last week, the Christian Post reports. Announced by Article 18, a UK-based human rights non-profit organization, the arrests were said to have taken place in the cities of Tehran, Karaj and Malayer on June 30 and July 1.
After finding 40 churches connected to around 650 cases of the coronavirus, The New York Times is calling Sunday worship services “a major source” of COVID-19 cases.
New details emerged Thursday of a young Christian man who was reportedly murdered in eastern India for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ.
Churches and Christian non-profits were among religious organizations that received at least $6 billion in COVID relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) run by the Small Business Administration (SBA), Ministry Watch reports. In order to receive PPP funds, applicants must claim: “Current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.” PPP beneficiaries in the religious organization category also included mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship.
The EYN Church of the Brethren, the largest Christian denomination in northeast Nigeria, has reported that over 8,370 of its members have been killed and more than 700,000 displaced by Boko Haram terrorists in the country, CSW News reports. In a statement made on July 2, EYN National President Reverend Joel Billi said that from the end of 2019 to June 2020 alone there had been fifty attacks on different communities – and that these were largely “unreported or under-reported by both the print and electronic media.”
Christian villagers in rural northern India have reportedly fled their homes after an angry mob attacked their prayer house and threatened to kill or rape believers. Five suspects were briefly detained, but violence continued, rights activists told Worthy News.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, has received requests for 479 Bible Translation Recording Kits (BTRKs) that make it possible to complete an entire recorded translation of the Bible.
The imposition of a draconian national security law in Hong Kong this week has given rise to fears over the fate of Christians.
Iran has detained or intimidated dozens of devoted Christians in recent days as part of government efforts to halt the spread of Christianity in the Islamic nation, investigators say.
U.S. rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West, who claims to be a born-again Christian, says he will run for president this year.
The directors of GOD TV’s Messianic channel Shelanu are considering legal action against Israel’s media oversight council for falsely and publically accusing them of using deception to obtain their broadcasting license. Shelanu’s license was revoked after the chairman of Israel’s Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting wrongly stated the channel had presented its target audience as Christians when its actual purpose was to reach Jewish audiences with the Gospel.