For many Western Christians, the mention of “Iraq” gives rise to mental images of Saddam Hussein and the Gulf War. Few realize that there are Christians in Iraq and that those Christians have arguably suffered more from the U.N. sanctions imposed after the 1991 war than from government oppression.
LONDON (Compass) — Mobs attacked five East Java churches, and six Ambon Christians were hacked to death in May in a sudden escalation of religious violence being played out in Indonesia against a backdrop of increasing political instability.
Two young men who lead a small Baptist church in the town of Kulsary, the centre of Jiloi district of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region on the Caspian Sea, have protested against an illegal order by the district prosecutor banning the church.
KULSARY, KAZAKHSTAN (ANS for KNS) — Two young men who lead a small Baptist church in the town of Kulsary, the centre of Jiloi district of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region on the Caspian Sea, have protested against an illegal order by the district prosecutor banning the church.
There has been a long history of persecution of minority Christians in Vietnam’s Western Highlands, where churches have largely had to operate underground since the communist takeover in 1975.
HO CHI MINH, Vietnam (Compass) — There has been a long history of persecution of minority Christians in Vietnam’s Western Highlands, where churches have largely had to operate underground since the communist takeover in 1975.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (BP)–I can’t believe I waited 41 years for this,” exclaimed Frank Ingram, pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Boynton Beach, Fla. about the Passover Seder his church celebrated with Kol Dodi Messianic Congregation on Palm Sunday.
Thousands of extremist Muslim fighters armed with automatic weapons are attacking Christian villages in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, burning churches and thousands of homes and sending residents fleeing.
Details emerging from recent detentions and interrogations of Christians in Brunei point to a growing government concern that the growth of “cults” in this predominately-Muslim nation could lead to political and religious instability.
Reports from Laos say authorities closed two churches in the southern part of the country earlier this year.
On October 16, 2000, twenty-one-year-old Liu Haitao from Henan province in central China died as the result of severe police beatings. Although the immediate cause of his death was a kidney ailment that flared up after police mistreatment and a harsh imprisonment, there is no question his death was the result of his witness for Christ, which makes him a martyr for the faith. Local Christians in the area plan to observe October 16 as a memorial day to the life of the young Christian.
Evangelical Christians blamed for the unrest in Vietnam’s Central Highlands in early February have been abducted, tortured and prevented from worshipping together by security police, according to reports from the region.
Two Christians were sent to jail yesterday for seven days on charges of “disobeying the police” in the town of Ismailly, 120 miles west of the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
The wife and children of Baptist prisoner Shageldy Atakov in Turkmenistan have been told by the local mullah, administration officials and officers of the country’s political police, the KNB (former KGB), that they may not believe in Jesus Christ and must convert to Islam. According to a statement from local Baptists — passed on to Keston News Service by the German-based Friedensstimme mission — officials in the town of Kaakhka, close to Turkmenistan’s southern border with Iran, also warned Atakov’s wife, Artygyul, that the family home would be confiscated if Christians continue to meet there.
A fundamentalist Hindu mob attacked a church in the eastern Indian state of Tripura on February 25. Church leaders say the Krishnanagar Baptist Church in the capital Agartala was attacked as Christians were attending the Sunday service. The mob forced the pastor to stop the service.
Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province registered another questionable blasphemy case against one of its Christian citizens on April 1, jailing a respected high school principal for slander he allegedly spoke two months ago against Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. Pervaiz Masih, founding director of the Iqbal Memorial High School in Chelay Kay village near Sialkot, was arrested at his home on April 1 during a late-night police raid.
The continued detention of 24 American aviators by the Chinese government should come as no surprise to Washington.
“The Chinese government is demonstrating its true color and unfortunately that color is Red,” says The Voice of the Martyrs spokesman Gary Lane.
ATLANTA (ABP) — Southern Baptist leaders have informed the Roman Catholic Church that they are cutting off official conversations between the two groups that have been going off and on for 30 years.
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Pressing forward despite criticism of President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers has unveiled the sweeping “Community Solutions Act.” The law would expand funding of religiously oriented social services and allow non-itemizers to deduct charitable giving from their taxable income.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP)–A 9-4 federal court ruling for Ohio’s motto, “With God, all things are possible,” is “an important victory for freedom and a sound defeat for those who want to strip our nation of its religious heritage,” constitutional attorney Jay Sekulow said.