Only 3% of Christian missionaries globally are focused on trying to share the Gospel with the three billion people living in communities that have never been reached or have been reached the least, with Christ’s message of salvation, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Christians in eastern India are questioning the sealing of their church building after authorities ordered the believers to stop gathering for worship, a rights group said Thursday.
A pastor and his wife are among the first Christians to face prosecution under controversial anti-conversion legislation that has been introduced in India’s southwestern state of Karnataka, while another couple faces similar charges elsewhere in India. Pastor V. Kuriyachan, 62, and his wife Selenamma, 57, were detained for two weeks shortly after Karnataka’s governor signed the legislation on May 17, for allegedly converting Hindus to Christianity, police and Christians said.
India is facing major diplomatic outrage from Muslim-majority countries after top officials in the governing Hindu nationalist party made derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, drawing accusations of blasphemy across some Arab nations that have left New Delhi struggling to contain the damaging fallout.
At least 30 Christians were imprisoned on false charges in India’s Uttar Pradesh state last month, as Hindu nationalists continue to abuse the state’s harsh anti-conversion laws and accuse believers of forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Nearly four months after their thatched-roof church building was torched, Christian villagers in central India have expressed concern that the suspect has not been charged.
Christian pastors in India’s Uttar Pradesh state were summoned to a police station earlier this month and ordered to cease all house church gatherings and religious activities unless they had a permit from the District Magistrate, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
A pro-Hindu news outlet reported approvingly on May 24 that authorities in India’s Odisha state shut down a church following complaints about local tribal residents converting to Christianity. Persecution against Christians in India has intensified greatly since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
A 15-year-old Catholic girl in Faisalabad, Pakistan was abducted by a Muslim man earlier this month and has now been forced to marry him, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Rights groups report that at least 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls and women are forcibly married to Muslim men every year in Pakistan.
Christians in India’s Chhattisgarh state are waiting expectantly for authorities to take action against a Hindu police officer who they believe burned down their church building earlier this year because he did not like their worship services, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. As persecution against Christians by Hindu extremists continues to intensify, believers report that obtaining justice is difficult because police officers are being radicalized by Hinduist hardliners.
Several Christian families in India’s eastern state of Odisha are still homeless and “in dire need of groceries” after Hindu extremists attacked them, several sources told Worthy News.
Eighteen Christians who were falsely accused in a five-year-old closed vandalism case in India’s Chhattisgarh state were re-arrested and jailed for several days in the same case before being ordered to reappear in court on April 29, Morning Star News (MSN).
A pastor in northern India is recovering from injuries after he was allegedly detained and tortured by police on false charges of converting people to faith in Christ.
The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says Afghanistan should be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to the persecution of Christians and other minorities.
The intensifying persecution against Christians in India has shown no sign of abating and, during the Easter holidays, Hindu extremists in Odisha and Chhattisgarh states violently attacked believers, destroyed homes and property, and harassed grieving relatives, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Police in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state have detained dozens of evangelical Christians for allegedly violating a law banning “religious conversion” after complaints by Hindus.
Radicalized Hindus in India’s Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday locked a congregation of 100 Christians in their church and then had 36 of them arrested and jailed on alleged forced conversion charges, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Christians fear devoted believers in northern India may face up to 10 years imprisonment if they are caught evangelizing among non-Christians.
A Christian pastor who is still recovering after Hindu extremists beat him almost to death in India’s Madhya Pradesh state in January is now facing eviction after his assailants told his landlord to throw him out of his home, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Christians in India have come under increasingly intense persecution since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
Five suspected Hindu nationalists broke into the home of a senior church leader pastor in India’s Chhattisgarh state on Thursday and murdered him, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.