Thousands of Christians are to attend an evangelical Christmas Eve celebration in Vietnam despite difficulties with authorities, the latest in a series of “historic” Christian gatherings in the Communist-run nation, organizers said Wednesday, December 23.
Iran’s government has ordered one of the country’s largest Protestant churches to halt Friday services, while a pastor remains detained for protesting plans to “impose the reading of the Koran” on Christian children, Worthy News monitored Monday, November 9.
Citizens in the Dutch town of Amstelveen have condemned plans by local authorities to support a controversial Hindu festival that would involve praying to a Hindu goddess from India, in the heart of the town.
European ambassadors to Belarus have met with the leader of New Life Church in the capital Minsk to discuss “threats” by authorities to “destroy” one of the country’s largest evangelical churches by confiscating its building, a former cowshed, church officials said in a statement obtained by Worthy News Thursday, August 27.
Several Protestant Christians in Vietnam, including Degar-Montagnards, were uncertain Monday, June 22, where to worship as government forces raided and destroyed churches in recent weeks, church sources and rights investigators said.
A film about the life of the biblical Apostle Paul, which “clearly reflects the Gospel,” has been watched in Syria by over a thousand Muslim clerics and politicians, including a government minister, organizers said.
A Protestant pastor who says he was tortured while being detained in the Philippines has warned of widespread killings and other attacks against church members in the Asian nation.
Three elderly Christian men have been released on bail from a military prison camp and police facility in Eritrea, Christian rights investigators confirmed Friday, March 20.
Members of one of Belarus’ largest evangelical churches continued a five-day “fasting and prayer” action, Friday, January 30, amid attempts by authorities to seize their place of worship as part of an alleged crackdown on non-Orthodox groups.
At least two detained Christians have died this month in Eritrea after a “long period of torture” in a notorious military prison camp, while the number of Christians jailed in the African nation because of their faith approaches 3,000, a well-informed Christian rights group said Wednesday, January 21.
More than half of the United States’ Lutheran bishops were on their way to Israel Monday, January 5, amid international concerns that an Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip would lead to more suffering of civilians, including the territory’s Christian minority.
Over a dozen Christians will spend Christmas behind bars in China after police raided a Christian leaders gathering in Henan province, while in the capital Beijing two officials of the banned Chinese House Church Alliance were detained, an advocacy group and Chinese Christians confirmed Thursday, December 18.
In recent months Chinese officials have attempted to build bridges with the Protestant house church movement even as police raided more unregistered congregations, arrested Christian leaders and forced at least 400 college students to swear they would stop attending such worship services.
As the number of evangelical Christians in southern Mexico has grown, hostilities from “traditionalist Catholics” have kept pace, according to published reports.
Authorities in an Egyptian village arrested 50 Coptic Christians, whose shops were then looted, to pacify Muslims following violence that erupted on Nov. 4 over a Christian boy’s unwitting break with custom.
In violation of Vietnam’s new religion policy, authorities in Lao Cai Province in Vietnam’s far north are pressuring new Christians among the Hmong minority to recant their faith and to re-establish ancestral altars, according to area church leaders.
Concerns about the health and safety of the son of martyred Iranian pastor Hossein Soodmand are swirling around Ramtin Soodmand as he awaits trial for “promoting anti-government propaganda.”
Kyrgyzstan’s controversial new Religion Law was adopted unanimously by the country’s parliament Thursday, November 6, adding to concerns among small Christian groups and churches that they will be targeted by authorities.
Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan have begun destroying and banning Protestant churches, forcing an increasing number of Christians to meet and worship “underground” missionaries said Wednesday, October 15.
Belarus has banned a Christian music festival, initiated by Catholics, minutes before it was due to begin, a religious rights group said Thursday, September 25.