General

Indian pastor and pregnant wife attacked by militant Hindus

April 21, 2016 India Bajrang Dal, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals, Raipur

An Indian pastor and his pregnant wife were assaulted and their church set on fire on Sunday evening (17 April) after they refused to praise a Hindu god. Pastor Dinbanhu Sameli, 30, and his wife, Meena, 26, seven months pregnant, lead a church in the troubled Bastar district of the . . . Read More

UK Parliament votes that Islamic State commits ‘genocide’

April 21, 2016 Europe, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, UK

The UK Parliament has joined US Secretary of State John Kerry, US House of Representatives, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in describing the actions of Islamic State (or Da’esh) as genocide. A motion, passed on Wed 20 April by 280 votes to 0, . . . Read More

Pakistan court grants bail to chief suspect in oven killings of Christian couple

April 19, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

A Pakistani court has granted bail to the lead suspect in the brutal 2014 killings of a young Christian couple, burned alive in a brick kiln where they worked as bonded labourers, itself illegal in Pakistan. National outrage over their deaths meant the case had moved to Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court . . . Read More

Saudi Arabia limits powers of its religious police

April 18, 2016 Saudi Arabia Riyadh, USA

Saudi Arabia’s official religious police were ordered to conduct their affairs with “gentleness and lenience” in a new directive issued in the capital, Riyadh, last week. While most “offenders” will be Muslims transgressing in dress or behaviour, some two million expatriate Christians thought to be living in Saudi Arabia – . . . Read More

REPORT: The impact of Christians leaving Middle East

April 18, 2016 Iraq, Islamic State, Migrants, Refugees, Syria

War and persecution has led to a haemorrhaging of Christians from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Iraq. A new report highlights what the region stands to lose should Christians continue to leave. The report, compiled by a trio of Christian charities and a university, argues that Christians are an . . . Read More

Some Chibok girls alive, but families’ agony goes on

April 14, 2016 Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Nigeria, Stephen Davis, Trauma

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign to raise awareness of the kidnappings is launched in Nigeria, 2014World Watch Monitor Today (14 April) marks two years since the abduction of more than 200 girls from Chibok Secondary School in northern Nigeria’s Borno State. A video now released by the radical Islamist group, Boko . . . Read More

Bhutan – a ‘happy’ place, but not for all

April 14, 2016 Bhutan Buddhist nationalism

The visit of the young UK Royals, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (“Will and Kate”), to Bhutan is shining a spotlight on a small Himalayan nation perhaps best known for its own King assessing his country’s performance by factors which contribute to “Gross National Happiness”. But despite this apparent . . . Read More

Eritrean church leaders still in jail 12 years later

April 13, 2016 Eritrea Abune Antonios, Barentu, East Africa, Refugees

Although the tiny East African nation of Eritrea has a population of just 6 million, Eritrea is one of the leading sources of refugees in Europe. There are many reasons for this, but chief among them is a lack of religious freedom. The Eritrean government outlawed worship outside of Islam . . . Read More

UPDATE: A ‘shaming’ of Christians in Pakistan schoolbooks

April 12, 2016 Pakistan Balochistan, Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Madrassas, Punjab, Sindh, USA

Note: This report has been updated to include remarks made at the USCIRF announcement 12 April in Washington, D.C. The news Textbooks in Pakistan’s public schools have become more antagonistic toward Christians and other religious minorities in the past five years, a new report says. “The trend toward a more biased . . . Read More

Islamists close Indonesian church weeks after it opened

April 12, 2016 Indonesia Bekasi, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, Islamic extremism, Jakarta, Protestants, Santa Clara

In 2010, Bogor’s GKI Yasmin church was sealed and padlocked by order of the mayor and city government. They now hold Sunday services outside the church, and stage monthly services outside Indonesia’s Presidential Palace. To date, they have held 115 such services.World Watch Monitor An Islamist group in Indonesia . . . Read More

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