General

Ethiopian Christians cleared of holding ‘illegal meetings’

September 8, 2015 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Baptism

An Orthodox church cut out of the rock in the town of Lalibela. North Ethiopia was one of the first Christian nations in the world – from the 4th Century.Courtesy Open Doors International UPDATE: On 26 Aug, four months after their initial arrest, a judge dismissed all charges against . . . Read More

Death threats target Turkey’s Protestants

September 4, 2015 Turkey Islamic State, Istanbul, Protestants

Fifteen Turkish Protestant congregations and their leaders have been targeted since 27 Aug. by a strident campaign of death threats sent to their Facebook, email, websites and mobile telephones. The threats followed the style and jargon typically used by the so-called Islamic State (IS), vowing to kill, massacre and behead . . . Read More

Four years of bombings in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

September 2, 2015 Sudan Abyei, African Union, Blue Nile, Darfur, Khartoum, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, Sharia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, SPLM-N

A makeshift blackboard in the Nuba Mountains, where Open Doors International reports that ‘daily’ and ‘indiscriminate’ bombardment has led to the destruction of Christians’ homes, churches, schools, hospitals and crops.Courtesy Open Doors International The recent trial of nine young Christian women in the Sudanese capital Khartoum for wearing trousers . . . Read More

Nepal on verge of curbing religious freedom

August 26, 2015 Nepal Converts, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Kathmandu, Maoists, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Religious freedom

The final draft of a new constitution was tabled in Nepal’s Constituent Assembly on 22 August amid protests by Hindu nationalists on the streets. They oppose the idea of secularism, which in the South Asian context simply means pluralism and equal treatment of all religions. It now needs approval by . . . Read More

Religious freedom a ‘reality’ in recovering CAR

August 26, 2015 Central African Republic Bambari, Bossangoa, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, UN

Left to right: Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, Msgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga and Rev. Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou received the 2015 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize at the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 Aug.World Watch Monitor The Central African Republic (CAR) is gradually recovering from the two-and-a-half-year crisis which ravaged the . . . Read More

Ethiopian Orthodox leaders jailed after protesting about persecution

August 25, 2015 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Churches, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Oromia, Protestants, Silte

A district court in Ethiopia has charged six members of an Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) with inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials and spreading hatred after it surfaced in the media that official complaints were made to the government about increasing persecution of Christians in a Muslim-dominated area in . . . Read More

Kandhamal couple’s shooting evokes darkest memories for India’s Christians

August 20, 2015 India Hindu nationalism, Hyderabad, Kandhamal, Maoists, Odisha, Police

Human rights groups claim a Christian couple were shot dead by Indian federal security forces last month, while they were speaking on the phone to their son on a mountain in the eastern state of Odisha – formerly known as Orissa. The alleged murder of Dhubaleswar (50) and Bhubudi (45) . . . Read More

Jihadists release Syrian priest, 22 elderly Assyrians

August 19, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Boulos Yazigi, Catholics, Hasakah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Sadad, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Five weeks after Fr. Antoine Boutros and his driver were kidnapped on their way to Sunday mass in southern Syria’s Suweida province on July 12, the Catholic parish priest has been released. Disclosure of the 50-year-old priest’s release on Aug. 15 came from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, . . . Read More

Calais church shows migrants’ ‘gigantic’ faith

August 18, 2015 Calais, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Migrants, Refugees, Sudan, Syria

A “contentious” church built in the midst of a makeshift refugee camp in northern France was featured on the BBC’s flagship Christian worship programme, Songs of Praise, on Sunday (16 August). The episode, available in the UK for 30 days on the BBC’s iPlayer, focuses on the “faith aspect” of . . . Read More

A migrant’s story

August 17, 2015 Eritrea Eritrea, Migrants, Pentecostals, Refugees

So far this year, more than 200,000 migrants have landed on European shores. Almost two-thirds of them have come from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea – countries where pressure on Christians is intense. As European politicians squabble over how to respond to the world’s greatest refugee crisis since the Second World . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye