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Assyrian Christians flee jihadists to southeast Turkey

March 27, 2015 Syria Armenians, Assyrians, Bashar al-Assad, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Qamishli, Syriacs, Turkey

A harsh Islamic State offensive begun in late February against Syria’s dwindling Assyrian Christian population is accelerating a steady trickle of Christian refugees trying desperately to reach safety in Turkey, northern Iraq and Lebanon. But their future is far from guaranteed as refugees in Muslim-majority Turkey, where according to Turkish . . . Read More

The man who talks to Boko Haram

March 26, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Gwoza, Kidnapping, Maiduguri, Nigeria, Pentecostals, Stephen Davis, Trauma

One year after the kidnapping of 232 Nigerian girls, Australian Stephen Davis still says his contacts indicate complicity among Nigerian politicians. A year ago April 14, Boko Haram kidnapped 275 girls from the government secondary school in the Christian-dominated town of Chibok, Borno State. Students reported to the Chibok Government Secondary . . . Read More

‘Are you ready to renounce your Christian faith?’

March 25, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chad, Chibok girls, Damasak, Goodluck Jonathan, Niger, Nigeria, Potiskum

Anticipation of further violence as Nigeria begins voting for its next president is growing after the release of a new video shows Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau threatening that the election ‘will not happen in peace’. The chilling message will alarm Christians from Nigeria’s northern states who live in persistent . . . Read More

Delhi protest marks 300 days of BJP in India

March 21, 2015 India Beef, Bihar, BJP, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Sangh Parivar

At a March 19 rally in New Delhi, Christian and Muslim activists unfurl a list of what they consider atrocities against religious minorities during the first 300 days of rule under India’s Bharatiya Janata Party.World Watch Monitor / Anto Akkara Two dozen Christian and Muslim groups were joined by . . . Read More

Boko Haram headlines hide persecution of Christians in mid-Nigeria, too

March 20, 2015 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Jos, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Plateau, Sharia, Taraba, Zamfara

The whole world has heard of the Chibok abduction: the 276 girls, predominantly Christians, kidnapped by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria in April 2014. There are 220 still missing. But the publicity surrounding this serves to hide a more widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Nigeria . . . Read More

Gunmen kill 100 Christian villagers in central Nigeria

March 19, 2015 Nigeria Benue, Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

While all eyes are on Nigeria’s north-eastern regions where the radical group Boko Haram is at last being challenged by multi-national military forces, violence targeting Christian communities in the group of states across the centre of Nigeria, known as the Middle Belt, has increased dramatically. This comes ahead of Presidential . . . Read More

Bombers kill 17, injure at least 80 in Pakistan church attacks

March 16, 2015 Pakistan Imran Khan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Kasur, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League, Pashtun, PTI, Taliban

At St. John’s Catholic Church, the bomber was kept outside of the courtyard by a security volunteer who dragged the attacker off the wall.World Watch Monitor At least 17 people were killed, and 80 others injured, as two churches in the main Christian district of Lahore, Pakistan, were attacked . . . Read More

Indian beef ban hits ‘untouchable’ Dalits hardest

March 13, 2015 India Bangalore, Beef, BJP, Dalits, Hindutva, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

A national ban on beef, the cheapest meat in India, would hurt all of India’s tribal peoples.Meena Kadri / Flickr / CC The west Indian state of Maharashtra, run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), caused a commotion last week when it received Federal approval to enforce . . . Read More

Four years since teenage graffiti sparks Syrian civil war

March 12, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Arab Spring, Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Daraa, Islamic State, Khabur, Syria

Four years ago this week a group of young teenagers with a can full of paint sprayed messages on a wall in the Syrian city of Daraa. They couldn’t have known it but, over the next nine days, their graffiti would escalate into the Syrian civil war, which reaches its . . . Read More

Iranian President’s broken promises to minorities

March 12, 2015 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Hassan Rouhani, UK

Christians in Iran are still regularly arrested, imprisoned and harassed despite President Hassan Rouhani’s promise of “justice” for religious minorities, according to a report launched March 10 at the UK Parliament. “All Iranian people should feel there is justice. Justice means equal opportunity. All ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, . . . Read More

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