General

BJP win elicits mixed reaction from India’s Christians

June 19, 2014 India Assam, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Narendra Modi, Pune

From left to right. Indian President Mahinda Rajapaksa and new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting for bilateral talks in New Delhi, India. May 27, 2014 Mahinda Rajapaksa / Flickr/ Creative Commons India’s Christian leaders aren’t quite unanimous, yet, on the meaning of the May election landslide that swept . . . Read More

Kenya massacre prompts calls for increased security

June 19, 2014 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Kenya, Lamu, Mpeketoni, Uhuru Kenyatta

Following the June 15 massacre of dozens of people in a Christian-majority coastal village, Kenya’s religious leaders are urging the government to improve security in the country. “We acknowledge the anger and desperation of Kenyans arising from the spiralling insecurity and rising tension in the country,” said the Most Rev. . . . Read More

South Sudan’s transitional Government to aid crisis

June 16, 2014 South Sudan Bor, Dinka, East Africa, Juba, Nuer, Riek Machar, Salva Kiir, Sanctions, South Sudan, White Army

South Sudan has agreed to end fighting and pledged to set up a transitional government within 60 days and to resolve the conflict that’s caused a massive humanitarian crisis -resulting in thousands being killed and more than 1 million people fleeing their homes since December. In a rare meeting between . . . Read More

Why Christians are under pressure to exit Iraq

June 13, 2014 Iraq Islamic State, Jizya, Kirkuk, Kurds, Mosul, Saddam Hussein, Syria

Internally displaced Iraqi girl holding a children’s Bible. Kurdistan, November 2007.World Watch Monitor BBC reports have described ISIS ambitions to create an Islamist caliphate spreading from northern Iraq across to north-west Syria. If ISIS can hold Mosul and consolidate its presence there, it will have taken a giant step . . . Read More

Indonesian Catholic and Protestant groups attacked by Islamists

June 12, 2014 Indonesia Islamic Defenders Front, Java, Pentecostals, Yogyakarta

Muslims protest the building of a church in Java, Indonesia; December 2010.World Watch Monitor Two church group attacks within 3 days of each other in Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, have caused concern ahead of Presidential elections in July. They both occurred in Yogyakarta province’s Sleman . . . Read More

Mosul Christians tell of ISIS forces’ Iraqi takeover

June 12, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Ankawa, Baghdad, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Sunni, Syria

The radical Sunni Islamist ISIS forces continue their takeover of cities in Iraq. Many have fled possible clashes between ISIS and the Iraqi army, and the feared violence ISIS has already shown in places it controls, such as Syrian city Raqqa. Thousands are now in Erbil, 88km (55 miles) east . . . Read More

Up to 1000 Christian families flee Iraq’s second city

June 10, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Dohuk, Islamic State, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Syria

Christian families fled Mosul in February 2010 successive to at least 12 people being killed in anti-Christian violence. Some of the refugees gathered in this monastery in Al Qosh.World Watch Monitor A mass exodus is underway from Iraq’s second largest city Mosul after its seizure by the ISIS, the . . . Read More

Russian takeover of Crimea leads to inter-Church tensions

June 9, 2014 Ukraine Crimea, Donetsk, Kiev, Patriarch Kirill, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet Union, Sunni, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin

Reports of violence and intimidation by pro-Russian groups against non-Russian Orthodox Christians in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are beginning to emerge. According to Ukraine’s Liga News website, on June 1, a group of armed men in traditional Cossack clothes attacked the Holy Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate (the UOC-KP) . . . Read More

Pakistani Muslim NGO highlights forced conversion of Christian women

June 9, 2014 Pakistan USA, Women

Christian girl in Central Pakistan.World Watch Monitor A Pakistani Muslim NGO says that every year between 100 to 700 Christian women, “usually between the ages of 12 and 25 are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or third party”. In its investigative report “Forced Marriages & . . . Read More

Boko Haram suspects kill 200 more in Nigeria

June 6, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Christian Association of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Stephen Davis

Parents, whose daughters were abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State, receiving prayer messages of encouragement sent from Christians around the world; 18 May 2014.World Watch Monitor It is feared Boko Haram militants have killed at least 200 more people in a wave of attacks launched across Borno . . . Read More

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