General

Boko Haram killing spree claims 110 Nigerians

October 1, 2013 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Catholics, Jos, Kaduna, Nigeria, Sharia, Yobe

The militant Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of killing at least 110 people of various faiths across Nigeria during the past week, prompting the country’s top Catholic bishop to declare the rebel movement “has no limits.” On Thursday, Sept. 26, gunmen killed Rev. Augustine Yohana, a Catholic priest, and . . . Read More

Christianity in danger of becoming extinct in its birthplace

September 30, 2013 Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Free Syrian Army, Iraq, Islamic extremism, London, Middle East, Syria

Last month, World Watch Monitor released a report, Beyond Count, highlighting the alarming frequency with which Christians are fleeing the Middle East. Now a British historian has added his voice to those concerns. By Dr. Jenny Taylor Respected UK historian Tom Holland told a briefing in London this week that . . . Read More

Viewpoint: A country in confusion

September 27, 2013 Egypt Al-Nour Party, Arab Spring, Copts, Hamas, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood

World Watch Monitor / David Degner, Getty Images Markus Tozman, a graduate student of the Middle East at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, did research work in Cairo from 17 June until 16 August 2013. His views, contained in the essay below, are the product of information gathered from interviews, . . . Read More

Turkish military linked to Christian murders

September 26, 2013 Turkey Converts, Malatya, Trabzon

Memorial photo banner of the three slain Malatya victims: Ugur Yuksel, Necati Aydin, and Tilmann Geske, April 2008.World Watch Monitor Nearly six years into the court trial over the murder of three Christians in southeastern Turkey, documents have emerged confirming that secret military units were involved in those assassinations . . . Read More

Sudanese bishop pleads for end to suffering

September 25, 2013 Sudan Barack Obama, Blue Nile, Darfur, Kadugli, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, UN

Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail.United to End Genocide / Flickr / Creative Commons A Sudanese bishop has written to U.S. President Barack Obama, calling for prompt actions to save the lives of those still alive in the country’s Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur regions. Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail, the Bishop . . . Read More

Pakistan’s Christian leaders demand security after bombings

September 23, 2013 Pakistan All Saints Church, Faisalabad, Gojra, Gujrat, Islamabad, Karachi, Kasur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Multan, Narowal, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Ulema Council, Peshawar, PTI, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Sahiwal, Sialkot, Taliban, Vehari

Protesters took to the streets in cities across Pakistan following the church bombings.World Watch Monitor Anguish and anger has erupted across Pakistan since Sunday after two suicide bombers killed dozens of people as they were leaving church services. The bomb attacks took place at 12:15 p.m. on Sept. 22 . . . Read More

Jail term for Kazakh pastor extended

September 22, 2013 Kazakhstan Almaty, Astana, Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, Kazakhstan

A Kazakh pastor has been told he is to be detained for another month, four months after his arrest for allegedly “harming the health” of a member of his congregation. Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, pastor of Grace Protestant Church in Astana, the capital, was arrested on May 17, charged with the psychological manipulation . . . Read More

Colombian Christian leader accused of FARC affiliation

September 21, 2013 Colombia FARC, Juan Manuel Santos, Latin America

Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, pictured in 2012 at a Lutheran World Federation event in Bogotá, Colombia.Milton Blanco / Flickr / Creative Commons As peace talks continue between the Colombian government and Latin America’s oldest left-wing guerrilla insurgency, FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a case involving a prominent Christian leader . . . Read More

After the storm

September 20, 2013 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood

The charred remains of the Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Delga.World Watch Monitor A few days on from the Egyptian army’s re-establishment of state control over Delga in Minya province, the country’s Coptic Christians are beginning to reveal the extent of their sufferings at the hands of . . . Read More

Iran releases 2 Christians, but many more still imprisoned

September 20, 2013 Iran Hassan Rouhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Maryam Jalili, Mitra Rahmati, Mostafa Bordbar, Saeed Abedini, Shiraz

Two Christian women were among a number of prisoners of conscience released in Iran, ahead of new President Hassan Rouhani’s first address to the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Since his election in June, Rouhani has projected a tone that is less strident than that of his . . . Read More

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