General

Sudan threatens to arrest church leaders

January 18, 2012 Sudan Darfur, Khartoum, Kosti, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, Sharia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ

Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said. The warning in a Jan. 3 letter to church leaders of the . . . Read More

Tortured Ugandan girl regaining use of legs

January 17, 2012 Uganda Converts, Islamic extremism, Kampala, Kasese, Pentecostals, Uganda

A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps. Susan Ithungu of Isango village, Kasese district, had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along . . . Read More

Karnataka most dangerous state in India for Christians

January 13, 2012 India Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka

Attacks on Christians accelerated over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in the south Indian state of Karnataka, which was identified as the most unsafe place for the religious minority for the third consecutive year in 2011. With 49 cases of violence and hostility against Christians in 2011, Karnataka remained . . . Read More

Somali convert from Islam whipped in public

January 10, 2012 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Converts, Islamic extremism, Somalia

A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said. Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants . . . Read More

Death toll climbs in Islamist attacks in Nigeria’s northeast

January 9, 2012 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Gombe, Lagos, Nigeria

The number of Christians killed in an Islamic extremist attack here on Thursday (Jan. 5) has risen to nine, and over the weekend the same terrorist group killed at least 21 Christians in neighboring Adamawa state, sources said. Members of the Boko Haram group that seeks to impose sharia (Islamic . . . Read More

Myanmar’s Christian civilians attacked during Christmas

January 9, 2012 Myanmar Chin, IDPs, Kachin, Karen, Myanmar, Myitkyina, Panglong

Attacks on Christians in Myanmar continued into the Christmas season in Kachin state as Burmese Army troops killed a civilian and destroyed church property despite President Thein Sein’s order to stop the war against insurgents. A Baptist church in Loije, Bhamo district, held a funeral on Dec. 27 for 47-year-old Maran . . . Read More

Indonesia: anti-Christian incidents nearly doubled in 2011

January 4, 2012 Indonesia Banten, Bogor, Churches, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Nahdlatul Ulama, Pentecostals, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority. The Indonesian Protestant Church Union, locally known as PGI, counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up . . . Read More

Persecution increased most in Sudan, Nigeria, report says

January 4, 2012 Global News -- No Particular Country Abyei, Afghanistan, Alexandria, Arab Spring, Blasphemy, Blue Nile, Boko Haram, China, Copts, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hosni Mubarak, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Maspero, Nigeria, Omar al-Bashir, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Yemen

Sudan and northern Nigeria saw steeper increases in persecution against Christians than 48 other nations where Christians suffered abuse last year, according to an annual ranking by Christian support organization Open Doors. Sudan – where northern Christians experienced greater vulnerability after southern Sudan seceded in a July referendum, and where . . . Read More

Authorities again deny facility to Shouwang Church

January 3, 2012 China China, Shouwang Church

Authorities in China again thwarted efforts by Shouwang Church to lease a worship facility at the year’s end, and the Beijing congregation again met outdoors on Sunday (Jan. 1) – resulting in the arrest of 48 members, sources said. “The church tried three times to rent three different venues, but . . . Read More

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