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Churches evacuate and shelter migrants after fire devastates Dunkirk camp

April 11, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, France, Grande-Synthe, Iran, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees, Sub-Saharan Africa

Local churches in Dunkirk helped to evacuate terrified migrants late last night (10 April) as a devastating fire spread through their camp in northern France. La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkirk, housed an estimated 1,500 migrants, including a handful of Christian converts, but has now been reduced to “a . . . Read More

As a Christian woman in Yemen, life is about survival

April 11, 2017 Yemen Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Converts, Houthis, Sana'a, Women

Being a woman and Christian in Yemen is not easy. Photo: Open Doors International

Life in Yemen is not easy for a woman. Especially if you are a woman who has decided to become a Christian. Yemen is a tribal country, where leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of that tribe, punishable by death. Nadeen (*), a born-and-raised Yemeni woman in her late . . . Read More

Are attacks on DRC churches religiously motivated?

April 10, 2017 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Catholics, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, North Kivu

Amid the increasing political unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, senior Catholic leaders have reported increasing attacks on church properties, and the intimidation and even torture of clergy. Below, World Watch Monitor’s Africa Bureau Chief, Illia Djadi, gives his perspective on what’s driving the new wave of violence. What . . . Read More

Egypt’s Christians mourn 49 killed in Palm Sunday church bombings

April 10, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Palm Sunday, Pope Tawadros II, Tanta

Chaos in St George's cathedral, Tanta, after a suicide bomber blew himself up during the Palm Sunday liturgy

Egypt’s Christians are in mourning and profound shock after yesterday’s twin suicide bombing attacks on churches packed for Palm Sunday, which left at least 49 people dead and more than 110 injured. The Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, narrowly escaped injury, having just celebrated Mass in one of the cathedrals that . . . Read More

Sudanese Christian leader fatally stabbed at protest over seizure of church school

April 7, 2017 Sudan Bahri, Pentecostals, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Younan Abdulla

A Sudanese Christian was killed earlier this week while participating in a peaceful protest against the government’s attempted appropriation of a Christian school. Younan Abdulla, part of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC), was participating in the three-day protest, after the government-linked committee in 2016 authorised the sale of the land . . . Read More

Why were Pakistani politicians considering giving higher marks to veiled female students?

April 7, 2017 Pakistan Hijab, Imran Khan, Islamic extremism, PTI

The commotion around whether girls should wear a hijab' in schools, shows the confusion around the role of religion in Pakistan's public life.

The role of Islam in Pakistani public life is fiercely fought over, especially in areas that are home to non-Muslim communities. One example is Punjab province, where most Pakistani Christians, as well as much of Pakistan’s Hindu minority, live. Punjab Higher Education Minister Syed Raza Ali Gilani was last month . . . Read More

Majority-Christian Mexico still struggling to ensure religious freedom for rural converts

April 6, 2017 Mexico Catholics, Converts, Jalisco, Latin America, Oaxaca, Tuxpan de Bolaños

Some of the Christians from San Juan Ozolotepec.

As many as 90% of Mexico’s population would identify as Christian, yet not all of them are free to practise their faith. Some come under pressure from drug cartels, either by being members of churches who meet regularly and carry money for giving offerings there and are therefore seen as . . . Read More

In choosing Christianity, Mexican tribals risk alienation, eviction from their communities

April 6, 2017 Mexico Converts, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Trauma, Tuxpan de Bolaños, Wixárikas

A giant statue of a deer stands high above the Mexican town of Bolaños, a symbol of its significance for the locals, who believe a deer-god protects them. The belief dates back to when the Wixárika tribe first arrived in the area, in the western state of Jalisco, and encountered . . . Read More

Christians easy targets in Mexico’s lawless borderlands

April 6, 2017 Mexico Chihuahua, Juarez, Latin America, Organised crime

The Governor of Mexico’s northern state of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, admitted last week that his government does not have the means to tackle organised crime, and that he’s asked for federal resources to fight the drug cartels. This came four days after the murder of a local journalist, who’d reported . . . Read More

Jakarta’s Christian governor reveals repeated sectarian attacks at trial testing Indonesia’s pluralism

April 5, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Jakarta, Nahdlatul Ulama, Southeast Asia

The Indonesian Christian governor on trial for blasphemy said yesterday (4 April) that he has been the target of racist and religious attacks since he was elected to public office in 2005. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known as “Ahok”), the governor of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, also reiterated to the court . . . Read More

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