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‘Peaceful’ Buddhism’s violent face in Sri Lanka

October 10, 2016 Sri Lanka Bodu Bala Sena, Buddhist nationalism, Maithripala Sirisena

Image, ‘Buddha in front of wood fence,’ by Harminder Dhesi, 2010 CC License Thanks to its promotion by figures from Hollywood (Richard Gere) and Silicon Valley (Steve Jobs), Buddhism in the West presents a ‘peaceful’ face. Yet Christians in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, as well as other minority religions, see things . . . Read More

Iranian converts appeal against lashes for ‘illegal’ Communion wine

October 10, 2016 Iran Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saeed Abedini, Saheb Fadaie, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

UPDATE (10 Oct.) Three Iranian Christian converts are appealing after they were sentenced to 80 lashes each for drinking alcohol during Holy Communion. (Non-Muslims are permitted to drink alcohol in Iran, but leaving Islam is forbidden, so any such conversions are not recognised.) Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza . . . Read More

5 years since Maspero, Egypt’s Copts denied permit to remember 27 dead

October 7, 2016 Egypt Copts, Hosni Mubarak, Luxor, Maspero

Coptic organisations outside Egypt commemorate this weekend the 5th anniversary of an attack by the Egyptian Army against a peaceful Christian protest march, which resulted in 27 Copts killed and scores of others injured. Known as the “Maspero massacre” it mainly took place (on 9 Oct. 2011) outside the huge . . . Read More

Al-Shabaab claims killing of 6 Christians in northeast Kenya raid

October 6, 2016 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Garissa, Kenya, Mandera

The six people killed in this morning’s attack in north-east Kenya by Al-Shabaab were Christians, according to the militant group’s own radio station, Radio Andalus. The militia attacked at about 2:45am this morning, 6 October. It reports that the grenade and gun attack on a residential compound in Mandera, on . . . Read More

Azerbaijan registers Bible Society after 20 years, but will it be able to print Bibles?

October 3, 2016 Azerbaijan Central Asia, Exile, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Rasim Khalilov (left), Chairman of the Bible Committee, and Pastor Elchin Pashaev, one of the founders of the new Bible Society, holding the certificate of registration.United Bible Societies The recent registration of a Bible Society in Azerbaijan, after a 20-year fight, has brought fresh optimism to the country’s minority . . . Read More

Arab and Jew ‘cross the divide’ through shared faith

October 3, 2016 Israel Arabs, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Palestinian Territories

Hisham*, an Arab, and Miriam*, a Jew, are both 16. They grew up in Israel in a climate where suspicion, even full-blown hate, has set the tone of each towards the other. The boy and girl are friends now – their friendship has this one thing in common: a faith . . . Read More

UPDATE: Malatya murderers re-arrested over fears they may flee Turkey

October 3, 2016 Turkey Malatya, Protestants, Torture

UPDATE (3 Oct.): Five Turkish men convicted last week of the 2007 murder of three Christians in southeast Turkey – but allowed to remain free – have been re-arrested. They were picked up on Thursday evening (29 Sep.) after the prosecutor, Burhanettin Olgun, expressed fears they may flee Turkey. . . . Read More

Survivors’ stories: life after Islamic State violence

September 28, 2016 Erbil, Iraq, Lebanon, Mosul, New York, Refugees, Syria, UN

The New York Declaration for more humane treatment of refugees, made on 19 September at the 70th UN General Assembly, will be welcomed by the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians, including many Christians, living in displacement camps or with relatives, after fleeing the conflict with so-called Islamic State . . . Read More

Run over by US tank, run out of his home by IS: Iraqi monk’s own experience helps others

September 27, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

First he was run over by a US tank, then an invading Islamic State militia forced him to abandon his monastery in northern Iraq. Raeed, a monk from Qaraqosh – Iraq’s largest Christian town – had to flee and set up a temporary monastery in a displacement camp in Erbil. . . . Read More

When Mosul is freed, Christians may face a new crisis

September 23, 2016 Iraq Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Refugees

The eventual liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the so-called Islamic State will end one crisis for dislocated Christians only to create a new one, a religious-freedom expert says. Planning documents drawn up by the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government anticipate that driving IS out of Iraq’s second city will create a . . . Read More

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