News

Egypt’s Coptic Church rejects amendments to long-awaited church-building law

  August 24, 2016 Egypt Copts, Islamic extremism

The Coptic Orthodox Church has voiced its dismay at amendments to a draft law that was hoped to put churches on a par with the country’s numerous mosques. “The Church did not expect to see so many unacceptable amendments and impractical additions,” the country’s largest Christian body said in a . . . Read More

Sudan pastors charged for ‘claiming persecution of Christians’

  August 21, 2016 Sudan Hassan Taour, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal

The trial of two Sudanese church leaders has started in Khartoum. They are among four Christians accused of trying to tarnish the image of Sudan’s government. According to the Sudan Tribune, Rev. Hassan Taour and Rev. Kuwa Shamal were charged on Sunday (21 August) with “fabricating videos of incidents of claimed . . . Read More

Nepal Christians attacked while trying to help

  August 18, 2016 Nepal Constitution, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, Kathmandu

Eight Christians are still awaiting the outcome of their trial, after they became the first people to be charged under Nepal’s new rules on religious freedom. Their crime? Distributing pamphlets about Jesus during a trauma seminar in a Christian school, following last year’s devastating earthquake (see video below). But they . . . Read More

Nigerian Christians return to rebuild lives in communities liberated from Boko Haram

  August 16, 2016 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Joseph Kurah

Nigerian Christians displaced by Boko Haram are beginning to return home. They are being encouraged by the government, which has won back territory from the insurgents but which is also struggling to provide enough aid. World Watch Monitor received a first-hand account from church worker Isaac*, describing day-to-day living now . . . Read More

DRC pastor – ‘We don’t understand why this is happening to us’

  August 15, 2016 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eringeti, IDPs, Joseph Kabila, North Kivu, Oicha, Uganda

A relatively unknown militant group has intensified attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), raising fears of the emergence of a new jihadist organisation in central Africa. For years now, one of various rebel groups operating there, the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces-National Association for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU), . . . Read More

Seven charges against Sudan’s pastors unlawfully detained for months

  August 15, 2016 Sudan Churches, Hassan Taour, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

After eight months of legal limbo, Sudan has finally accused two pastors of at least seven crimes, some punishable by death if proven. Hassan Abduraheem Taour and Kuwa Shamal, both pastors of the beleaguered Sudan Church of Christ, “are accused of complicity to execute a criminal agreement and waging war . . . Read More

India Chief Justice: Lack of convictions over Kandhamal violence ‘very disturbing’

  August 15, 2016 India Kandhamal, Odisha

India’s Supreme Court Chief Justice has said it is “very disturbing” that such a “large number” of the perpetrators of the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history – in the Kandhamal district of Odisha (formerly Orissa), eastern India, in 2008 – have not yet been brought to justice. . . . Read More

Coptic priests in Gulf meet to discuss challenges

  August 13, 2016 Alexandria, Arabian Peninsula, Bahrain, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

Egyptian priests serving in the Arab Gulf region have held their first conference to discuss challenges faced in the heartland of Islam: “Challenges facing Gulf priests and their wives”. The head of the largest group of Christians in the Middle East, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II led bishops and priests . . . Read More

Libya ‘chaos’ makes it one of world’s most dangerous places to be a Christian

  August 12, 2016 Libya Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Muammar Gaddafi

An anti-Gaddafi rally in Libya, 2011.Flickr / CC / Mojomogwai   It’s five years this month since Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya was overthrown when rebels stormed his compound and he went into hiding. However, despite high hopes, the ongoing anarchy there now makes it “one of the most dangerous . . . Read More

Convert explains journey to Christianity, and why he left Iran

  August 11, 2016 Iran Converts, Islamic extremism, Migrants

The Fatema Mæ’sume shrine in Qom, a religiously conservative city 150km south of Tehran.World Watch Monitor   In Iran, converting from Islam to Christianity can land you in prison or even get you killed. However, many Iranians – considered “Muslims” regardless of personal beliefs – still “convert”. World Watch Monitor . . . Read More