News

Three arrested after Nepal church bombings

  September 29, 2015 Nepal Hindu Morcha Nepal, Jhapa, Kathmandu, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal

Three people have been arrested in connection with the recent bombing of two churches in Nepal’s easternmost Jhapa district. The bombings took place on 14 September, hours after Nepal’s Constituent Assembly had rejected calls to revert the country to a Hindu state. Both churches suffered structural damage, but nobody was . . . Read More

Pakistan: 23 unreported ‘blasphemy’ cases in 2 years

  September 29, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Pakistan, Pakistan Ulema Council, Punjab, Sheikhupura

Since 2013, the All Pakistan Ulema Council (APUC) has intervened in 23 incidents involving Christians accused of blasphemy, preventing them from becoming major incidents, according to Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, the APUC Chairman. (The APUC, a representative group of senior Muslim clerics, is very influential in Pakistani public life.) It . . . Read More

Argentinian pastor’s fight for religious freedom goes on

  September 28, 2015 Argentina Argentina, Córdoba, Latin America, Marcelo Nieva, Río Tercero

Marcelo Nieva, pastor of the Pueblo Grande Baptist Church.World Watch Monitor   It has been almost 12 months since Argentinian pastor Marcelo Nieva survived an assassination attempt. World Watch Monitor first met Nieva, 36, five months earlier, in May 2014, when he said that the introduction of a state law . . . Read More

Indonesian church holds 100th service outside Presidential palace

  September 24, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama

At the heart of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, in the megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia, a church this Sunday will hold its 100th open-air Sunday morning service next to a main road – because a city mayor is afraid to insist that a Supreme Court order is carried out. . . . Read More

Analysis: Latin American Christians need protection from organized crime

  September 24, 2015 Colombia, Corruption, El Salvador, FARC, Juan Manuel Santos, Latin America, Los Zetas, Mexico, Michoacán, Organised crime

For three days last month, El Salvador was the deadliest country in the world. The 125 people killed in gang-related violence from 16-18 Aug. could not be matched even by the horrors in Syria and Iraq. Violence related to organized crime is perhaps the most significant threat to Latin America’s . . . Read More

Call to the European Church to stand with refugees

  September 23, 2015 Europe, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Migrants, Muammar Gaddafi, Qatar, Refugees, Saudi Arabia, Syria

As Europe struggles to manage the migrant crisis, some church leaders in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq are saying that some refugees are ‘fed up with Islam’ because Gulf countries aren’t offering them help. These leaders’ message to the European Church is ‘be prepared’ to welcome the many Muslims who are . . . Read More

Analysis: What to make of China’s demolition of crosses?

  September 22, 2015 China Crosses, Sanjiang, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US once again throws into the spotlight China’s human rights record, including that on freedom of religion. Despite China’s past, it is now generally acknowledged that Christianity is growing at a great rate. In 2007, it was estimated that the population of Christians . . . Read More

Religious freedom in the Arabian Peninsula?

  September 22, 2015 Arabian Peninsula, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Medina in Saudi Arabia is the heartland of the Islamic faith, attracting millions of pilgrims every year.Wajahat Mahmood / Flickr / CC   A recent article in Christianity Today reports that Christianity is booming in the “heart of Islam”, with the “millions” of Christians there not really facing persecution – . . . Read More

Religious freedom network should be as ‘outspoken and organised’ as the extremists

  September 22, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Brazil, El Salvador, Europe, Germany, Honduras, Iran, Migrants, Netherlands, New York, Norway, Religious freedom, Saeed Abedini, South Sudan, Taiwan, UN, USA

In the face of rising persecution of people on the grounds of faith or belief, more than 100 parliamentarians from almost 50 countries met on 18 September in New York to discuss ways to advance religious freedoms. One hundred and thirty delegates packed into a room that was booked for . . . Read More

Coptic soldier’s father challenges military autopsy

  September 17, 2015 Egypt Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Suez

The father of an Egyptian Christian soldier found dead in his military unit 12 weeks ago is adamant, and angry. The results of an autopsy and military investigation into his son’s death are simply “not true,” he says. “I am very angry at the Suez military prosecution for refusing to . . . Read More