News

Religious freedom a ‘reality’ in recovering CAR

  August 26, 2015 Central African Republic Bambari, Bossangoa, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, UN

Left to right: Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, Msgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga and Rev. Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou received the 2015 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize at the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 Aug.World Watch Monitor   The Central African Republic (CAR) is gradually recovering from the two-and-a-half-year crisis which ravaged the . . . Read More

Ethiopian Orthodox leaders jailed after protesting about persecution

  August 25, 2015 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Churches, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Oromia, Protestants, Silte

A district court in Ethiopia has charged six members of an Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) with inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials and spreading hatred after it surfaced in the media that official complaints were made to the government about increasing persecution of Christians in a Muslim-dominated area in . . . Read More

Kandhamal couple’s shooting evokes darkest memories for India’s Christians

  August 20, 2015 India Hindu nationalism, Hyderabad, Kandhamal, Maoists, Odisha, Police

Human rights groups claim a Christian couple were shot dead by Indian federal security forces last month, while they were speaking on the phone to their son on a mountain in the eastern state of Odisha – formerly known as Orissa. The alleged murder of Dhubaleswar (50) and Bhubudi (45) . . . Read More

Jihadists release Syrian priest, 22 elderly Assyrians

  August 19, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Boulos Yazigi, Catholics, Hasakah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Sadad, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Five weeks after Fr. Antoine Boutros and his driver were kidnapped on their way to Sunday mass in southern Syria’s Suweida province on July 12, the Catholic parish priest has been released. Disclosure of the 50-year-old priest’s release on Aug. 15 came from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, . . . Read More

Calais church shows migrants’ ‘gigantic’ faith

  August 18, 2015 Calais, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Migrants, Refugees, Sudan, Syria

A “contentious” church built in the midst of a makeshift refugee camp in northern France was featured on the BBC’s flagship Christian worship programme, Songs of Praise, on Sunday (16 August). The episode, available in the UK for 30 days on the BBC’s iPlayer, focuses on the “faith aspect” of . . . Read More

A migrant’s story

  August 17, 2015 Eritrea Eritrea, Migrants, Pentecostals, Refugees

So far this year, more than 200,000 migrants have landed on European shores. Almost two-thirds of them have come from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea – countries where pressure on Christians is intense. As European politicians squabble over how to respond to the world’s greatest refugee crisis since the Second World . . . Read More

Korea: Still divided 70 years on

  August 14, 2015 South Korea Missionaries, North Korea, Pentecostals, Protestants, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, South Korea

On 15 August 1945 the Korean peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel: Russia and Japan to temporarily administer the North, the USA to administer the South. This arbitrary division of Korea exactly 70 years ago has resulted in the very different halves of the peninsula we see today – . . . Read More

Indonesia: Religious riot in Papua prompts church attacks elsewhere

  August 10, 2015 Indonesia Evangelical Church of Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Papua, Ramadan, Tolikara, Yogyakarta

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world, but the island of Papua is mainly Christian.Courtesy Open Doors International   Tensions have flared between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia – the most populous Islamic nation in the world – after a riot broke out last month on the . . . Read More

Nepali constitution could render Christianity illegal

  August 7, 2015 Nepal Constitution, Hindu nationalism, India, Proselytism, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Religious freedom

In Nepal, 80 per cent of the population is Hindu; Christians comprise between 1.5 and 3 per cent.Courtesy Open Doors International Nepali Christians fear that proposed amendments to Nepal’s new constitution, likely to come into effect on Monday (10 August) after seven years of parliamentary discussions, could eventually render all . . . Read More

Egypt court reconsiders Christian’s blasphemy conviction

  August 6, 2015 Egypt Copts, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

Bishoy Kameel Kamel GarasWorld Watch Monitor   After a three-year rash of blasphemy cases filed against Egyptian Christians, the nation’s highest court backtracked last month on its harsh verdict against one young Copt. Bishoy Kameel Kamel Garas was sent to prison for six years in September 2012 for allegedly insulting . . . Read More