News

Christmas arrests in Iran: 11 still detained

  January 15, 2015 Iran Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Christmas, Converts, Evin Prison, Human rights, Iran, Minorities, Religious freedom, UK, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Zoroastrians

As the US Secretary of State meets his Iranian counterpart in a bid to revive stalled talks over Iran’s nuclear programme, human rights experts are keen that issues of freedom of religion are not overlooked. This week, the UK Foreign Office has said that it’s raised its concern with the . . . Read More

Paris attacks parallel fears over growing jihadist threat in Africa

  January 14, 2015 Africa, Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Chibok girls, Diffa, France, Islamic extremism, Mahamadou Issoufou, Mali, Mauritania, Muammar Gaddafi, NATO, Niger, Nigeria, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Several African leaders, concerned by the rise of Islamism in the continent, attended the Paris anti-terror march, on Sunday, January 11th. Among the 50 foreign leaders who marched there, African heads of state included those from Mali, Niger, Senegal, Benin, Togo, and Gabon. They all expressed their sympathy to France . . . Read More

VIDEO: Amidst hopes of Jokowi, Indonesian Christians remain concerned

  January 12, 2015 Indonesia GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Joko Widodo, Southeast Asia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, the number of cases of religious intolerance doubled during 2014 – to 67, according to a recent report from the Southeast Asian nation’s National Commission on Human Rights. About 30 of these cases were about the closure or vandalism of churches, . . . Read More

‘Ethnic cleansing’? No. It’s genocide

  January 9, 2015 Iraq Genocide, Islamic State

Thousands of people belonging to Christian groups gathered in Berlin on Aug. 17 to protest ongoing violence in Iraq and Syria by ISIS fighters. Carsten Koall / Getty Images ANALYSIS By Yonas Dembele A senior United Nations human-rights official who recently visited Baghdad and Kurdistan has said the actions taken . . . Read More

President Sisi sets a historic milestone

  January 8, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Christmas, Copts, Libya

nEgyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, center, attends a Christmas Eve mass led by Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II, left, at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District of Cairo on Jan. 6 Ahmed Gamel / AFP / Getty Images Hours before Egypt’s Coptic Christian communities gathered for their . . . Read More

2014: A year of rising hostility toward Christians

  January 7, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Asia, Boko Haram, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, China, Communism, Converts, East Africa, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Latin America, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle Belt, Middle East, Narendra Modi, Nigeria, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria

While the world’s eyes were riveted to Syria and Iraq in 2014, life for Christians worsened even more profoundly in Africa, according to an annual report on religious freedom. The situation deteriorated most rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries where Islamic extremism is the main source of pressure upon Christians, . . . Read More

Full Steam Ahead

  December 29, 2014 India BJP, Ghar Wapsi, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, RSS, Sangh Parivar, Vishva Hindu Parishad

ANALYSIS By John Dayal There is an element of irony, which has not gone entirely unnoticed, in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that what the world knows as Christmas will henceforth be celebrated in India as “Good Governance Day.” A slew of activities in honour of the first Bharatiya . . . Read More

In Malaysia, Christmas decried as ‘ploy’ to lead Muslims astray

  December 25, 2014 Malaysia 'Allah', Bibles, Borneo, Christmas, Converts, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Hudud, Kuala Lumpur, Najib Razak, Selangor

A billboard in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, appeals to national unity in a February 2014 photo. Rising fundamentalist Islam put increased pressure on minorities in the country’s famously multicultural society during the year.Courtesy Open Doors International   For Malaysian Christians, 2014 has been a year when they had to dig deep . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian couple ‘still alive’ when thrown into kiln – coroner

  December 23, 2014 Pakistan Bonded labourers, Gojra, Kasur, Punjab, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Christians at a church in Punjab, Pakistan; Sept. 2014 World Watch Monitor   A lawyer for the state of Punjab, Pakistan has described the murder of a Christian couple by a mob of at least 500 to 600 as “brutal and barbaric”. The post-mortem report on their twin deaths (first . . . Read More

India Hindu leaders turn up ‘reconversion’ rhetoric

  December 23, 2014 India BJP, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Narendra Modi, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in JammuVishal Dutta / Flickr / Creative Commons   Ignoring paralyzing opposition in Parliament and private expressions of exasperation from their own political leader, the top leaders of India’s fundamentalist Hindu movement have mounted a vigorous defense of a campaign to bring Christian converts back to . . . Read More