News

Al-Shabaab kills 36 Kenyan Christians on Somali border

  December 2, 2014 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Mandera, Mpeketoni, Nairobi, Wajir, Westgate

Al-Shabaab militants have slaughtered 36 quarry workers in northern Kenya – all of the victims are believed to be Christian. Local residents told the BBC that the militants separated the group from Muslim workers before shooting them dead. Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, has claimed responsibility for . . . Read More

Pope Francis addresses plight of Christians in Turkish visit

  December 1, 2014 Turkey Ankara, Greek Orthodox, Islamic State, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope Francis, Syria

Turkey’s tiny Christian population was grateful for Pope Francis’s Nov. 28-30 visit to their country, during which he called for an end to all forms of violent fundamentalism in the war-torn Middle East. In a Nov. 30 joint statement with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the Eastern Orthodox . . . Read More

Northern Christians accuse government of neglect as Boko Haram continue its killing spree

  November 28, 2014 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Damasak, EYN, Gombe, IDPs, Islamic extremism, Jos, Nigeria, Yobe

Displaced Christians expressed their anger at the headquarters of the Church of the Brethren, or EYN Church, in Jos. Nov. 17World Watch Monitor   Hundreds of Christians, displaced by the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria’s North, have been staging protests to express their anger over the government failure to protect them . . . Read More

Hundreds of Islamist extremists mob a Christian school

  November 26, 2014 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Education, Islamic extremism, Madrassas

Hundreds of extremist Islamists attacked a Christian school in Bangladesh, which welcomes children of all faiths, in response to locals who were outraged by rumors stating the school was forcing Muslim children to convert to Christianity. On the morning of November 5, an Islamist mob attacked the South Korean funded . . . Read More

Peace prize awarded to Central African Republic top clerics

  November 25, 2014 Central African Republic Bangui, Bozoum, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka

L to R: Rev. Nicolas Guérékoyamé Gbangou; Imam Omar Kobine Layama; Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga; at the Nov. 13 Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C..Courtesy of SFCG   The three top religious leaders of the Central African Republic have been awarded a prize for their efforts for peace in the war-torn Central . . . Read More

Turkey plans new global Islamic university

  November 25, 2014 Turkey Education, Greek Orthodox, Halki Seminary, Islamic extremism, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

In an aggressive move to position itself as the intellectual center of the Muslim world, Turkey has announced plans to open an Islamic university similar to Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the oldest and most respected center of Islamic learning. Ankara’s announcement comes amid years of legal stonewalling for Turkey’s Christian minorities to . . . Read More

‘Kidnapping,’ forced conversion and collective punishment haunt Egypt’s Copts

  November 24, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Kidnapping, Muslim Brotherhood, Samalut, Upper Egypt

It’s been two months since Coptic Christians in an Upper Egypt village endured a traumatic sequence of events ending in heavy police abuse. The victims still have not received any justice from the state security authorities who broke the law and violated its citizen’s human rights. On Sept. 16, in . . . Read More

Death sentence for Pakistan woman turned on technicality

  November 19, 2014 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Pakistan Ulema Council, Sawan Masih, Sheikhupura

The Pakistan court that a month ago said Aasiya Noreen, a Christian, must die for the crime of insulting Islam, based its ruling on a legal technicality that it now wants to eliminate. The Lahore High Court, an appeals court for Pakistan’s largest province, had decided Oct. 16 that it . . . Read More

Bail granted for pastors nearly mobbed for sharing their faith in Bangladesh

  November 18, 2014 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Baptism, Converts, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-e-Islami, Lalmonirhat, Sharia

Two Bangladeshi pastors have been released on bail today after having been arrested and nearly mobbed by about 200 Muslims who gathered to attack a Christian meeting they were leading in northern Bangladesh. Around noon on Nov 9, in a village in the northern district of Lalmonirhat, locals were outraged . . . Read More

Jordan deports American pastor, assistant’s eviction pending

  November 14, 2014 Jordan Amman, Jordan, King Abdullah II

The Jordanian government without explanation jailed and deported an American pastor who has lived there for 16 years. Jody Miller, pastor of Grace Church in Amman, was deported back to the United States on Nov. 6. His wife remains in Jordan. He is appealing the decision to the Jordanian Royal . . . Read More