News

Bangladeshi Christians told to close church, convert to Islam

  October 3, 2013 Bangladesh Apostasy, Awami League, Churches, Converts, Islamic extremism, Sheikh Hasina, Tangail

Construction of Tangail Evangelical Holiness Church, in Bilbathuagani village, was halted by local officials.World Watch Monitor   A local government official in central Bangladesh has halted the construction of a church, forced Christians to worship at a mosque and threatened them with eviction from their village unless they renounce their . . . Read More

Missing Italian priest ‘still alive’

  October 2, 2013 Syria Boulos Yazigi, Europe, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Sharia, Yohanna Ibrahim

An Italian Jesuit priest who went missing in Syria several months ago is still alive, according to an Assyrian priest speaking at the European Parliament on Tuesday (October 1). Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church in the East said the latest reports from inside Syria were that Father Paolo . . . Read More

After the bombs

  October 2, 2013 Pakistan All Saints Church, Blasphemy, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Peshawar, Taliban

On Sept. 22, two bombs exploded at All Saints Anglican Church in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. More than 80 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack ever on Pakistan’s Christians. In the days since, protests have been staged across the country. Condemnations . . . Read More

A renewed debate over blasphemy laws

  October 2, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Imran Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Ulema Council, Peshawar, PTI, Quetta, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

Memorials for the victims of the bomb attacks at All Saints Church in Peshawar.Kamran Chaudhry for World Watch Monitor   The Sept. 22 suicide bombings of a church in Pakistan have re-ignited political debate on the country’s  controversial blasphemy laws. Only three days before the incident, the Council for Islamic . . . Read More

Anger turns into a riot

  October 2, 2013 Pakistan All Saints Church, Karachi, Pentecostals, Peshawar, Taliban

An anti-Taliban protest outside the Karachi Press Club following the church bombing in Peshawar.Jahanzaib Khan via Twitter   Last week, in the wake of the Peshawar church bombs, minority Pakistani Christians staged protests and demonstrations across the country, angry at the lack of protection given to them by their government. . . . Read More

A tragic homecoming

  October 2, 2013 Pakistan All Saints Church, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar

A girl sobs quietly in a the compound of All Saints Church, in Peshawar, PakistanKamran Chaudhry for World Watch Monitor   By Kamran Choudhry, communications officer, Caritas Pakistan News of the deadliest attack ever on Pakistani Christians last Sunday deeply depressed me. It was personal. TV video clips showed my . . . Read More

Boko Haram killing spree claims 110 Nigerians

  October 1, 2013 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Catholics, Jos, Kaduna, Nigeria, Sharia, Yobe

The militant Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of killing at least 110 people of various faiths across Nigeria during the past week, prompting the country’s top Catholic bishop to declare the rebel movement “has no limits.” On Thursday, Sept. 26, gunmen killed Rev. Augustine Yohana, a Catholic priest, and . . . Read More

Christianity in danger of becoming extinct in its birthplace

  September 30, 2013 Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Free Syrian Army, Iraq, Islamic extremism, London, Middle East, Syria

Last month, World Watch Monitor released a report, Beyond Count, highlighting the alarming frequency with which Christians are fleeing the Middle East. Now a British historian has added his voice to those concerns. By Dr. Jenny Taylor Respected UK historian Tom Holland told a briefing in London this week that . . . Read More

Viewpoint: A country in confusion

  September 27, 2013 Egypt Al-Nour Party, Arab Spring, Copts, Hamas, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood

World Watch Monitor / David Degner, Getty Images   Markus Tozman, a graduate student of the Middle East at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, did research work in Cairo from 17 June until 16 August 2013. His views, contained in the essay below, are the product of information gathered from interviews, . . . Read More

Turkish military linked to Christian murders

  September 26, 2013 Turkey Converts, Malatya, Trabzon

Memorial photo banner of the three slain Malatya victims: Ugur Yuksel, Necati Aydin, and Tilmann Geske, April 2008.World Watch Monitor   Nearly six years into the court trial over the murder of three Christians in southeastern Turkey, documents have emerged confirming that secret military units were involved in those assassinations . . . Read More