News

Christians bury a brother, then exhume his body after Hindus protest

  August 31, 2012 India Burial, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India

Hindus angry at the burial of a former Christian pastor in a new cemetery Thursday forced church members to exhume his body, church leaders said. The body was buried again Thursday in an older, Christian cemetery that already is full and prone to flooding during India’s monsoons, now in full . . . Read More

Talk of violence against Rimsha worries her lawyer

  August 31, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Children, Islamabad, Lahore, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Rimsha Masih, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

Confident on Wednesday of Rimsha Masih’s release, her lawyer was apprehensive Thursday after a prosecutor hinted strongly at the likelihood of violence if she is freed. “This girl is guilty,” said Rao Abdur Raheem, a lawyer for the man who has accused the girl of blasphemy against Islam. “If the . . . Read More

Teen accused of blasphemy will leave jail, but can’t go home, lawyer says

  August 30, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Children, Islamabad, Pakistan, Punjab, Quran, Rimsha Masih, Women

Rimsha Masih is likely to be cleared of the blasphemy charge against her, but never will be able to return home, her lawyer says. Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, who has taken up the defense of the young Christian girl whose case has renewed international debate about Pakistan’s notorious anti-blasphemy laws, said . . . Read More

Young Pakistani girl arrested for ‘blasphemy’

  August 21, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Children, Islamabad, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Rimsha Masih

Can a girl reported to be as young as 11 commit blasphemy? And in Pakistan, where blasphemy is punishable by death, should the law even apply? Last week’s arrest of Rimsha Masih, a girl reported to have Down’s Syndrome, is re-igniting Pakistan’s national debate about religious freedom. News of the . . . Read More

Gunmen attack Nigerian worship service, kill 19

  August 7, 2012 Nigeria Boko Haram, Kogi, Nigeria, Plateau

Anti-Christian violence erupted yet again in Nigeria on the night of Monday, July 6. A gang of gunmen, carrying sophisticated arms, surrounded and invaded Deeper Life Church in the town of Okene, in Kogi state, in the southern region of the country. World Watch Monitor has published a Storify report . . . Read More

Christians tormented with music, then attacked

  August 1, 2012 India Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka

For months, a group of Hindu extremists in southern India had been blasting high-volume movie music at the prayer meetings of a local Christian ministry. In early July, the harassment crossed the line to assault when the Hindus burst into the prayer meeting of End Time Ministries, knocked three worshippers . . . Read More

Violence topples Nigeria’s ‘bridge’

  July 26, 2012 Nigeria Church of Christ in Nigeria, Jos, Nigeria, Plateau

Gyang Dantong was killed while attending a funeral. He was among a handful of elected members of Nigerian government attempting to bury the more than 100 Christians killed just the day before, when Muslim gunmen had rampaged through several villages in Nigeria’s central Plateau state. The sheer scale of the . . . Read More

Indian Christians forced into Hindu worship, driven from homes

  July 17, 2012 India Anti-conversion law, Burial, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India

JAWANGA, Chhattisgarh state, India, July 17 (World Watch Monitor) – Hindu extremists forced 15 Christians to participate in Hindu worship rituals, then beat them up and rousted them from their village, according to an evangelical organization in India. The Evangelical Fellowship of India said that on June 19, 150 Hindus . . . Read More

Church of Christ in Nigeria reeling from massacre

  July 12, 2012 Nigeria Boko Haram, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Plateau

In the Plateau state of central Nigeria, tensions had run high all week between ethnic Fulani, who are mainly Muslim, and ethnic Birom, mainly Christian. It was only the latest outbreak of anger in a decade-long cycle of aggression and reprisals. But this time, anxiety ran high enough that, by . . . Read More

Nigerian attackers kill dozens of Christians

  July 9, 2012 Nigeria Plateau

The news is distressingly familiar: A series of attacks on African Christian communities leaves many dead or injured. On Saturday, July 7, coordinated attacks killed dozens of people in Nigeria’s Plateau state. One news report claims the death toll, from the initial attacks and reprisals, has risen to more than 100. . . . Read More