News

Mexican pastor survives assassination attempt

  August 16, 2018 Mexico Chihuahua, Churches, Juarez, Latin America, Mexico, Organised crime

A Mexican pastor who survived an assassination attempt in the notorious border city of Juarez in June says he was targeted because his church’s work is seen to negatively impact upon the efforts of drug cartels. A hitman entered the pastor’s home on 12 June, making him kneel down on . . . Read More

Modi speaks out against ‘menace’ of mob attacks for first time

  August 15, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Bihar, BJP, Dalits, Ghar Wapsi, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has for the first time condemned violence against minorities, saying that everyone has a duty to fight the “menace” of mob lynchings. But his critics say that, after four years in power at the head of a Hindu nationalist government, the comments have come too . . . Read More

Ethiopian PM sends condolences to Orthodox Church after 15 priests killed

  August 14, 2018 Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, Addis Ababa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Jijiga, Oromia, Somali Region, Tigray

Ethiopia’s prime minister visited the leader of the country’s Orthodox Church on Saturday to express his condolences after 15 priests were killed and ten Orthodox churches damaged in the eastern Somali region last week. Among the priests killed were Rev. Kidane Mariam Nibretu, Rev. Yared Hibu, Father Gebiremariam Asfaw, and . . . Read More

Blasphemy accusation draws mob to Pakistan town’s only Christian street

  August 13, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

As horrific details emerge of a young Muslim artist being tortured to death for alleged blasphemy, separately a young Christian man has been charged with blaspheming against Islam’s prophet, a crime punishable with death in Pakistan. Farhan Aziz, 26, from Muslim Town in Gujranwala district, about 100 kilometres from Lahore, . . . Read More

Sudan court rules in favour of church in governance dispute

  August 10, 2018 Sudan Bibles, Churches, Omar al-Bashir, Sanctions, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ, Terrorism, USA

A Sudanese court has surprisingly ruled against the government in a case against the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) after a long-standing dispute over ownership of the church’s property. Five church leaders, including the SCOC president Ayouba Telyan, appeared in court on Wednesday, 8 August, expecting to have to defend . . . Read More

Will new Muslim region in southern Philippines bring peace?

  August 10, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro, Cotabato, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has called on all communities in the southern Mindanao region to support the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that is to facilitate the creation of an autonomous Muslim region. During a ceremony on Monday, 6 August, he urged the local population “to actively participate in constructive discussions . . . Read More

What is behind the Fulani herdsmen-farmers conflict?

  August 9, 2018 Nigeria Agatu, Benue, Fulani herdsmen, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

The ongoing deadly clashes between the nomadic, mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and the predominantly Christian farming communities of Nigeria’s Middle Belt are often referred to in the mainstream media as “farmer-herder clashes”: the Middle Belt is a farming region, and the advancing Fulani-owned herds have increasingly encroached on croplands. However, . . . Read More

‘How can reading the Bible be acting against national security?’ asks Iranian Christian from prison

  August 9, 2018 Iran Churches, Evin Prison, House churches, Human rights, Iran, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh

An Iranian convert to Christianity serving ten years in prison for “missionary activities” has written an open letter to the Iranian authorities, asking how his Christian activities could be perceived as anti-state. “Would it even be possible for a committed Christian – who was born and raised in Iran and . . . Read More

Nine-year-old Indian girl from convert family reported raped, then murdered

  August 8, 2018 India Andhra Pradesh, Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Children, Converts, Gujarat, Gurdaspur, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Ludhiana, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Rape, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Women

A nine-year-old girl from an Indian family that had recently converted to Christianity was murdered (and possibly raped before that) on Sunday, 5 August, in Punjab state. The girl was playing with her friends in the city of Gurdaspur, near the Pakistan border, when a 15 year old boy is reported to . . . Read More

Could Brunson’s release ease Turkey’s diplomatic standoff with the US?

  August 7, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sanctions, Turkey, USA

After the slipping Turkish lira nosedived dramatically yesterday, losing a record 5 per cent of its value in one day, unnamed Turkish diplomatic sources confirmed to CNNTURK today that a government delegation from Ankara is heading to Washington within two days to discuss escalating tensions between Turkey and the United . . . Read More