News

Former Muslim extremist in Uganda flees wrath of ex-colleagues

  January 27, 2012 Uganda Acid attacks, Islamic extremism, Kampala, Kenya, Uganda

A former member of a Muslim extremist group in Uganda who converted to Christianity is in hiding in Kenya, his movements severely restricted following threats to kill him. Hassan Sharif Lubenga, 54, was a sheikh and member of the Buk Haram, a violent group of Islamists whose name suggests the . . . Read More

Two Catholic priests kidnapped in Sudan

  January 25, 2012 Sudan Darfur, Khartoum, Kosti, Omar al-Bashir, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan

Sudanese militia loyal to Sudan’s Islamic government have kidnapped two Catholic priests in Rabak, Christian sources said. A large truck smashed through the gates of the St. Josephine Bakhita’s Catholic Church compound in Rabak, 260 kilometers (162 miles) south of Khartoum, on Jan. 15 at 10 p.m., and the assailants broke . . . Read More

Seven Christians killed in Bauchi, Nigeria

  January 24, 2012 Nigeria Bauchi, Boko Haram, Nigeria

Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi state on Sunday (Jan. 22) left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed. The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2, residents of Tafawa Balewa said, was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko . . . Read More

Convert from Islam in Uganda survives societal hostilities

  January 23, 2012 Uganda Converts, Islamic extremism, Mbale, Uganda

Hassan Muwanguzi, a convert from Islam in Uganda who lost his family and job because of his Christian faith, is thankful after fighting off the latest attack – an attempt by Muslims to imprison him and shut down the school he started. Following his conversion in his early 20s in . . . Read More

Police beat, arrest evangelist in Sudan

  January 20, 2012 Sudan Khartoum, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church

Police this week beat and arrested a church leader in Khartoum, sources told World Watch Monitor. James Kat of the Evangelical Church of Sudan was arrested on Tuesday morning (Jan. 17), with officers beating him as they took him to a North Division police station, the sources said. He was . . . Read More

Tensions rise in Kashmir after ‘guilty verdict,’ fatwa

  January 20, 2012 India Baptism, Converts, India, Jammu and Kashmir, Sharia

Christian workers are fleeing India’s Kashmir Valley after a sharia (Islamic law) court issued a “guilty verdict” against three Christian leaders, issued a fatwa against Christian schools and allegedly launched a door-to-door campaign to bring converts back to Islam. The court, which has no legal authority, found the Rev. Chander . . . Read More

Sudan threatens to arrest church leaders

  January 18, 2012 Sudan Darfur, Khartoum, Kosti, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, Sharia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ

Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said. The warning in a Jan. 3 letter to church leaders of the . . . Read More

Tortured Ugandan girl regaining use of legs

  January 17, 2012 Uganda Converts, Islamic extremism, Kampala, Kasese, Pentecostals, Uganda

A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps. Susan Ithungu of Isango village, Kasese district, had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along . . . Read More

Karnataka most dangerous state in India for Christians

  January 13, 2012 India Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka

Attacks on Christians accelerated over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in the south Indian state of Karnataka, which was identified as the most unsafe place for the religious minority for the third consecutive year in 2011. With 49 cases of violence and hostility against Christians in 2011, Karnataka remained . . . Read More

Somali convert from Islam whipped in public

  January 10, 2012 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Converts, Islamic extremism, Somalia

A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said. Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants . . . Read More