Tag: Churches

China: Christian students under pressure to give up their faith

November 27, 2018 China China, Churches, Education, Hebei, Shandong, Sichuan, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Youth, Zhejiang

Group of Chinese students on Tiananmen Square, in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Municipal authorities in a city in China’s northern Hebei province have been given directions on how to handle students and teachers who express their religious beliefs, reports religious-liberty magazine Bitter Winter. Foreign teachers and students are not allowed to preach or promote religion, and local students are prohibited from speaking . . . Read More

Another Algerian church closed

November 23, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Churches, Protestant Church of Algeria

The key hole of a closed down church in Algeria is sealed with wax. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Algerian court has ordered a church in the northern Tizi Ouzou province to close because it lacks the necessary permit, reports Christian advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC). The closure of the church in Ait Djemaa is the latest in a string of closures of Protestant churches over the . . . Read More

Two pastors among seven killed by Islamist militants in eastern DRC

November 22, 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Beni, Churches, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Islamic extremism

The remainders of a car after it was hit by a mortar in an attack by ADF militias on two villages near Beni, eastern DRC. (Photo: Getty Images / AFP)

Two Congolese pastors were among the seven Christians killed in attacks by an Islamist militant group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month. Six Christians, including Rev. Kausa Kaule Yosua and his daughter, 27-year-old Masika, were killed in the 10 and 11 November attacks by members of the . . . Read More

Myanmar: Bible students ‘suffering health and psychological problems’ after escaping armed group

November 15, 2018 Myanmar China, Churches, Education, Kachin, Myanmar, Shan

Members of the ethnic army group UWSA stand guard north of Kyaing Tong town, in eastern Shan state, in 2006. (Photo: Getty Pictures)

Seventeen of the 41 Bible students forcibly recruited by an ethnic minority army in Myanmar’s northern Shan state in September have escaped, according to Catholic news site UCAN. The students arrived in groups of two or three at the Lahu Baptist Church in Kyaing Tong town, eastern Shan state, in the . . . Read More

Angola: 2,000 unregistered churches forced to close

November 14, 2018 Angola, Cameroon, Churches, Rwanda

Catholic church in Jau village, in Angola's southwest Huila province. (Photo: jbdodane via Flickr; CC 2.0)

More than 2,000 churches have been closed and over 1,000 more face closure after Angola’s cabinet approved a new law requiring them to register with the government, including presenting at least 100,000 signatures of followers, as reported by Nairobi-based news site The East African. A local pastor told World Watch Monitor . . . Read More

China: Cultivate ‘patriotic’ clergy, Henan officials told

November 2, 2018 China Catholics, Chengdu, China, Churches, Fujian, Fuzhou, Henan, Human rights, Police, Proselytism, Religious freedom, Sichuan, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement

Local government officials in China’s central Henan province are being encouraged to cultivate “patriotic” clergy for leadership positions in the Catholic Church, according to a document outlining how to implement the new religion regulations. The guidelines, published in a confidential document titled ‘Supervision and Self-Inspection Framework for Implementing the Central . . . Read More

Ukraine: Churches forced to close after registration denied

October 26, 2018 Ukraine Catholics, Churches, Luhansk, Protestants, Religion Law, Ukraine

In the battle for Luhansk between Ukrainian forces and rebels in 2014, churches like this one in Pervomaisk, some 50 km west of Luhansk, were also attacked. (Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Dozens of churches in the rebel-held Luhansk region of Ukraine have had to stop meeting after their registration applications were turned down by the authorities of the self-declared republic, reports Oslo-based news agency Forum 18. The deadline for religious communities to register, set for 15 October by the Luhansk People’s . . . Read More

China introduces three-person teams to monitor religious groups

October 23, 2018 China Catholics, China, Churches, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Wenzhou

In Wenzhou city – also dubbed “China’s Jerusalem” – teams of three government officials will now monitor the activities of religious groups by keeping their meeting-places under observation, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Alongside other requirements, the groups must align their teachings with the agenda of the government. The teams . . . Read More

Ukraine Baptist church closed by separatists

October 17, 2018 Ukraine Baptists, Churches, Donetsk, Kiev, Russian Orthodox Church, Ukraine

The self-declared government of the Donetsk People's Republic has made Russia’s Orthodox Church its official faith and Protestant and Catholics are seen as agents for the west or spies. (Photo: Getty Images)

A Baptist church in Ukraine’s south-eastern town of Novoazovsk was forced to close by a separatist group last month, reports Oslo-based news service Forum 18. Novoazovsk is a seaside town in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), eastern Ukraine. The DPR, along with the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), both backed by . . . Read More

Algeria: Christian family accused of ‘proselytism’ – hearing postponed

October 10, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Churches, Idir Hamdad, Kabylie, Minorities, Proselytism, Protestant Church of Algeria, Tizi Ouzou

Four Algerian Christians accused of proselytism will appear in court on 6 November, in Bouira, in the north-eastern region of Kabylie. They had been due to appear yesterday (9 October), but the hearing was postponed. The four, including three members of the same family, are all from the town of . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye