Tag: Converts

How romance across Egypt’s religious divide forces women and Christians to pay a high price

February 22, 2016 Egypt Converts, Copts, Women

A street in a neighbourhood of Tamia, Egypt, where the romance began.World Watch Monitor Not for the first time in Egypt, a romance between a Muslim divorcee and a Copt eventually ended in tragedy late last year, when the woman, who had ‘converted’ to Christianity, was killed by members . . . Read More

India: fines for saying ‘Christian’ prayers

February 8, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

Four people have received fines for practising Christianity from a village council in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the men, Shankar Singh, that they were fined 5,000 rupees (US$75) each. The arrests followed accusations by a Hindu group that the people at the gathering were attempting to . . . Read More

Indian priest in critical condition after attack

February 4, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, Converts, India, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian priest is in a critical condition in hospital, after he and three lay officials were attacked by a mob in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, . Fr. Jose Kannumkuzhy and the laymen were attacked by a group of around 35 men, as they waited in a car . . . Read More

Iraqi Patriarch challenges ‘identity law’

November 11, 2015 Iraq Baghdad, Children, Converts, Erbil, Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Yazidis

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq renewed his opposition this week to an article in the nation’s new national laws requiring minority-faith children to become Muslims if one parent converts to Islam. Describing the new law as both unconstitutional and “unacceptable,” Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has called on President . . . Read More

UN report focuses on children’s rights

November 5, 2015 Iraq Children, Converts, Divorce, Minorities, Religious freedom, UN

This little girl and her family were forced out of their home in Iraq by the Islamic State.Courtesy Open Doors International States must pay more attention to violations of the rights of children and their parents, particularly minorities and converts, according to the latest report from the United Nations’ . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian MPs challenge their constitution

October 22, 2015 Iraq Children, Constitution, Converts, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Marriage, Minorities, Yazidis

Four Christian members of the Iraqi parliament have called for a change in the law to preserve the religion of dependent children whose fathers convert to Islam, reports Middle East Christian News. As the civil law now stands, children under the age of 18 become Muslim when their father converts. . . . Read More

Churches bombed as Nepal stays secular

September 15, 2015 Nepal Converts, Hindu Morcha Nepal, Hindu nationalism, Jhapa, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal

Nepal’s Constituent Assembly rejected calls to revert the country to a Hindu state on Monday (14 Sep.), sparking violent protests, reports AP. Bombs went off at two churches in Nepal’s easternmost Jhapa district late on 14 Sep. The churches suffered structural damage, but nobody was hurt, according to The Kathmandu . . . Read More

Hundreds of refugees convert in Germany

September 10, 2015 Afghanistan, Asylum seekers, Berlin, Converts, Europe, Germany, Iran, Norway, Refugees, Syria

Hundreds of asylum seekers – mainly from Iran and Afghanistan – have converted to Christianity at an evangelical church in Berlin, causing an Associated Press journalist to question the legitimacy of their conversions. The pastor of the church, Gottfried Martens, who has witnessed his Trinity Church grow from 150 to 600 . . . Read More

Nepal on verge of curbing religious freedom

August 26, 2015 Nepal Converts, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Kathmandu, Maoists, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Religious freedom

The final draft of a new constitution was tabled in Nepal’s Constituent Assembly on 22 August amid protests by Hindu nationalists on the streets. They oppose the idea of secularism, which in the South Asian context simply means pluralism and equal treatment of all religions. It now needs approval by . . . Read More

A convert’s story

July 31, 2015 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, African Union, Apostasy, Converts, East Africa

U.S. President Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia 24-28 July, partly to discuss regional security. In Kenya especially, Christians have been targeted by the violent al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab. In the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on 28 July, making an American president’s first speech to the African Union, Obama said . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye