Tag: Converts

Iran: Christian retreat centre ordered to close by tomorrow

March 9, 2018 Iran Assemblies of God, Ayatollah Khamenei, Churches, Converts, Iran, Karaj, Protestants, Robert Asseriyan

A Christian retreat centre in Iran will finally close tomorrow, 10 March, nearly three years after it was ordered to do so and then later accused of being funded by the USA’s “CIA spy agency”. The caretakers of the Sharon Retreat Centre in Karaj, west of Tehran, have been ordered . . . Read More

Saudi Prince ‘commits’ to interfaith dialogue

March 9, 2018 Saudi Arabia Apostasy, Converts, Islamic extremism, Mohammad bin Salman, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia

As part of his first public trip abroad as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman visited the UK and had a private meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby yesterday, 8 March, at Lambeth Palace in London. As part of his reforms to modernise his country, the . . . Read More

Bangladesh: Militant group ‘targets’ Christian converts

March 1, 2018 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Converts, Dhaka, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin Bangladesh

The arrest of two members of a banned Bangladeshi militant group, who confessed to wanting to kill Christian converts, has put the spotlight on the changing tactics of Muslim extremist groups in the country. Security forces arrested two members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) on 14 February in Dhaka, the capital, . . . Read More

Malaysian Federal Court refuses four people their right to affirm Christian identity

February 27, 2018 Malaysia Apostasy, Converts, Divorce, Hudud, Islamic extremism, Kuching, Malaysia, Marriage, Religious freedom, Sarawak, Sharia

The Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, Malaysia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Malaysia’s highest court dismissed an appeal today (27 February) against four appellants who wanted to be formally recognised as Christians. The five judges of the Malaysian Federal Court ruled that in matters of conversion away from Islam, it was necessary for them to consult the Islamic Sharia courts. The president . . . Read More

Iranian Christian convert detained since before Christmas

February 16, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Karaj, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons, Tabriz, Victor Bet-Tamraz

An Iranian convert to Christianity arrested more than two months ago remains in prison in the conservative north-western city of Tabriz, according to rights group Article 18. Ali Amini, known by his friends as Philip, was arrested by revolutionary guards at his workshop in the city on 10 December. His . . . Read More

Malaysia’s reputation as moderate Muslim nation hangs by a thread

February 9, 2018 Malaysia Children, Churches, Converts, Donald Trump, Hudud, Islamic extremism, Joshua Hilmy, Kidnapping, Malaysia, Minorities, Najib Razak, PAS, Raymond Koh, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, UMNO, USA, Wahhabism

Malaysia is seen by most Western countries as one of the moderate Muslim nations, an ally to be cultivated and befriended in the battle against militant Islam. The country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was among one of the leaders to visit US President Donald Trump in his first year of . . . Read More

Europe shows ‘almost sinister’ indifference to persecuted Christianity – bishop

February 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asylum seekers, Austria, Converts, Eastern Europe, Europe, Germany, Hungary, Islamic extremism

A new, aggressive form of atheism has led to a devaluing of religious freedom, a Catholic bishop in Austria has claimed. The Bishop of Linz, Manfred Scheuer, said that this new atheism associates religion with oppression and a lack of liberty, which has led to a selective interpretation of human . . . Read More

Iranian convert to Christianity – ‘If I went back, I’d be killed’

February 5, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Baptism, Converts, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, UK, Victor Bet-Tamraz

A church in the UK has survived closure because of attendance by a growing number of asylum seekers from a Muslim background, reports the BBC. In the past two years 324 asylum-seekers have been baptised at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Now 95 per cent of . . . Read More

China: 100 Christians sent to ‘re-education’ camps in Xinjiang

February 2, 2018 China China, Communism, Converts, Hui, Terrorism, Uyghurs, Xinjiang

More than 100 Christians have been sent to “re-education” camps in China’s north-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the past few months, World Watch Monitor has learned. In these camps, also known as “study centres” or “mind-transformation centres”, they are taught how to be loyal to the communist ideology. Most . . . Read More

Bangladesh: Christians ‘appreciated’ but attacks continue

January 26, 2018 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Catholics, Converts, Religious freedom, Tangail

Christians protest following an attack by local thugs on a church last Saturday in which three men were injured and the building damaged. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Portuguese Christians, initially merchants and later also missionaries, arrived in Bangladesh 500 years ago and started communities. Today Bangladeshi Christians form a tiny group in the Muslim-majority nation and face various challenges because of their faith. According to Fr. David Bipul Das, a Catholic priest in the diocese of Barisal, . . . Read More

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