Tag: Easter

UK government commits £12 million to championing religious freedom

November 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Alexandria, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Easter, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palm Sunday, Plateau, Religious freedom, UK

More than 20 people lost their lives in the Palm Sunday attack on the St George Cathedral in Tanta, Egypt.

The UK government has committed £12 million ($15.5 million) to championing freedom of religion of belief worldwide. The UK’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Tariq Ahmad, said the money “will go a long way in bolstering the work of civil society and NGOs to promote respect, . . . Read More

Indian Christians charged with ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by handing out Easter tracts

April 5, 2018 India BJP, Churches, Easter, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Hyderabad, India, Police, Proselytism, RSS, Telangana, Women

Four Christians, including the wife of a church leader, have been charged with “hurting religious sentiments” after they handed out Christian tracts during an Easter procession in India’s southern Telangana state. Rayapuri Jyothi, 38, Meena Kumari, 52, Mahima Kumari, 35 and Bagadam Sudhakar, 45, were taken into custody by police . . . Read More

Iraq: children wounded in Easter Monday explosion

April 4, 2018 Iraq Bartella, Children, Easter, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

Four children were wounded on Easter Monday when a bomb exploded outside a medical complex in Bartella, east of Mosul, according to Iraqi News. No group has claimed responsibility but it is believed that Islamic State militants were behind it, a source told the news site. Despite its military defeat, . . . Read More

Easter in Qaraqosh – for many their first since returning home

April 3, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Easter, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

On Sunday, many of Iraq’s Christians celebrated their first Easter since returning to their homes. With the help of local churches and other organisations, people in the country’s largest Christian city, Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdida), have restored their homes and are now attempting to recover the lives they lost . . . Read More

Persecuted Christians celebrate Easter with mixed emotions

April 3, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Aleppo, Bashar Warda, Catholics, Easter, Erbil, Gaza, Hanoi, Hmong, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jakarta, Jerusalem, Ludhiana, Maluku, Marawi, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Philippines, Pope Francis, Prince Charles, Southeast Asia, Syria, Vietnam

Flag of Syria is waving as sign of victory over the destroyed heavily damaged city of Aleppo. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Easter this year was a time of mixed emotions for the Christians who live under pressure for their faith. While political and religious leaders called for peace, reconciliation and brotherhood, Christians in countries like Syria and the Philippines continued to face violence and its consequences. Below, World Watch Monitor gives . . . Read More

Easter banner torn down from Pakistan church

March 20, 2018 Pakistan Burewala, Christmas, Churches, Easter, Pakistan, Punjab

Armed violence broke out in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, 18 March, over an Easter banner hung outside a church. The incident took place in a Christian colony in Burewala, Punjab province. Police intervened and arrested three Muslim suspects, while seven injured Christians were taken to a local hospital. The church’s . . . Read More

Nigeria: bishop blames government after 12 killed in Easter rampage

April 20, 2017 Easter, Fulani herdsmen, Kafanchan, Middle Belt

Bishop Bagobiri accused the local government of complicity with the Fulani herdsmen who have destroyed homes and livelihoods and killed more than 800 people since 2011

At least 12 worshippers were killed and many more were injured when suspected Fulani herdsmen opened fire on Easter Saturday (15 April) in a village in the Christian-dominated south of Nigeria’s Kaduna state. The local Catholic bishop, Joseph Danlami Bagobiri of Kafanchan, accused the local governor, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, of complicity . . . Read More

Pakistan prevents another Easter attack on its Christians

April 18, 2017 Pakistan Easter, Islamic State, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lahore, Peshawar, Taliban, Youhanabad

Pakistan’s security forces say they prevented a “major” terror attack on Christians in Lahore over the Easter weekend. The city of Lahore, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, was the scene of a deadly suicide bomb attack on Easter Day last year, when 75 people were killed and 340 injured. A splinter . . . Read More

Bombed Egypt church cancels Easter celebrations

April 13, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Easter, Palm Sunday, Pope Francis, Tanta

One of the priests at the Mar Girgis (St George) Cathedral in Tanta, one of two churches attacked by suicide bombers on Palm Sunday, says his church will not hold its usual Easter Day celebrations as a mark of respect towards the families affected. “There will not be any festivities, only . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians bury their dead after Easter massacre

March 31, 2016 Pakistan Easter, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lahore, Nawaz Sharif, Taliban

The aftermath of a bomb blast in the middle of a popular Lahore amusement park packed with people on Easter Day.Abid Nawaz for World Watch Monitor Parvaiz Masih didn’t know his son was among the hundreds injured in the Easter bombing of a crowded park in Pakistan until the . . . Read More

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