Tag: Iran

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

UN calls for abolition of death penalty for blasphemy and apostasy

October 3, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahok, Amin Afshar Naderi, Apostasy, Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Human rights, Indonesia, Iran, Mariam Ibrahim, Pakistan, UN, USA

During protests against Jakarta's Christian former governor Ahok for alleged blasphemy, some protestors called for the death penalty. Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Indonesia and carries a penalty of up to five years in jail. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The UN Human Rights Council last week passed a new resolution, demanding the abolition of the death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy. The resolution called on UN member states that still have the death penalty to, among other things, “ensure that it is not imposed as a sanction for specific . . . Read More

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confiscates Christian literature as ‘publicity stunt’

September 26, 2017 Iran Bibles, House churches, Iran, Pardis, Shia, Tehran

Photographs released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard showing large quantities of confiscated Christian materials were a “publicity stunt” that reflected the Iranian regime’s fear of Christianity, says religious freedom advocate Mansour Borji. Borji, from advocacy group Article 18, told World Watch Monitor that the photographs, which were initially released in July, . . . Read More

5 Things to know about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Taraba, West Africa

A village head inside his destroyed home in one of the villages in Southern Kaduna that were attacked by Fulani herdsmen, in May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

In northern Nigeria, targeted violence against Christians comes not only from the Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Clashes with militants among the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen have claimed thousands of Christian lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – the handful of states straddling the pre-colonial line dividing Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north from . . . Read More

Christian children in Iran told: ‘study Islam or leave school’

September 8, 2017 Iran Children, Church of Iran, Ebrahim Firouzi, Eskander Rezaie, Iran, Islamic extremism, Karaj, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Shiraz, Soroush Saraei, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Christian children in two large Iranian cities have been told to either study Shia Islam or leave school. The children are members of the non-Trinitarian ‘Church of Iran’ denomination in the northern city of Rasht, near the Caspian Sea, and the historical southern city of Shiraz, respectively. Until recently the . . . Read More

Muslim asylum seekers find shelter in Germany’s churches

September 7, 2017 Afghanistan, Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Berlin, Churches, Converts, Europe, Germany, Iran, Islamic extremism, Migrants, Refugees, Sweden

A church in Germany. (Photo: Paul Frankenstein via Flickr; CC 2.0).

Refugees at risk of deportation from Germany are finding shelter in Germany’s churches, and many are becoming Christians in the process, reports The Washington Post. More than a million refugees travelled to Germany in 2015, in the midst of Europe’s so-called “migrant crisis”, because it was known for its open . . . Read More

Freed from prison after 4 years, Christian woman ‘banned from leaving Iran’

August 23, 2017 Iran Evin Prison, House churches, Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran

An Iranian Christian woman, who recently completed a four-year jail sentence for “violating national security” through her work with “house churches”, says she has been banned from leaving the country for six months. Maryam Naghash Zargaran, 39, who undertook several hunger strikes in prison to protest against being denied medical . . . Read More

Iran’s clerics concerned by spread of Christianity among youth

August 22, 2017 Iran Converts, Iran, Islamic extremism, Mashhad, Qom, Youth

Despite the efforts of Iran’s government to promote Islam among young people and a crackdown on newly converted Christians, many young Iranians continue to convert, saying they are willing to face the consequences. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Christianity is spreading fast among young people in some of Iran’s most religiously conservative cities, causing concern among leading Islamic clerics, who blame foreign influence, according to Mohabat News. One high profile cleric, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, said recently that “accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom . . . Read More

Iran: wife of jailed pastor next in court, then their son

August 18, 2017 Iran Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Tehran, Turkey, Victor Bet-Tamraz

The wife of an Iranian pastor sentenced to 10 years in jail is due to appear before an Islamic Revolutionary Court on 21 August, where she will face charges of “participating in foreign Christian seminars” and “acting against Iranian national security”. Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, the wife of Victor Bet-Tamraz, was . . . Read More

IS guilty of genocide, says US Secretary of State

August 17, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Al-Shabaab, Andrew Brunson, Blasphemy, Donald Trump, Genocide, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Lord Alton, NATO, Pakistan, Qatar, Rex Tillerson, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taliban, Turkey, USA, Wahhabism, Yemen

The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stressed that the actions of the Islamic State (IS) group against Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims constitute genocide, and also criticised America’s ally, Saudi Arabia, for religious freedom violations. Tillerson made his “genocide” comments in the preface to the State Department’s annual . . . Read More

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