Tag: Islamic extremism

2014: A year of rising hostility toward Christians

January 7, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Asia, Boko Haram, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, China, Communism, Converts, East Africa, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Latin America, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle Belt, Middle East, Narendra Modi, Nigeria, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria

While the world’s eyes were riveted to Syria and Iraq in 2014, life for Christians worsened even more profoundly in Africa, according to an annual report on religious freedom. The situation deteriorated most rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries where Islamic extremism is the main source of pressure upon Christians, . . . Read More

Egypt’s Hegazy sentenced to one year in prison

December 30, 2014 Egypt Apostasy, Converts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Mohammed Hegazy, Upper Egypt

Mohammed Hegazy, the first Egyptian citizen to attempt to change his legal religious identity from Muslim to Christian, was sentenced to a year in prison on one charge and acquitted of two other charges at a Dec. 28 hearing in the Misdemeanor Court in Minya, Upper Egypt. According to Mideast . . . Read More

Muslims condemn threats toward Egypt’s Christians

December 23, 2014 Egypt Al-Azhar, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism

According to Fides News Agency, recognized Muslim academics from the Arab world’s most prestigious Islamic university have denounced recent threats made by extremist Islamists against Egyptian Christians. In the lead up to Christmas, celebrated on Jan. 7 by Coptic Christians, death threats and organized attacks against Christian communities have been . . . Read More

Jihad not a war against Christians?

December 11, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Qaeda, Barack Obama, Boko Haram, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Middle East, Nigeria

Christians are certainly under pressure in parts of the Middle East, but it must be emphasised that many more Muslims are killed as a result of jhadist violence, said a spokesman for a new BBC study on deaths attributed to Al-Qaeda and offshoot groups. Asked by presenter Justin Webb on . . . Read More

Christmas service a ‘worry’ in Islamist nations

December 9, 2014 Christmas, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan

The Evening Standard has published an opinion piece by author Rupert Shortt, in which he argues that Christmas this year will be a time of worry for many Christians in countries ‘from Morocco to Pakistan’ in which Christians cannot worship without harassment. He goes onto argue that religion is not . . . Read More

‘Secret church’ served with coffee & cakes in Central Asian cafes

December 5, 2014 Azerbaijan, Central Asia, House churches, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Orthodox Church, Uzbekistan

In a country where Christians often must meet secretly to avoid arrest, a group of women have taken the opposite approach: hiding in plain sight. They meet to pray and encourage each other in a coffee shop, in one of the largest cities in Central Asia. “It is better for . . . Read More

Al-Shabaab kills 36 Kenyan Christians on Somali border

December 2, 2014 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Mandera, Mpeketoni, Nairobi, Wajir, Westgate

Al-Shabaab militants have slaughtered 36 quarry workers in northern Kenya – all of the victims are believed to be Christian. Local residents told the BBC that the militants separated the group from Muslim workers before shooting them dead. Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, has claimed responsibility for . . . Read More

Northern Christians accuse government of neglect as Boko Haram continue its killing spree

November 28, 2014 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Damasak, EYN, Gombe, IDPs, Islamic extremism, Jos, Nigeria, Yobe

Displaced Christians expressed their anger at the headquarters of the Church of the Brethren, or EYN Church, in Jos. Nov. 17World Watch Monitor Hundreds of Christians, displaced by the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria’s North, have been staging protests to express their anger over the government failure to protect them . . . Read More

Hundreds of Islamist extremists mob a Christian school

November 26, 2014 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Education, Islamic extremism, Madrassas

Hundreds of extremist Islamists attacked a Christian school in Bangladesh, which welcomes children of all faiths, in response to locals who were outraged by rumors stating the school was forcing Muslim children to convert to Christianity. On the morning of November 5, an Islamist mob attacked the South Korean funded . . . Read More

Asia Bibi lawyers make one last plea

November 26, 2014 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy, has appealed to the only court in the country that can now save her. Bibi’s lawyer, Saiful Malook, filed the appeal to Pakistan’s Supreme Court on 24 November asking that it reconsiders deficiencies in her case. After a previous appearance . . . Read More

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