Tag: Islamic State

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution

November 6, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Albania, Aleppo, Algeria, Catholics, Churches, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Kenya, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Orthodox, Pakistan, Pentecostals, Protestants, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yohanna Ibrahim

Twenty-five years ago, on 4 Nov. 1990, a priest risked his life to hold a mass in a cemetery in Albania. In 1967 his president, Enver Hoxha, had declared that he had “abolished” the Christian faith, and that his country was henceforth the world’s first atheist state. On 4 Nov. . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

October 16, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Belarus, Boko Haram, China, David Cameron, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, London, Middle East, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pope Francis, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam

Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

IS ‘releases’ 50 Assyrian Christians

October 15, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Homs, Islamic State, Jizya, Qaryatain, Syria

The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has released 50 Assyrians among a large group of Christians snatched 10 weeks ago near the Syrian city of Homs, the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights (AMHR) reported. The freed indigenous Christians arrived back on October 12 at their Syriac towns of Zaidan and Fairozeh, . . . Read More

Bangladesh arrests pastor’s suspected attackers

October 13, 2015 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Dhaka, Islamic State, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin Bangladesh, Luke Sarkar, Pabna, Rangpur

Five men have been arrested following the knife attack on a Protestant pastor in Bangladesh last week. Luke Sarkar, 50, pastor of the Faith Bible Church in Pabna, received cuts to his throat during the attack on 5 October at his home. The five men are all suspected members of . . . Read More

Catholic priest released in Syria

October 12, 2015 Syria Catholics, Homs, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Syria

Fr. Jacques Mourad was set free on Saturday, 10 Oct, nearly five months after masked Islamic State (IS) gunmen kidnapped the Syriac Catholic priest in Syria’s central Homs province. Church sources told Agence France Presse that Fr. Mourad celebrated Sunday mass the following day in Zaydal village, five kilometers from . . . Read More

IS releases first execution video of Syrian Christians

October 9, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Hezbollah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Syria

A video released by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) on 7 Oct. has showed the jihadists killing three Assyrian Christian hostages with shots to the back of their heads. According to the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights, it is the first IS video showing Christians in Syria being executed. Shown . . . Read More

IS builds army of children

October 8, 2015 Boko Haram, Children, Christina Abada, Iraq, Islamic State, Minorities, Nigeria, Qaraqosh, Syria

The Islamic State is moulding Syrian and Iraqi children into a new generation of militants, reports the BBC. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 50 children under the age of 16 had died fighting for IS so far in 2015, while 19 were used as suicide . . . Read More

Police arrest man over Bangladesh pastor attack

October 6, 2015 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Dhaka, Islamic State, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin Bangladesh, Luke Sarkar, Pabna, Rangpur

Police have arrested Obaidul Islam, 28, in connection with the attack yesterday on Luke Sarkar, a Bangladeshi pastor, reports The Daily Star. An attempt was made to cut the 50-year-old’s throat, but he escaped with non-life-threatening injuries. Islam is an active member of Shibir (the student wing of the illegal . . . Read More

Egypt church goes ahead despite opposition

October 6, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya

A church commemorating the beheading of 20 Coptic Christians and one Ghanaian by the Islamic State in Libya has finally received the go-ahead by government authorities, seven months after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi ordered its construction. Coptic newspaper Watani quoted local priest Fr. Maqar Eissa saying that all building and . . . Read More

Bangladeshi pastor escapes murder attempt

October 5, 2015 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Dhaka, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Luke Sarkar, Pabna, Rangpur

A Bangladeshi Baptist pastor escaped an attempt on his life today (5 Oct.) in what seemed to have been a pre-meditated attack at his home by three youths. Luke Sarkar, 50, of the Faith Bible Church of God, told bdnews24 that two weeks ago two youths had phoned him to . . . Read More

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