Tag: Pentecostals

Pakistan: Christian boy, 16, arrested for Kaaba ‘blasphemy’

September 20, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Pakistan Muslim League, Pentecostals

The boy is alleged to have "defamed" the Kaaba in Mecca

Nabeel Masih, 16, is alleged to have “defamed” the Kaaba in Mecca, the building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque.Amalia Sari / Flickr / CC A 16-year-old Christian boy has been accused of committing blasphemy by “liking” and sharing a post on Facebook which “defamed and disrespected” . . . Read More

Anti-Christian violence in India at an ‘alarming level’

August 2, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals

A message is held aloft at a protest march against anti-Christian violence – in Bangalore in February 2015.World Watch Monitor The leader of a Christian advocacy group in India says that incidents of anti-Christian violence in the country have reached an “alarming level”, with more than 30 incidents a . . . Read More

Russia: Church reacts as ‘anti-missionary bill’ becomes law

July 15, 2016 Russia Exile, House churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Missionaries, Moscow, Pentecostals, Russia, Seventh-day Adventists, Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

On 7 July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill referred to by one Christian organisation as an “anti-missionary bill”. The new law, known more commonly as the “Yarovaya” law (the name of one of its authors), which will come into effect on 20 July, was formally introduced . . . Read More

UPDATE: Nigerian Christians told to ‘buckle up’ after preacher hacked to death

July 14, 2016 Nigeria Abuja, Agatu, Bauchi, Boko Haram, Church of Christ in Nigeria, ECWA, Eunice Elisha, Fulani herdsmen, Gombe, Joseph Kurah, Nasarawa, Pentecostals

Mother of seven, Eunice Elisha, was murdered close to Nigeria’s capital, AbujaWorld Watch Monitor A female preacher was hacked to death in the early hours of 9 July near Nigeria’s capital. Eunice Elisha, a mother of seven, had gone out to preach as was usual, her husband, Olawale Elisha, . . . Read More

Pakistani policeman beats up church leader over ‘loudspeaker music’

June 16, 2016 Pakistan Caste, Dalits, Deobandi, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pentecostals, Police, Punjab

The Pentecostal United Church in Lahore, Pakistan, where Riaz Rehmat is pastor.World Watch Monitor A church leader in Lahore was beaten up during his Sunday service by a policeman, during a dispute over whether or not music was being played over his church loudspeaker. Lahore has the largest concentration . . . Read More

Kazakhstan church raids a ‘backward step’

May 24, 2016 Kazakhstan Almaty, Astana, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Pentecostals, Protestants

A policeman is filmed during the Good Friday raid on New Life church in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo: Maxim Maximov / YouTube

Recent raids on Christians’ homes and churches in Kazakhstan are a “backward step”, following the positive strides made by the Kazakhstan President in recent years, according to a religious freedom expert in the country. Kevin White, research fellow and country director at the Almaty-based Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, says . . . Read More

Third church in four months burnt down in N. Tanzania

May 5, 2016 Tanzania Bukoba, Catholics, Churches, Kagera, Pentecostals

Another church in Tanzania’s extreme north-west corner was burned to the ground on 2 May in a suspected arson attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the fire that destroyed the Roman Catholic church in Nyarwele, in the Kagera region which borders Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. It is the third . . . Read More

Indian pastor and pregnant wife attacked by militant Hindus

April 21, 2016 India Bajrang Dal, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals, Raipur

An Indian pastor and his pregnant wife were assaulted and their church set on fire on Sunday evening (17 April) after they refused to praise a Hindu god. Pastor Dinbanhu Sameli, 30, and his wife, Meena, 26, seven months pregnant, lead a church in the troubled Bastar district of the . . . Read More

Imprisoned Mexican Protestants allowed home

February 10, 2016 Mexico Catholics, Chiapas, Exile, Mexico, Pentecostals, Protestants, Religious freedom

Two Mexican Protestants who were imprisoned and then expelled from their community for refusing to renounce their faith have been allowed to return to their homes with a guarantee of full religious freedom. Casto Hernández, 31, and his cousin Juan Placido Hernández, 26, of the United Pentecostal Church of Mexico, . . . Read More

India: village church attacked, Christians hospitalised

November 6, 2015 India Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Pentecostals

Several Christians were hospitalised after the incident in Chhattisgarh state.Courtesy Open Doors International Several Christians were hospitalised and others forced to reconvert to Hinduism, after a village church in India’s central Chhattisgarh state was attacked by Hindu hardliners. The Christians from the Independent Pentecostal Church in Kohkameta were attacked . . . Read More

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