(Bitter Winter) — The persecution of house churches that belong to the so-called “gray market” — the largest segment of Chinese religion — has intensified dramatically since the new Regulations on Religious Affairs came into force in February 2018. Crackdowns on them have been implemented throughout the country, and Ninghai county in Zhejiang Province’s prefecture-level […]
(International Christian Concern) – On Tuesday, Feb. 11, five Christians from India’s Uttar Pradesh state were taken into police custody after being falsely accused of engaging in forced religious conversions. According to local Christians, police eventually released all five, but only after three were kept in police custody overnight. The incident took place in Udaypatty […]
(The Christian Institute) — A 13-year-old girl has launched a legal challenge against Oxfordshire County Council over its controversial guidance for schools concerning transgender pupils. The “Trans Inclusion Toolkit for Schools 2019” was implemented by Oxfordshire County Council last year. It says boys who claim to be girls should be allowed to share female toilets, […]
LANXI, Zhejiang (ChinaAid) — On Dec. 1, 2019, hundreds of government and public security personnel were dispatched to close a house church in Lanxi and disperse the 30 Christians who were gathering. During the incident, 11 church members were seriously injured and the church assets confiscated. On the morning of the incident, Lanxi officials sent […]
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Attacks and harassment of a house church in southern India have decimated the 40-member congregation and left the pastor injured and demoralized. Pastor Eswara Rao Appalabattula on Jan. 27 pleaded with about a dozen local residents to stop building a wall meant to block people from attending worship services at his […]
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (South Bend Tribune) — Thousands of aborted babies that were found at an abortion doctor’s suburban Chicago garage last year were buried Wednesday at an Indiana cemetery. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill joined more than 100 people that afternoon at the Southlawn Cemetery by the Palmer Funeral Home in South Bend, […]
Malaysia (Mission Network News) — Mysterious attackers took Pastor Raymond Koh from his vehicle on this day three years ago. As captured on a nearby surveillance camera, three black SUV’s surrounded his car and pulled him over. More assailants quickly arrived, and in less than a minute he was being driven away. Malaysia’s Human Rights […]
(Evangelical Focus) — On Feb. 5, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution on the protection of freedom of religion and belief in the workplace. The resolution calls on member states to “take all necessary measures to combat discrimination based on religion or beliefs in all fields of civil, economic, political […]
(Mission Network News) — Over 260 million Christians live in places with high levels of persecution. Every day they face danger and struggles, yet most of the West is ignorant or indifferent. Why? Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs, USA says the problem is two-fold. There are problems both with the Church and the […]
LAFAYETTE, La. — A Louisiana man pleaded guilty on Monday to setting three Baptist churches on fire last year, admitting that he did so to promote himself as a “black metal” musician by mimicking similar acts of arson committed in Norway in the 1990s as documented in the black metal film “Lords of Chaos.” Holden […]