HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Berating and slapping a pastor for reading the Bible instead of Hindu texts, police in Uttar Pradesh state, India last month detained six Christians under “unlawful assembly” laws for worshiping together, sources said. After traveling from Etah village to a church in nearby Pujaripurvah, the six Christians were detained for nine […]
HANGZHOU, Zhejiang (ChinaAid) — As China clamps down on the freedoms of its state-run churches, officials in the country’s eastern Zhejiang province have recently issued orders aimed at closing Sunday schools and keeping children from Christian events over the summer months. “For a long time, teenagers and students have not been allowed to participate in […]
JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Among several Boko Haram bombings that have put northeastern Nigeria on edge this year was a suicide attack on Christian student organization quarters that killed a Christian student, sources said. Ambore Gideon Todi, a 21-year-old student at the University of Maiduguri in Borno state, was staying in the Evangelical Church Winning […]
(Middle East Concern) — Algerian Christians are grateful that Slimane Bouhafs, imprisoned since September 2016 for blasphemy, has received a partial pardon. His three-year sentence was reduced by 16 months on July 5, the national day of Algeria, following a decree by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which provided clemency to several prisoners on account of good […]
RICHMOND, Va. — The full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia has ruled that the prayers presented during a North Carolina commission’s meetings cannot be exclusively Christian, asserting that representing only one faith at the public-attended government events violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. “We conclude that the Constitution does not allow what […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Al Shabaab militia over the weekend killed 13 non-Muslims, mostly Christians, in coastal Kenya, sources said. Village Muslims in the Pandanguo settlement of Lamu County helped Islamic extremists from the Somalia-based Al Shabaab identify locations where the Christians resided, a survivor of the attack told Morning Star News from […]
NORTHEAST NIGERIA (Baptist Press) — Food aid is beginning to reach Nigerian Christians and others displaced by Boko Haram violence in the Lake Chad Basin, World Watch Monitor (WWM) reported July 10. WWM said food was delivered to at least 75,000 people in some of the most isolated camps in early July, citing reports from […]
(Middle East Concern) — Iranian Christians request prayer for Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, Amin Afshar Naderi and Hadi Asgari, who face long prison sentences. Following a hearing on June 11, Judge Ahmadpour issued his verdict on July 3 and 4. Pastor Victor was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, Amin to 15 years (possibly including time […]
ADA, Okla. — A university in Oklahoma has—at least temporarily—halted its initial decision to remove Christian symbols and Bibles from its chapel, a move spawned by a complaint from a prominent church-state separation group. East Central University in Ada had been contacted by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which asserted that the cross atop […]
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A Christian geologist who sued government officials for discriminating against his religious beliefs will be allowed to conduct research within the Grand Canyon after all, as the National Park Service (NPS) has reversed its initial decision to deny the request. As previously reported, Dr. Andrew Snelling of Answers in Genesis requested permission […]