No new churches to be registered, Tajikistan government announces

No new churches to be registered, Tajikistan government announces

(Barnabas Aid) — The Tajikistan government will not register any more churches, the senior state religious affairs official has announced. Sulaymon Davlatzoda, the Chair of the State Committee for Religious Affairs and Regulation of Traditions, Ceremonies and Rituals, informed Christian leaders of the decision when summoning them to a meeting in the capital Dushanbe in […]

Transgender advocacy group recommends sex swap surgery for 15-year-olds

Transgender advocacy group recommends sex swap surgery for 15-year-olds

(The Christian Institute) — Gender confused girls as young as 15 should be allowed to have double mastectomies, a global pro-trans organization has recommended. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (Wpath) is an unofficial group which recommends “standards of care” for transgender people. Other advice includes cross-sex hormones for children as young as 14 […]

UK member of Parliament calls for end to ‘deeply inappropriate’ and ‘explicit’ sex ed materials

UK member of Parliament calls for end to ‘deeply inappropriate’ and ‘explicit’ sex ed materials

(The Christian Institute) — A conservative member of U.K. parliament has called on the government to produce stronger guidance to end the “plethora of deeply inappropriate” Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) materials being used in schools. Miriam Cates, a Christian, explained that when RSE was made compulsory in secondary schools from September 2020, it “opened […]

Iranian house church members’ prison sentences for ‘deviant beliefs’ upheld

Iranian house church members’ prison sentences for ‘deviant beliefs’ upheld

(Article18) — Three house-church members who have been held for over a month in solitary confinement have now been informed that their appeals against five-year prison sentences have been rejected. Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh, all members of the “Church of Iran” in Rasht, were re-arrested early last month, despite already facing imprisonment […]

Syrian refugee widow learns to overcome affliction

Syrian refugee widow learns to overcome affliction

(Christian Aid Mission) — Neighbors who came to help a 48-year-old refugee widow from Syria thought she was 70. The mother of seven children, Ranim* showed the signs of affliction from the suffering she’d endured before and after arriving in Jordan. Islamic State (ISIS) invaders in Syria had seized her oldest son and, fearing they […]

‘Censorship zones’ around abortion facilities to be trialed in Scotland

‘Censorship zones’ around abortion facilities to be trialed in Scotland

(The Christian Institute) — Nicola Sturgeon has announced that she intends to trial censorship zones around abortion clinics in Scotland. Speaking at a summit on abortion in Edinburgh, the First Minister backed MSP Gillian Mackay’s Bill seeking to create 150m buffer zones around hospitals and abortion centers. In similar zones in other countries, people have […]

Confiscated church-owned retreat center set to be repurposed

Confiscated church-owned retreat center set to be repurposed

(Article 18) — A Protestant Church-owned retreat center appropriated four years ago by an institution headed by Iran’s Supreme Leader is now in the process of being repurposed, Article18 understands. The Garden of Sharon in Karaj, which has belonged to the Iranian Assemblies of God (AoG) denomination since the early 1970s, has been out of […]

Targeted by the secret police: an interview with a Chinese believer

Targeted by the secret police: an interview with a Chinese believer

(International Christian Concern) – A month after Beijing’s crackdown of online religious activities, many wonder how the Christians in China are doing in terms of virtual worship and gathering. Are they being targeted, banned, or arrested for conducting “illegal” religious activities? International Christian Concern recently interviewed a Christian leader, Gianni, from a heavily persecuted Chengdu-based […]

Detained Chinese house church pastor awaits trial

Detained Chinese house church pastor awaits trial

(Church in Chains) — Geng Zejun, a house church pastor from Ningxia Autonomous Region in northern China, is due to go on trial on July 13. He has been detained since January 25 on a charge of “organizing illegal gatherings.” Geng Zejun was first arrested on Sunday, December 5, 2021 when police raided The Church […]