Days after a Christian’s throat was slit in Pakistan over a false blasphemy allegation arising out of refusal to renounce his faith, a Hindu was shot dead after he refused to convert to Islam, sources said.
In a perfect world, where legal systems hold political power to account and protect minorities against human rights abuses we might expect an end to persecution. But we do not live in a perfect world. People with power continue to act with impunity against those who think and live differently to them. Christians have a way to cope with this reality and a real and living hope for a future free of persecution.
New political winds are blowing with increasing force as the push-back against globalization grows with increasing nationalisms. The demand to pledge allegiance to something other than God in Christ will put renewed pressure on the Church and we need to be prepared to hold true to our faith. Here is a stern warning that Christians must take to heart.
Peace studies students witness locals spitting on a Christian holy site in Jerusalem prompting this response from a respected Christian leader whose family has lived in the city for millennia.
African farmers work hard to grow whatever the land agrees to yield, while in the Nigerian Plateau Christian farmers face increasing threats from Fulani militias. It is rare that we read from the perspective of a victim of terrorism. This account is both an exception and exceptional. Uren, in her final year of high school, writes with terrifying yet beautiful prose of the death of her siblings and father at the hands of a band of brutal Fulani militias. Read on for a reality check.
A bipartisan U.S. government body that monitors religious freedom worldwide this week recommended imposing sanctions on Pakistan for human rights violations, particularly abuse of harsh blasphemy laws and treatment of religious minorities in the country.
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), together with its national member the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance (Aliança Evangélica Portuguesa, or AEP) representing 355 local churches, expressed concern over political instability, rising populism, racism, xenophobia, and restrictions on religious freedom in Portugal during the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
An independent, bipartisan federal body on Tuesday (March 25) recommended the U.S. administration resettle refugees fleeing religious persecution and appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria to address religious freedom violations.
Authorities now require churches in Geneva, Switzerland, to sign a “declaration of commitment” or risk restrictions on organizing public events, chaplaincy services and a clampdown on voluntary donations, sources said.
Federal agents in Pakistan last week arrested a Christian under a blasphemy law mandating the death penalty in relation to material that appeared on Facebook groups without his knowledge, sources said.
A Muslim in Pakistan on Friday (March 21) slashed the throat of a Christian co-worker on allegations that he had committed blasphemy by touching an Islamic textbook “with unclean hands,” sources said.
The Spanish Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Española/AEE) has publicly denounced a bill that would imprison pastors and others helping those wishing to leave a practicing homosexual lifestyle or reconcile their gender identity with their gender.
