Asia

A pastor who was beaten by suspected Hindu militants and prevented from holding church services by local police was to face a court in the Indian state of Karnataka Tuesday, June 19, in a case that underscored growing concern about attacks against church leaders and missionaries.

A mob of Hindu extremists on Friday (June 8) beat a pastor and tried to set him on fire before parading him naked in the suburbs of Bangalore, capital of Karnataka state.

Active Christians in rural areas of India, including pastors and evangelists, faced another potentially dangerous day Monday, June 11, after reports that two Christian workers were killed by suspected militants in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh while elsewhere Hindu extremists threatened to burn alive church leaders.

Three Indonesian women who were serving a prison sentence for including Muslim children in a church program in West Java, Indonesia, were released early Friday, June 8, amid international pressure, BosNewsLife learned.

A tense calm returned Saturday, June 9, to the Galas district of the Philippines' Quezon City after a seminarian was stabbed to death there by a lone assailant, police said.

Televised attacks on Christian workers and a spurt in persecution in various parts of the country point to a renewed attempt to win support for Hindu nationalistic goals, Christians say.

Police in Vietnam publicly torture and kill Degar Montagnard Christians in the country's Central Highlands as a warning to house churches to stop their activities, a major advocacy group alleged Wednesday, June 6.

A pastor and two associates from Mt. Carmel Theological College in Kandy, Sri Lanka, were arrested on May 27 and charged with destroying Buddhist statues.

Suspected Hindu militants have threatened to kill a native missionary and to attack dozens of evangelical Christians in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a major mission group has said.