Asia

Indonesia: Church allowed to reopen after local Muslims shut it down

In a remarkable piece of good news for persecuted Indonesian Christians, a church in Bandar Lampung has been allowed to reopen after local Muslim village authorities and residents interrupted a worship service and forced it to close down last month, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The Kemah Daud Christian Church had been in the middle of a Sunday service on February 19 when the disruption and subsequent closure occurred.

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India: Pastor and his wife arrested/imprisoned under Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion laws

A pastor and his wife in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have been criminally charged and imprisoned under harsh local anti-conversion laws for allegedly luring Hindus into becoming Christians, Scroll reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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Pakistan: Christian girl abducted into forced marriage with Muslim employer, lawyer demands police action

The chairman of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan has pressured Pakistani police to find and rescue a 15-year-old local Christian girl who was abducted and forced into marriage with her Muslim employer: officers had ignored earlier pleas for help from the girl’s impoverished father, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

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Pakistan Man Lynched For Blasphemy; Christians Fearful (Worthy News In-Depth)

Pakistani police on Monday had detained dozens of suspects in the weekend lynching of a man accused of blasphemy against Islam, but a Christian rights activist warned of more violence.

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Afghan Christian families seeking refuge in hostile Pakistan

The International Christian Concern (ICC) aid organization has found 60 Christian families that escaped Afghanistan to seek refuge in next-door Pakistan, even though Pakistan has a notoriously bad record on its treatment of Christians. Indeed, ICC found at least three of these families have returned to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan after suffering the dreadful conditions for refugees in Pakistan.

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