The spread of the SARS virus has not distracted Chinese officials from their campaign against unregistered churches. At least 52 key house church leaders have been arrested in recent months. Police also arrested and fined hundreds of "ordinary" Christians in the first four months of 2003.
...continue reading this storyTwo South Korean pastors and two laymen, imprisoned in China because of their pastoral and humanitarian work among North Korean refugees, await court decisions on their fate.
...continue reading this storyIn late April, Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest, declared voodoo an officially recognized religion. The decision means, among other things, that marriage ceremonies conducted by voodoo priests now have equal standing with Catholic ones.
...continue reading this storyBAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- Iraqi Christians who have become targets of attacks by Muslim extremists and bandits are risking their lives to attend church services, ASSIST News Service (ANS) has established.
...continue reading this storyAUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On 1 October 2001, as U.S. and coalition forces were assembling in Pakistan in preparation for the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, Bangladeshis were heading off to vote in their national elections.
...continue reading this storyBAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- At least 11 people have died and dozens were rushed to hospitals following the largest ever terrorist attacks against Iraq's minority Christians since the insurgency began, 15 months ago, reports said early Monday, August 2.
...continue reading this storyNEW DELHI, December 30 (Compass) -- The government of India has rejected a demand that social benefits be extended to Dalit Christians and Muslims, compounding the problems faced by the most downtrodden social class in India.
...continue reading this storyPolice arrested a missionary and four church leaders after Christian groups in the state of Nagaland were accused of forcing people of other faiths to convert to Christianity.
...continue reading this storyAfter 20 weeks in a Saudi jail for participating in prohibited Christian activities, Eritrean Christian Girmaye Ambaye was deported from Jeddah by plane back to his home country on Saturday, August 9.
...continue reading this storyA researcher who is analyzing new materials just received from Vietnam says he has found a “smoking gun” that shows religious rights are still restricted in the Southeast Asian country, despite official claims to the contrary.
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