Belarus Monitors Priests, Religious Groups
Hundreds of priests in autocratically-ruled Belarus have been warned that state agencies are monitoring them and hundreds of religious communities.
...continue reading this storyRussia & Former USSR
US Officially Lists Azerbaijan as a Violator of Religious Freedoms
In a move welcomed by religious rights advocates, the United States has for the first time officially listed the Republic of Azerbaijan as a country which violates religious freedom, Christianity Today (CT) reports. A part of the former Soviet Union until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority transcontinental state which lies at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
...continue reading this storyCash-Strapped Russia Fines Evangelical Christians
Evangelical Christians in Russia were forced to pay a "tax on faithfulness" in 2022, which will likely increase this year as part of a government crackdown on non-Orthodox faiths, rights investigators tell Worthy News.
...continue reading this story120,000 Armenian Christians Trapped In Nagorno-Karabakh
About 120,000 Armenian Christians are trapped inside the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, including women, children, and the disabled, Christian aid workers told Worthy News Friday.
...continue reading this storyBelarus: Authorities ban Christian church congregation from holding worship services
Authorities have now ordered the congregation at the New Life Church in Minsk, Belarus, to stop even the outdoor parking lot meetings they were reduced to after city officials sealed their church building last year, Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) reports. Ideologically close and loyal to Russia’s President Putin, Belarus’ authoritarian regime has criminalized unregistered Christian activity.
...continue reading this storyTajikistan Bans New Churches
Tajikistan’s autocratic Islamic government has told Protestant church leaders that it will not register new churches, effectively banning congregations, Christians familiar with the talks said Thursday.
...continue reading this storyHundreds of Russian evangelicals call for end to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, “God can stop war”
In what has been described as an extraordinarily courageous step, hundreds of evangelical Christians in Russia have signed an open petition calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop his invasion of Ukraine, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
...continue reading this storyRussia Keeps Punishing Evangelicals in Crimea
Since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014—one of the central points of conflict in the current clash between the two countries—Protestant Christians in the territory have faced greater government penalties for practicing their faith.
...continue reading this storyRussian Christian School Attack Injures Eight
As many as eight people were injured after a Russian teenager tried to blow himself up in an apparent suicide attack outside a Christian school and a monastery, officials said Monday.
...continue reading this storyKazakhstan Limits Worship Possibilities
Devoted Christians face a difficult Christmas season in Kazakhstan after legislators approved one of Europe’s harshest religious laws limiting worship or other faith-based events.
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