In mid-April four Protestant churches - the charismatic Cornerstone Church and Free Church, the Baptist Free Bible Church and an unregistered Pentecostal congregation - were all evicted from state premises which they had been renting for worship services in the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan.
...continue reading this storyCOCHABAMBA, Bolivia, May 15 (Compass) -- In mid April, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) forced 11 evangelical Protestant churches in Arauquita, a town near Colombia's border with Venezuela, to suspend public worship services.
...continue reading this storyBANGALORE, India (Compass) -- The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Organization, VHP) is secretly conducting large-scale conversion drives in India's Marxist-ruled state of West Bengal. More than 16 tribal Christians were forced to re-convert to Hinduism on April 22 at a purification ceremony in Chopra village in the Malda district about 300 kilometers from Calcutta, NGO sources said. Ten other animist tribals were also converted to Hinduism in the village.
...continue reading this storyThe rape of a 16-year-old girl in Pakistan has been ignored by police because of her religious beliefs.
...continue reading this storyA prisoner who has spent nearly ten years behind bars in Peru for terrorist crimes he did not commit has now had to wait an additional three months for the result of his appeal.
...continue reading this storyThe treatment of Chinese Christians--who now outnumber Chinese Communist Party members--must be placed near the top of the agenda when President Bush meets Friday with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
...continue reading this storyAUSTIN, Texas (Compass) -- Guerrillas manning a roadblock near Medellin kidnapped an associate church pastor as he returned with a group of church members on Sunday, April 28, from an afternoon baptismal service, reported the head of that city's pastoral alliance.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, July 1 (Compass) -- Another Christian was sentenced to death in Pakistan two days ago, joining Ayub Masih in the line-up of Pakistani Christians on death row for alleged blasphemy against Islam.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, September 9 (Compass) -- In the wake of two more deadly terrorist attacks against Christian institutions in Pakistan in early August, government security officials have advised local church leaders to arm themselves for possible assaults by Muslim extremists.
...continue reading this storyYUNNAN PROVINCE, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (ANS) -- Christian Solidarity Worldwide is raising urgent concern for a group of North Koreans who are in the process of being sent back to North Korea, where they are in danger of execution.
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