Nine Iranian Christians who had converted from Islam were sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for "acting against national security" and "promoting Zionism," as Iran's Revolutionary court denied the requests of those who asked for lawyers and transferred them to the country's worst prison.
...continue reading this story17 Chinese officials discussed revising religious texts last month to suit the needs of the Chinese Communist Party, even framing a new religion.
...continue reading this storyA pastor was kidnapped in Nigeria in Adamawa state last week, with no reason given by captors for the abduction, and no ransom demanded.
...continue reading this storyNew legislation passed in India's parliament grants citizenship to beleaguered Christian foreigners, among others, but the US Commission on International Religious Freedom says it is a dangerous move.
...continue reading this storyThe oxygen is thinning for religious freedom in India following the reelection of the Bharatiya Janata Party in May, with six attacks on Christians recorded in Telangana State alone in July.
...continue reading this storyA controversial government decree on the construction of places of worship has led to the closure of a Pentecostal church in Indonesia.
...continue reading this storyAfter 183 years as a Roman Catholic nation, Bolivia officially became a secular country in 2009, when a new constitution, promulgated by the administration of its first indigenous leader, President Evo Morales, dropped any mention of the historic faith of its Spanish colonial rulers, bolstering the position of its pre-colonial religions.
...continue reading this storyThe situation for Christians in North Korea was highlighted recently by a panel that spoke before the debut of the documentary Humanity Denied: Religious Freedom in North Korea held just down the road from the State Department’s summit on religious freedom Thursday.
...continue reading this storyEight Iranian Christians were arrested by Iranian intelligence officials at the beginning of July, and are currently being held at an undisclosed Intelligence Ministry site in Bushehr, a southern port city on the Persian Gulf.
...continue reading this storyThe thinning oxygen in the atmosphere for Iran’s religious minorities came to light Friday with the State Department’s release of its 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom, which detailed the level of suppression suffered by Christians and Baha’i under the Ayatollahs.
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