Protecting religious liberty around the world has become more challenging in the last year, advocates said this week ahead of Tuesday’s convening of the second International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington.
...continue reading this storyUS human groups have virulently condemned the behavior of Nigerian armed policemen who stood by as Islamic extremists stoned a Christian student to death on her school campus in Sokoto state on May 12, Genocide Watch reports. In a further example of unchecked Islamic violence raging against Christians in northern Nigeria, student Deborah Emmanuel was murdered for allegedly insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammed in a Whatsapp post.
...continue reading this storyEvangelical Christians in bankrupt Sri Lanka were weighing their options Friday after new details emerged of a Buddhist mob storming a church and injuring one believer.
...continue reading this storyChristian leaders held emergency talks with authorities in central India where police detained scores of Christians instead of the Hindu nationalists who attacked them.
...continue reading this storyDevoted Christians in Europe and North America are increasingly among those being persecuted for their faith in Christ, a rights report shows.
...continue reading this storyThe United States added Nigeria to a blacklist of countries that violate religious liberties Monday, DW reports. Joining Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and China, Nigeria is now listed as a country “of concern” “under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998."
...continue reading this storyGovernment officials in Cuba have demolished an Assemblies of God church building and are preventing other churches from opening again after COVID-19 measures were lifted, Morning Star News reported Sunday. The Cuban government claimed the building was demolished to lay piping for a cement plant, but such infrastructure would have required the destruction of local homes and the relocation of residents: none of this has happened.
...continue reading this storyHaving relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions, in April the Chinese government resumed and intensified its crack-down on churches, the Christian Post reports. At least 48 Three-Self churches and meeting places were reportedly shut down in Yugan County in the province of Jiangxi from April 18 to 30. Over 10 percent of the more than 1 million residents of Yugan County are Protestants attending some 300 official Three-Self churches.
...continue reading this storyChristians in China have reported ongoing harassment from government authorities during the coronavirus crisis. China is ranked as one of the world’s worst countries in the persecution of Christians, according to the Open Doors USA’s World Watch List.
...continue reading this storySignificant attacks on Christians occurred in the days prior to US President Donald Trump's first visit to India, during which religious freedom was expected to be a main item in discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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