Christians

Reports are emerging of an ongoing, massive campaign by Chinese police to crack down and arrest hundreds of Chinese house church members in Taishun County, Wenzhou City, in Zhejiang Province.

The latest crackdown on China’s house churches occurred between Dec. 13-18. Local witnesses reported via social media and other networks of multiple checkpoints, roving police patrols, and cash rewards being posted for the capture of house church leaders.

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor — Five Iranian Christians have been sentenced to a combined 50 years in prison for religious activities, including prayer, baptism and distributing Bibles, according to watchdog organizations. All five, including two previously imprisoned men and three women, were convicted by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court under amended articles of Iran’s penal code, according to Article 18, a United Kingdom-based organization that monitors religious freedom in Iran.

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor — Two historic churches in Mosul, Iraq, have officially reopened after years of restoration, nearly a decade after their destruction during the Islamic State's occupation. The reconsecration ceremonies marked a rare moment of revival for the region's dwindling Christian population.

On Wednesday, local residents, clergy and international officials gathered to inaugurate the Church of Saint Thomas, a Syriac Orthodox site dating to the seventh century, and the Chaldean Catholic Church of Al-Tahira, also known as "The Immaculate."

• A High Court in Northern Nigeria has overturned the wrongful conviction of a Christian man who helped a persecuted convert escape violence in the country.
• ADF International and allied lawyers provided legal support to David’s case and secured justice after a year-and-a-half of legal struggle.

Thirteen Christians in Jiangmen and Foshan, Guangdong Province, were sentenced by CCP’s people’s courts to prison terms ranging from two years and three months to four years and six months, solely for engaging in normal religious activities such as hosting church fellows for gatherings, storing books related to their faith, and preaching the gospel.

VOV, is a nonprofit/non-governmental organization based in TRENTO ITALY and plays an essential role in guaranteeing a strong persecuted Christian community by providing accessibility, mobility, choice and freedom.

Its key aims are to bring the scattered persecuted Christian communities under the guardianship of VOV and build their capacity for raising collective voice to fully end discrimination and untouchability and to influence the state in formulating laws and policies to benefit the Christian persecuted communities in the world.

We receive and publish this appeal by the British Asian Christians Association in support of five Christian pastors arrested on charges of forcibly converting Hindus. They are also accused of distributing copies of the Bible and other Christian literature. It is always sad to report such news of intolerance, which often inflames the animosity of crowds and results in acts of violence.

In this interview published by VaticanNews, Father Jens Petzold bears witness to a path of active pursuit of inter-religious coexistence between Muslim and Christians. Father Petzold's admirable philosophy can be encapsulated in his sentence: ‘Drinking tea together is probably much more effective for peacebuilding than having long discussions about human rights’.

CLAAS (06.01.2022) – A Christian man, Zafar Bhatti, 58, has been sentenced to death by the Pakistan session court of Rawalpindi, after being charged with blasphemy in 2012.

He is accused of sending blasphemous text messages from his phone but has always denied the allegation against him.

Bhatti faced a difficult situation when in the same year the District Bar Association Rawalpindi passed a resolution that no lawyers of District Bar Association would appear in any case under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of any accused.

An OSCE report shows that graffiti, vandalism and arson attacks against churches are some of the more common crimes. There are 70% more cases reported than in 2019. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has launched its Hate Crime Data 2020 on 16 November, the International Day for Tolerance. The ODIHR collects data from states, governments statistics, civil society, international organisations and UNHCR and OSCE missions.

Back in late 2018 we published an article on the release of Asia Bibi after 9 years of imprisonment for blasphemy due to the fact that she, a Christian woman, dared to drink water from a glass of her Muslin co-worker. We are now happy to find that she and her daughters are doing fine and that Asia wrote a book about her experience and the 'awful torture Asia Bibi suffered', hoping it will help Pakistan's Muslims to become more tolerant and to embrace a rightful freedom of belief for all religious minorities in that country.

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned recent instances of violence against religious communities in Nigeria, including attacks on Christians in Kano state and Kaduna state and violence against Shi’a Muslims in Abuja.