Stories tagged with: persecuted church

• Report: In China 'there is no longer a safe place to be a Christian'

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, July 23, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  International Christian Concern photo

  SILVER SPRING, Md. (BP) -- China persecutes Christians to gain leverage in future diplomatic relations with the U.S., a Christian seeking U.S. asylum claimed in a video released Wednesday (July 22) alongside a new report by International Christian Concern (ICC). Read More

• Apostasy decriminalized in Sudan under new fundamental freedoms act

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, July 17, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  BP graphic

  KHARTOUM, Sudan (BP) -- Persecuted Christians in Sudan are safer after the nation decriminalized apostasy, ended flogging and made other reforms through the new Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Act.

  Renouncing Islam had been punishable by flogging, imprisonment and death in the country where Christians comprise only 3 percent of the population. Read More

• U.S. urged to open doors to Christian refugees, asylum seekers

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, July 10, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo from BP files

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Christians fleeing religious persecution abroad are increasingly denied access to safety in the U.S., according to a new report urging the Trump administration to reverse the trend.

  The U.S. is on track to accept 90 percent fewer Christian refugees in 2020 than five years earlier from countries where Christians are most persecuted, and is considering changes to eligibility requirements for asylum seekers that would drastically reduce their entry here, Open Doors USA and World Relief said in its joint report released today (July 10). Read More

• Christian mother of four in India persecuted before her death

  by Morning Star News staff, posted Tuesday, July 07, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo altered. Morning Star News photo.

  NEW DELHI (BP) -- Tribal Hindus persecuted a widowed, Christian mother of four before her body was found severely mutilated in the wilderness near her village in Chhattisgarh, India, sources said.

  The body of 40-year-old Bajjo Bai Mandavi was initially unrecognizable and appeared to have been eaten by wild animals when it was found two miles into the wilderness near her native Kumud village, Kuye Mari, May 29. She was last seen going into the wilderness to collect firewood May 25. Read More

• Amid rising Christian persecution, Turkey denies visa to pastor's American wife

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  ANKARA, Turkey (BP) -- Amid rising Christian persecution, Turkey has denied a visa to a U.S. citizen and wife of a Protestant pastor there, reportedly in an attempt to force the entire family out of the country.

  Florida native Joy Anna Crow Subasiguller, a U.S. citizen and wife of Turkish pastor Lütfü Subasiguller, is legally contesting the government's decision. Turkey's Ministry of Interior gave the family no reason for the denial, but such tactics are indicative of growing persecution against Protestants there, International Christian Concern (ICC) said. Read More

• With 'hundreds' of Christians killed in Nigeria in June, USCIRF urges Nigerian government to intervene

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, June 23, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock photo

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Citing the murder of "hundreds" of Christians in Nigeria in June by a Boko Haram faction, U.S. religious freedom advocates urged the Nigerian government to intervene to protect religious freedom there.

  The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction, is blamed for three June attacks in Northeast Nigeria that killed at least 121 and injured hundreds of residents of Christian villages, according to news reports. At least 20 Nigerian soldiers were also killed. Read More

• June 7 designated Southern Baptist Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

  by Ann Lovell, posted Tuesday, May 26, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- On average, eight Christians died for their faith every day in 2019. That equals more than 2,920 people killed for the cause of Christ last year, according to the 2020 annual report from Open Doors' World Watch List. In addition, 9,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked, and 3,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned.

  Open Doors reported that 260 million Christians experienced high levels of persecution in the top 50 countries on the World Watch List in 2019. The top five were North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Pakistan. Read More

• 25 Christians killed in Nigeria's Middle Belt in April

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, May 05, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  International Christian Concern photo

  NIGERIA (BP) -- Militant Fulani herdsmen killed at least 25 Christians in several attacks in Nigeria's Middle Belt in April as the local government did little to intervene, Morning Star News reported.

  The unfettered attacks could lead to a regional civil war in Nigeria's Middle Belt, religious liberty advocate International Christian Concern said Tuesday (May 5). Read More

• Amid pandemic, consider the persecuted church

  by Benjamin Breeg*, posted Tuesday, April 14, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  IMB photo

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- COVID-19 has infected millions of people, and the number dramatically increases each day. Some have projected the total number of those affected worldwide will be in the tens of millions, with fatalities reaching more than 1 million.

  Sports have been canceled, jobs lost, schools closed. Terms like "social distancing," "isolation" and "quarantine" have become common vocabulary. Churches have been shut down for weeks, most without a date for reopening. Read More

• Persecuted pastors share Gospel while jailed in India

  by Morning Star News India correspondent, posted Wednesday, February 26, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Morning Star News photo

  NEW DELHI (BP) -- Three Christians in northern India spent more than two months in jail suffering abuse from other prisoners, even though police found no evidence of wrongdoing and the complainant retracted his accusation, sources said.

  In Uttar Pradesh state's Mau District, 23-year-old pastor Ajay Kumar, fellow pastor Om Prakash, 20, and another Christian, 62-year-old Kapil Dev Ram, were released on bail in late January, but still face charges said to be fabricated. Read More