Stories tagged with: the persecuted church

• Trump praises India amid religious persecution

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, February 25, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from White House video

  NEW DELHI (BP) -- As religious liberty advocates point out India's religious persecution, U.S. President Trump praised India and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday (Feb. 25) ending a two-day visit there.

  "We did talk about religious freedom, and I will say that the prime minister was incredible on what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom, and very strongly," Trump said Tuesday while announcing a $3 billion trade deal with India at a press conference in New Delhi. "And he (Modi) said that in India they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom." Read More

• Boko Haram attacks predominantly Christian community in Nigeria

  by Morning Star News staff, posted Monday, February 24, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Facebook photo

  JOS, Nigeria (BP) -- Islamic extremist militants from terrorist group Boko Haram destroyed three worship sites and an unspecified number of houses in northeast Nigeria Friday night (Feb. 21), sources said.

  Thousands of people were displaced as the militants set three church buildings and the houses on fire in predominantly Christian Garkida, in Adamawa state's Gombi County, area residents told Morning Star News. Read More

• Two young Christian women killed in Nigeria

  by Staff/Morning Star News, posted Wednesday, January 22, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  JOS, Nigeria (BP) -- Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed two young Christian women in southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, Jan. 17, sources said.

  The herdsmen on motorbikes rode into Gora-Gan village in Zango Kataf County about 5 p.m., shooting villagers on sight, according to a local resident. Luka Biniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), confirmed the killing of Briget Philip, 18, and Priscilla David, 19. Read More

• Boko Haram kidnaps, kills pastor amid renewed attacks

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, January 21, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Screenshot from video, Morning Star News

  Northeast Nigeria (BP) -- Boko Haram insurgents have killed a Nigerian pastor they kidnapped weeks ago, news media said Tuesday (Jan. 21), amid a resurgence in northeast Nigeria of the splintered terrorist group blamed for Christian genocide.

  Terrorists killed Lawan Andimi yesterday (Jan. 20), according to Today.NG which described Andimi as a Michika pastor who led a local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Read More

• Tennessee pastor stuck in India after judge retains passport

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

  

  American Center for Law and Justice photo

  SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- There are no immediate options to bring home a U.S. pastor whose passport was confiscated in India on a Customs charge, his wife told Baptist Press Friday (Jan. 17) after his fifth unsuccessful court appearance.

  "Right now, we do not know. We don't know," said Rhonda Nerren, wife of International House of Prayer pastor Bryan Nerren of Shelbyville, Tenn. "He's just stuck. He's not a hostage like holding a gun to his head; but you know, they are holding him in India for no reason." Read More

• 'Walking worship' new lifeline for Chinese Christians

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, January 16, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- "Walking worship" is what the pastor calls it. After the Chinese government destroyed his underground church in Beijing, the congregation resorted to a new thing.

  "Without any place to worship, because any place we gather is not safe," Xiang En told Baptist Press Wednesday (Jan. 15), "we used a kind of unique form of worship in the church history. We call it 'walking worship,' WW." The church multimedia team records a weekly audio file of an entire service, from the call to worship to the benediction, and safely distributes it to congregation members. Read More

• Open Doors: Technology advancing Christian persecution

  by Diana Chandler, posted Wednesday, January 15, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The use of technology is advancing and strengthening Christian persecution, Open Doors CEO David Curry said Wednesday (Jan. 15) in releasing the ministry's 2020 World Watch List of the 50 countries where such persecution is most severe.

  "Christian faith is under attack and the methods of that persecution are becoming more sophisticated, and thus pose a greater threat," he said, "because they have the ability to oppress on a massive scale now, and I think it's a blueprint for others." Read More

• Christians in India spend Christmas in jail

  by Morning Star News Staff, posted Friday, January 03, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Morning Star News photo

  NEW DELHI (BP) -- Christians arrested in central India after Hindu nationalist, tribal villagers disrupted their worship service spent Christmas in jail before they were released on bail after 11 days -- accused of illegally practicing medicine.

  Pastor Mukam Kiraad, 35, along with two members of his church, 40-year-old Lalsingh Tomar and 38-year-old Nanliya Rawat, were shocked to learn that they were charged under a Madhya Pradesh state law prohibiting unregistered medical practice, punishable by up to three years in prison. Read More

• U.S., E.U. urge release of jailed Chinese pastor

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, January 02, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  ChinaAid photo

  SICHUAN, China (BP) -- The United States and the European Union are urging China to free pastor Wang Yi, sentenced to nine years in prison in what religious liberty advocates call Christian persecution.

  China pronounced Wang guilty Dec. 30 of "illegal business operations" and "inciting subversion of state power," convictions religious liberty advocates say stem solely from his leadership as founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan. Read More

• Crackdown on Christianity escalates in China

  by Staff/Morning Star News, posted Thursday, December 19, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  China Aid photo

  BEIJING (BP) -- As more government officials in China are empowered to close churches and a "social credit" system threatens to block Christians from schools, bank loans and jobs, authorities have taken harsh measures against more churches, sources said.

  In Beijing, Early Rain Covenant Church elder Qin Defu was sentenced to four years in prison Nov. 29, according to advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA). Qin was charged with illegal business operations as a result of the church's using 20,000 Christian books, according to CAA. Read More