Persecuted Christians

06/29/2016 Washington, D.C. ( International Christian Concern ) -Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in India in 2014, Christians have experienced an increasing amount of persecution. Over the past two years, it has almost become common for radical Hindus to attack pastors and destroy churches without fear of punishment from India's law enforcement....
Read More About Christians Fear for Children Attending Children Bible Clubs in India »

01 June 2016   Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, and begins on 7 June this year. For 30 days, all healthy adult Muslims will be expected to fast during daylight hours, and many Muslims become more devout during this period, sincerely seeking answers from God. We spoke to a secret believer from a Muslim background about what Ramadan meant to them when they...
Read More About SOUTH EAST ASIA: RAMADAN THROUGH THE EYES OF A SECRET BELIEVER »

05/27/2016 Washington, D.C. ( International Christian Concern ) - A fresh wave of violence against India's Christian community broke out in the days following the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releasing its annual report on international religious freedom. In this report, India was once again designated as a Tier 2 violator of religious freedom by the...
Read More About Hindu Radicals in India React to USCIRF Report on Deteriorating Religious Freedom »

By Troy Augustine, Sandra Elliot and James Kake 05/23/2016 Washington, D.C. ( International Christian Concern ) - Several quarry workers from central Kenya knew they were choosing dangerous work traveling to Mandera, Kenya, for a lucrative job in a region teeming with Islamist al-Shabaab terrorists. However, they never thought that their...
Read More About Disabled, but Forgiving: Kenyan Christian Learns Grace through Suffering »

10 May 2016 An estimated one million refugees are now living in Germany. Taking in so many refugees has caused Germany to face serious challenges. One problem which had been ignored until recently is the increase in aggression and violence towards Christians in the refugee hostels. For this reason, Open Doors carried out a survey of Christian refugees in temporary accommodation in...
Read More About OPEN DOORS GERMANY HIGHLIGHTS PERSECUTION OF REFUGEES IN GERMANY »

5/5/2016 Baoding, China  (China Aid)  - A Catholic priest from China’s northern Hebei province disappeared on April 15 during a driving test. Yang Jianwei, a priest from a rural, predominately Catholic village in the city of Baoding, lost contact with his family and friends at 12:00 p.m. on April 15, shortly after he entered an examination room to take a driving test. ...
Read More About Chinese Priest goes Missing in Historically Persecuted City During Driving Test »

29 April 2016 On 9 April 2016, the weekend edition of the government-owned Al-Ahram newspaper - Egypt's most popular paper - contained an article with a difference. Written in bold was the title: Love in Christianity. In Egypt, preaching the gospel publicly remains a crime that can lead to imprisonment. Despite this, the article's author, a well-known and respected Muslim...
Read More About EGYPT: ARTICLE ON CHRISTIAN LOVE REACHES MILLIONS »

Since 2007, the town of Buseresere has been the centre of tensions over the unwritten law that only Muslims are allowed to slaughter animals and all meat must be halal. For meat to be considered halal, the butcher must be a Muslim, must face Mecca and must say Islamic prayers when he kills the animal. This unwritten rule is unconstitutional, as Tanzania guarantees freedom of religion,...
Read More About TANZANIA: EVANGELIST MATHAYO KILLED IN RIOTS OVER HALAL MEAT »

Gerrman language 06.04.2016 BANGLADESCH Frauen finden zu Jesus und riskieren dabei alle Sicherheiten (Open Doors) – Gespannt hören unsere Mitarbeiter den Frauen zu, die gerade an einer Schulung von Open Doors teilnahmen. „Ich bin Hosneara, 33 Jahre alt und war eine Muslima“, stellt sich die erste Frau vor. „Von meinem Mann – der früher auch Muslim war – habe ich gelernt, dass...
Read More About Bangladesch: „Unser Glaube ist fest »

05 April 2016   Hawa* is a believer from a Muslim background in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world where leaving Islam to follow Jesus can cost you your family, your job, or even your life. She is only 20, but she has already discovered both the cost and the joy of following Jesus. This is her story. Hawa says: "I grew up in a wealthy family. My father is a Muslim...
Read More About HORN OF AFRICA: HAWA MEETS JESUS IN A DREAM »

German language 16.03.2016 SYRIEN "Wir hatten so eine Ausweitung unseres Dienstes nie erwartet" (Open Doors) – „Wir haben mit der Unterstützung von 16 Familien begonnen und heute – vier Jahre später – unterstützt unsere Gemeinde etwa 3.500 Familien“, schildert uns der Pastor einer Gemeinde in Tartus die Situation. Als die ersten Flüchtlinge aus Homs bei ihm in der...
Read More About Syrien: Wie zu Zeiten der Apostelgeschichte »

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?idn=1&art=36886 Cecilia Flores-Oebanda was a child worker and was detained for four years for opposing the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She raised her children in prison. In 1991 she founded the Visayan Forum, which fights human trafficking in the Philippines. AsiaNews interviewed her on the eve of her speech to "Voices of Faith", symposium organized...
Read More About Cecilia's story: from Marcos' prisoner to activist against human trafficking »

01 March 2016 Mercy is a 22-year-old Christian from the beautiful town of Gwoza, in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State. Before the arrival of Boko Haram militants almost 300,000 people had lived there, the majority of whom were Christians. But, slowly, the militants began entering the area, and in June 2014 they violently took over the town and  declared it an Islamic...
Read More About NIGERIA: FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM - MERCY'S MIRACULOUS SURVIVAL »

16 February 2016 Many countries in Central Asia are in the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List -  Uzbekistan  is number 15,  Turkmenistan  is 19,  Tajikistan  is 31,  Azerbaijan  is 34, and  Kazakhstan  is 42. Christians in this region are often monitored and controlled by their governments, but converts can also face...
Read More About CENTRAL ASIA: PRAY FOR THREE WHO FACE ATTACK AND IMPRISONMENT »

10 February 2016 Jung Yohan is a gifted musician from Pyongyang. He used to perform before Kim Jong-Il. "Now I use my violin to point to Christ," he says. This is his story: PERFORMING FOR KIM JONG-IL "My grandfather was an elder in the underground church. Only later in my life did I realise he was actually a Christian. He brought me to my music lessons and secretly prayed...
Read More About NORTH KOREA: 'MY VIOLIN AND YOUR PRAYERS SAVED MY LIFE' »

  http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Tamil-Nadu,-priest-and-three-Catholics-assaulted-and-accused-of-killing-a-child-in-a-center-for-AIDS-patients-36562.html INDIA Nirmala Carvalho The priest is still in shock and in intensive care suffering from head injuries. Hindu radicals suspected of attack in attempt to publicize...
Read More About Tamil Nadu, priest and three Catholics assaulted and accused of "killing" a child in a center for AIDS patients »

02 February 2016 The World Watch List is about the big picture - the facts and figures, the global trends. But the big picture is made up of millions of individual faces. Like Ajay, a young Indian Christian who has experienced 8 years of persecution, yet still says God has blessed him in countless ways. Ajay is 21. When he was four years old, his Hindu parents sent him to live...
Read More About INDIA: PERSECUTED, BEATEN, EVICTED - BUT STILL PRAISING GOD »

ICC Note: A Christian girl in Pakistan has reportedly been killed by a group of Muslim men after she refused their sexual advances. As a group of Christian girls walked home, a group of four Muslim men in a car confronted them and made lewd suggestions to the girls. When the girls refused their advances, the Muslims became enraged and hit the group of Christians with the...
Read More About Christian Girl in Pakistan Killed by Muslim Men for Rejecting Their Sexual Advances »

20 January 2016 CHURCH ABLAZE IN MANGA MANDI On 7 January at around 1am, items on top of the church roof were set alight in Manga Mandi, Lahore. "The fire gutted the roof, but it could not enter the building because the iron doors were closed," the catechist, Dildar Masih, told World Watch Monitor. Initially, the police believed the fire to have been caused by a short...
Read More About PAKISTAN: THREE ATTACKS AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK »

13 January 2016 The 2016 Open Doors World Watch List, released today, shows that global persecution of Christian is more extreme than ever before. Although the attention of the world's press and politicians has been on persecution in Syria and Iraq, those countries are just the tip of the iceberg. Systematic religious cleansing is widespread across Africa and the Middle East....
Read More About NEW WORLD WATCH LIST SHOWS GROWTH IN GLOBAL PERSECUTION »

12/30/2015 Washington, D.C.  ( International Christian Concern ) - A church under construction in central Egypt was attacked on Thursday, December 10, by a crowd of more than 400 Muslim youth, possibly with incitement from local officials. Following the attack, the new church in the Swada village of Minya has now been closed by local officials, despite the church having...
Read More About Church in Upper Egypt Attacked While Under Construction »

12/17/2015 Washington, D.C. ( International Christian Concern ) - Christians in India continue to face immense pressure at the hands of Hindu radical groups even as the country undertakes a debate regarding the rise of religious intolerance. Brutal acts of violence manifest this rise in religious intolerance as communal forces brazenly attack innocent Christians. From physical...
Read More About Christian Persecution Reaches New Heights in India's Telangana State as Country Debates Rise in Intolerance »

14 December 2015 Sunni Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church are considered the traditional religions of Central Asia. All other religious groups are either illegal or subject to serious harassment. In some parts of Central Asia Christians must keep their faith completely secret - this is the story of one of them: EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE CHANGED "I grew up in a Muslim home in...
Read More About CENTRAL ASIA: A SECRET BELIEVER'S STORY »

  http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Dhaka,-brutal-attack-on-Catholic-brothers-leaves-them-fighting-for-life-36112.html »  12/10/2015 BANGLADESH   by Sumon Corraya Rajesh D 'Cruze is a banker and his brother Ranjan D' Cruze works at a private company. They were attacked by more than five unidentified thugs. The dynamics of the attack reminiscent of the one...
Read More About Dhaka, brutal attack on Catholic brothers leaves them fighting for life »

04 December 2015 In a week when international attention has been firmly fixed on Syria, our Syrian church family need us to kneel with them in prayer and consider how we can support them in action, as they continue to shine as a light in the darkness. Alongside the violence of the civil war that began in 2011, Christians in Syria have been the targets of Islamic extremists....
Read More About SYRIA: DESPITE PERSECUTION, THE CHURCH IS A VITAL LIFELINE »