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Vicar of Baghdad leaves Baghdad

Iraq , , ,
Saying the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” is operating in Baghdad, the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, Andrew White, has abandoned the capital city. White made the announcement on on Oct. 7, after a discussion with the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “He has agreed for me to . . . Read More

New dataset does the numbers on Boko Haram

Nigeria , ,
Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency is “clearly the most lethal conflict that Nigeria has confronted in decades,” according to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, or SAIS. The school has just released the Nigeria Social Violence Dataset, which tallies Nigeria’s “incidents of deadly social violence” since 1998. The . . . Read More

Assyrians on patrol

Iraq , , , ,
When World Watch Monitor on the renewed fervor for the creation of a Christian-governed province in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, we noted how some Christian refugees from the violence of the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” had formed paramilitary units to help Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Now an up-close look at two Assyrian Iraqis . . . Read More

Laos Christians arrested for attending church

Laos , ,
UPDATE: Six of the seven Christians arrested at the end of September have been released from the detention center in the village of Boukham, in the province of Savannakhet on October 3 . Pastor Sompong Supatto and six other Christians were arrested for ‘exercising religious freedom in gathering for religious worship’ . . . Read More

Sudanese apostasy mother to campaign

Speaking to the BBC in the US, where she is seeking asylum, freed Sudanese death-row mother Mariam Ibrahim, says she wants to campaign for others who face religious persecution. Earlier this year, Ibrahim was sentenced to death by a Sudanese court that applied Shariah law and did not recognise her . . . Read More

Calling out Hungary

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The says it will haul up Hungary before its European peers to pressure it to restore more than 200 churches to its official registry. Hungary stripped official recognition from the churches in 2011, after it passed a law that created two tiers of churches, the lower of which enjoys fewer rights. . . . Read More

Children arrested during raid on Chinese church

China , ,
Children were among 100 Chinese Christians detained after police raided a house church in Guangdong province, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Members of Mount Olivet church were held in custody for up to 20 hours. Police say they were detained for conducting an “illegal gathering”. The church of 170 parishioners . . . Read More

‘The work of a generation’

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UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair has penned a seven-point assessment of what he calls “the issue of our time”: the threat of Islamic extremism. Blair’s essay, posted Sept. 22 on the website of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, has attracted attention for its acknowledgment that Western ground forces likely . . . Read More