Tag: Churches

Ethiopia: Pressure on churches building; evangelical church told to vacate after ten years

June 18, 2019 Ethiopia Churches, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Oromia

A church in central Ethiopia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An evangelical church in central Ethiopia has been ordered to vacate its building, 10 years after it started meeting there, and churches elsewhere in the region say pressure is increasing on them, too. The Mekane Yesus Evangelical Church in the town of Robe in Bale zone, about 400km southeast of . . . Read More

Sri Lankan Christians grapple with aftermath of Easter bombings amid fears of fresh attacks

May 9, 2019 Sri Lanka Catholics, Churches, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Sri Lanka

Poster memorials and crosses for Christians who died in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Easter Sunday, 2019

Sri Lankan Arasaratnam Verl is deep in mourning. His son Jackson (13) and sister Verlini (36) were killed instantly when a bomb exploded in the evangelical Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa on Easter Sunday morning, 21 April. Verlini’s husband Ranjith (39), an engineer and Blackbelt in karate, . . . Read More

Egypt legalises 156 churches with many more still waiting

March 6, 2019 Egypt Al-Azhar, Churches, Copts, Egypt

Entrance to a Coptic Church in Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Egypt legalised 156 more churches and service buildings on Tuesday, 5 March, bringing the total of approved religious venues to 783, reports Egypt Independent. Since 2016, more than 3,700 churches have applied for legal status under a new law that was designed to make it easier to establish and build churches . . . Read More

Unity among Cuban Christians unprecedented following constitutional vote

February 28, 2019 Cuba Churches, Constitution, Cuba, Religious freedom

Cubans search their names in lists as they prepare to cast their vote on Cuba's new constitution in Havana, against the backdrop of an image of late Revolution leader Fidel Castro. (Photo: Getty Images)

Cuba’s vote for a new Constitution was characterised by an unusual level of opposition as well as an unprecedented unity among churches. Nearly 87% of the voters approved a new Constitution in a referendum held last Sunday (24 February), while about 15 percent stayed at home and more than 700,000 people voted . . . Read More

Algerian court orders reopening of bookshop managed by Christian

December 18, 2018 Algeria Aïn Turk, Algeria, Churches, Oran, Protestant Church of Algeria

Churches and individual Christians in Muslim-majority Algeria have faced increased restrictions in recent months. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A bookshop owned by a Christian in Algeria can reopen its doors following a court order, reports Christian advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC). The court’s decision on 13 December annulled an earlier order by the Governor of Oran to close the bookshop in Ain Turk, 30km west of Oran, . . . Read More

‘I must denounce this wickedness openly’ – detained Chinese pastor

December 14, 2018 China Chengdu, China, Churches, Sam Brownback, Sichuan, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang

Pastor Wang Yi is held in criminal detention on charges of subversion. (Photo: Still from video, Early Rain Covenant Church Facebook page)

A Chinese pastor and his wife who were arrested alongside 100 church members and detained in southwest China on Sunday are accused of subverting state power, which can carry a prison sentence of up to five years. Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong, and other members of their . . . Read More

Police in China given quotas for how many Christians to arrest

December 6, 2018 China Catholics, China, Churches, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Peter Shao Zhumin, Police, Religion Law, Shanxi, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang, Zhengzhou

Police stations in a city in northeast China are having their performance evaluated according to the number of Christians they arrest, says religious-liberty magazine Bitter Winter. A police officer from Dalian, a port city in Liaoning Province, near the North Korean border, told the magazine that his station had received . . . Read More

Nepal ‘anything but progressive’ on religious freedom

December 6, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

The situation for Christians in Nepal has “worsened” since a new criminal code came into effect earlier this year, writes human rights activist Prakash Khadka for the Catholic news site UCAN. Nepal only became a secular country in 2007. Until that time it had been a Hindu monarchy for centuries . . . Read More

Algeria: Christian family charged with ‘inciting a Muslim to change his religion’

December 4, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Churches, Kabylie, Minorities, Proselytism

A sign at the entrance of a mosque which was once a church.

Four Algerian Christians appeared in court last week, charged with “inciting a Muslim to change his religion” and “performing religious worship in an unauthorised place”, reports Middle East Concern (MEC). If found guilty they face to two to five years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million . . . Read More

Myanmar: More Bible students escape, but 20 women still held

December 3, 2018 Myanmar Baptists, China, Churches, Education, Myanmar, Shan

Ethnic Wa, Palaung and Shan people watch in 2013 a religious ceremony by the ethnic United Wa State Army who have been fighting Myanmar's government troops in northern Shan state for decades. (Photo: Getty Images)

Four of the 41 Bible students forcibly recruited by an ethnic minority army in Myanmar’s northern Shan state in September have escaped, according to Catholic news site UCAN. Last month an initial group of 17 students escaped from a United Wa State Army (UWSA) base in the Wa hills near the . . . Read More

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