Tag: Germany

Turkey serves deportation order after German’s 20 years of tourism work

September 19, 2019 Turkey Austria, Germany, Minorities, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tourism, Turkey

Hans-Jurgen Louven has worked in Turkish tourism for 20+ years

Without any warning, the Turkish government last month notified a German who’s worked for two decades in its tourism sector that his routine application to renew his residency visa had been denied. Abruptly, 58-year-old Hans-Jurgen Louven was then ordered to leave Turkey – where he owns property, and . . . Read More

Korean reunification would not resemble German experience, says theologian

August 21, 2018 Churches, Germany, North Korea, South Korea

A fence at Imjingak park, on the South Korean side, that separates the country from its northern neighbour. It's filled with ribbons with prayers and wishes for North Korea and reunification written on them. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The reunification of North and South Korea would not be similar to that of East and West Germany, according to a German theologian. “The division between North and South Korea is already of much longer duration than the German division, and it goes much deeper. In the beginning there was . . . Read More

Assessment of religious conversions as genuine or asylum-motivated dismissed as naïve

June 8, 2018 Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Denmark, Europe, Finland, Germany, Iran, Kurds, Middle East, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sweden

Revd Mark Miller of St Thomas' Church, Stockton, in north-east England, The Priest-in-Charge of St Thomas’s, Stockton-on-Tees, the Revd Mark Miller, has had up to 100 Persian asylum-seekers in his congregation

Attempts by Western politicians and media to judge whether Iranian migrants and asylum-seekers who ask to be baptised are either genuine or are doing so to boost their chances of being granted asylum are “naïve”, according to an academic who has carried out extensive research among Iranians who profess to . . . Read More

World Council of Churches condemns persecution of other religions

April 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Berlin, Germany, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Kurds, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has condemned efforts to incite violence against people who practise other faiths as “abhorrent and ungodly”. “Freedom of religion is as much about Christian minorities in Muslim countries as it is about followers of Islam . . . Read More

Europe shows ‘almost sinister’ indifference to persecuted Christianity – bishop

February 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asylum seekers, Austria, Converts, Eastern Europe, Europe, Germany, Hungary, Islamic extremism

A new, aggressive form of atheism has led to a devaluing of religious freedom, a Catholic bishop in Austria has claimed. The Bishop of Linz, Manfred Scheuer, said that this new atheism associates religion with oppression and a lack of liberty, which has led to a selective interpretation of human . . . Read More

Germany: 97 anti-Christian attacks last year, most against refugees

February 5, 2018 Angela Merkel, Germany, Refugees

Germany’s federal police recorded almost 100 attacks on Christians or Christian institutions in Germany in 2017, with most violent incidents occurring among asylum seekers living in refugee centres, reports Deutsche Welle. The figure of 97 anti-Christian hate crimes was leaked by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) ahead of official . . . Read More

Iranian Christians safe if ‘practise faith discreetly’ – European Court of Human Rights

January 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Europe, Germany, Human rights, Iran, Religious freedom, Sweden, Switzerland

Activists in the Swiss capital of Bern raise awareness of religious persecution of Christians around the world (2014). (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The European Court of Human Rights ruled last month that an Iranian who sought asylum in Switzerland based on religious grounds could be deported to his home country because his life was not in danger, despite various reports detailing how Iran persecutes religious minorities and converts to Christianity. Human Rights . . . Read More

Sweden opens church for 5,000 Christians who fled Middle East

December 15, 2017 Baghdad, Catholics, Chaldeans, Germany, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Mosul, Sweden

Evening mass at Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in the Iraqi city of Erbil, attended by many refugees from Mosul and Nineveh Plains who fled IS. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2014)

A new church opened last week in the Swedish town of Södertalje, 30km south of Stockholm, for the estimated 5,000-6,000 Chaldean Catholics who have resettled there after fleeing their homes in the Middle East. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Germany, who participated in the inaugural service, explained to German . . . Read More

Muslim asylum seekers find shelter in Germany’s churches

September 7, 2017 Afghanistan, Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Berlin, Churches, Converts, Europe, Germany, Iran, Islamic extremism, Migrants, Refugees, Sweden

A church in Germany. (Photo: Paul Frankenstein via Flickr; CC 2.0).

Refugees at risk of deportation from Germany are finding shelter in Germany’s churches, and many are becoming Christians in the process, reports The Washington Post. More than a million refugees travelled to Germany in 2015, in the midst of Europe’s so-called “migrant crisis”, because it was known for its open . . . Read More

Sweden to Iranian convert it plans to deport: ‘It’s not our problem you chose to become a Christian’

August 16, 2017 Aideen Strandsson, Amin Afshar Naderi, Apostasy, Asylum seekers, Converts, Europe, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sharia, Sweden, UK

Iranian convert, Aideen Strandsson, is still waiting for an appeal hearing after her asylum request in Sweden was rejected. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Iranian convert to Christianity has been refused asylum in Sweden, placing her at risk of deportation and “torture and rape” in jail in her home country. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who was baptised in Sweden in 2014, said officials at the country’s Migration Board did not believe her life would . . . Read More

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