Tag: Protestants

Evangelical head sets out ambitious vision for rebuilding CAR

April 12, 2018 Central African Republic Bambari, Bangui, Catholics, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, PK5, Protestants, Seleka, UN, Women, Youth

Churches in the Central African Republic have pledged to unite in prayer in response to the worsening violence dividing the country. The leader of the country’s evangelical church network says the effort has the potential to bring peace to the troubled nation. “Recent history of some countries in Africa, among . . . Read More

China pledges to protect religious freedom, days after Bible ban

April 6, 2018 China Bibles, Catholics, China, Protestants, Religious freedom, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

Women, married to pastors who work in rural areas in China, meet in a church. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China presented an official ‘white paper’ on religion on Wednesday, 4 April, guaranteeing “protection” for religious freedom, just four days after banning the online sale of Bibles. The policy paper, titled ‘China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief’, was presented by the State Council Information Office at . . . Read More

Turkey’s Churches publish landmark book of common Christian doctrine

March 28, 2018 Turkey Armenians, Catholics, Haghia Sophia, Istanbul, Orthodox, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Protestants, Turkey

A joint commission of Turkey’s major Christian denominations has published an historic book of concise Christian doctrine, receiving the unprecedented endorsement of all the nation’s Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syriac and Protestant Churches. According to Armenian Bishop Sahak Masalyan, keynote speaker at the formal book launch in Istanbul of the English . . . Read More

Ethiopian Protestant loses appeal against prison sentence for ‘causing outrage to religious peace and feeling’

March 22, 2018 Ethiopia Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mahibere Kidusan, Protestants

The Holy Saviour Orthodox Church in Addis Ababa. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Ethiopian court has turned down the appeal of an Evangelical Christian sentenced to seven months in prison for “causing outrage to religious peace and feeling”. In its verdict, published on 19 March, the court upheld an earlier sentence given by a judge in the southern city of Arba Minch . . . Read More

Egypt’s elections and the man dividing the country’s Copts

March 14, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Aswan, Asyut, Bahrain, Cairo, Catholics, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, El-Ghad Party, Elections, Faiyum, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Protestants, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Tanta, Terrorism, Upper Egypt

Walking around Cairo you would be forgiven for thinking that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the only candidate running in the elections later this month. His is the only grandiose face bearing down on passers-by, while billboards of his rival, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, are nowhere to be seen. Egypt’s 26-28 March presidential elections have . . . Read More

Iran: Christian retreat centre ordered to close by tomorrow

March 9, 2018 Iran Assemblies of God, Ayatollah Khamenei, Churches, Converts, Iran, Karaj, Protestants, Robert Asseriyan

A Christian retreat centre in Iran will finally close tomorrow, 10 March, nearly three years after it was ordered to do so and then later accused of being funded by the USA’s “CIA spy agency”. The caretakers of the Sharon Retreat Centre in Karaj, west of Tehran, have been ordered . . . Read More

53 churches legalised in Egypt, 1000s more still waiting

March 5, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Catholics, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Protestants

Coptic Church in central Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2004)

Fifty-three Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches were recently granted licenses by the Egyptian government, as Catholic news agency Fides reported last week. These churches and annexed buildings already existed before the new law on the construction of Christian buildings of worship was passed by the Egyptian Parliament on 30 August . . . Read More

Indonesia church attacker acted alone, police say

February 15, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Bogor, Churches, GKI Yasmin, Human rights, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Joko Widodo, Nahdlatul Ulama, Protestants, Religious freedom, Sulawesi, Yogyakarta

Altar of the Stasi Kinali Catholic Church, West-Sumatra, Indonesia, which was attacked in May 2014. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The man accused of injuring four people in an attack on an Indonesian church on Sunday morning (11 February) acted alone and obtained the weapon – a one-metre-long sword – in exchange for his mobile phone, police say. The suspect, a 23-year-old student identified as Suliyono from Bayuwangi in East . . . Read More

US agency accuses Russia of abusing anti-extremism laws

February 14, 2018 Russia Churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Missionaries, Moscow, Protestants, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet Union, Terrorism, USA, Yarovaya Law

Russia’s anti-extremism laws are being used to crack down on peaceful religious minorities such as Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishnas, the top US religious-freedom watchdog says. A report commissioned by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) found that “vague and problematic definitions of ‘extremism’ in Russian law . . . Read More

Ethiopian Evangelical sent to prison for ‘insulting’ Orthodox Church

February 9, 2018 Ethiopia Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mahibere Kidusan, Protestants

A judge in southern Ethiopia has sentenced an Evangelical Christian to seven months in prison for “causing outrage to religious peace and feeling” following accusations believed to come from members of the predominant Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). The judge in the city of Arba Minch handed down the sentence on . . . Read More

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