Two Christian women assaulted in Pakistan
Police in Pakistan slow to prosecute a Muslim who attacked two Christian women with an axe and attempted to rape one of them are weakening the case against him, sources said.
Police in Pakistan slow to prosecute a Muslim who attacked two Christian women with an axe and attempted to rape one of them are weakening the case against him, sources said.
As Pakistan heads into general elections this Thursday, February 8, Pakistani Christians appear dejected over the electoral system for their parliamentary representation.
An Islamist cleric presided over the forced conversion of two Christians in Sialkot District, Pakistan after they were tortured into reciting the Islamic conversion creed, sources said.
Vietnam improved from 24th to 35th place in Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, but the U.S. government was not so generous regarding its religious freedom record, placing the country on its Special Watch List on Jan. 4 for the second year in a row.
In his incisive Christianity Today article titled “Xi Jinping Is Not Trying to Make Christianity More Chinese,” Purdue University professor Fenggang Yang draws a distinction between Sinicization, or the cultural adaptation of religion to Chinese culture, and what he calls “Chinafication,” a more literal translation of the Chinese term Zhongguo hua (中国化) used in the current “Sinicization of religion” campaign.
Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya faces a one-year prison sentence for his religious activities, marking a significant setback for religious freedom in Nepal, after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a previous judgment against the pastor, who now awaits the court’s response to his appeal for converting the sentence into a fine.
Police intimidation and lax investigations into Islamist rioting that destroyed scores of Christian homes and businesses in Jaranwala, Pakistan in August has dampened hopes of justice for the victims, sources said.
Christians in Pakistan have breathed a sigh of relief over the government’s decision to make Islamic studies not compulsory for non-Muslim students in schools at all levels.
A court in China sentenced a prominent Protestant pastor to 14 years in prison. The pastor’s wife and four church members have also been sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years. They were all found guilty of purportedly “using superstition to undermine the law.”
Pakistan’s leading human rights and religious freedom advocate, Peter Jacob, is among eight individuals from different countries who were awarded with the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award in recognition of their courage and commitment to promoting and defending religious freedom globally.
Ten Christian worshippers, including five children, lost their lives in the southern Philippines when a landslide struck the house where they had gathered for prayer. Officials reported on Friday that those inside were holding Christian prayer sheets when the natural disaster occurred following heavy rain.