Four months after the attacks on dozens of churches and Christians' homes by Muslim mobs in Pakistan, the Christian minority fervently and enthusiastically celebrated Christmas. Across the country, churches and streets were adorned with festive lights and trees, reflecting their resilient spirit.
"A ceasefire and peace - these are the two things I want for Christmas," says Brendan Metcalfe, chief executive of Friends of the Holy Land. Months of war between Israel and Gaza are taking a "terrible" toll on the entire region, with devastating consequences for people in the West Bank and Bethlehem who rely on tourism.
Several Muslim suspects have been arrested in France, Germany and Austria for allegedly planning Christmas terror attacks, according to reports, which say there’s a “very high level of terrorist threat” from Islamic terrorists in France. Spain is also on alert.
An Islamist extremist has been sentenced to a minimum sentence of 16 years over a plot to kill a Christian preacher in London's Hyde Park. Edward Little, 22, was intercepted by officers on 23 September 2022 while on his way to buy a weapon after travelling from his home in Brighton to London. He had a rucksack containing £5,000 when he was arrested.
Last week, the Nautanwa police released a pastor in Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh, on bail after arresting him last month. While speaking to Christian Today, his wife and son alleged, "He is falsely framed."
Two evangelists in Uganda will spend Christmas in jail, charged under a blasphemy law after Muslims upset at their street preaching beat them and summoned police, sources said.
A Christian rights group is calling for the release of a church elder who was forcibly detained by police officers in front of his 6-year-old daughter at his home in Anhui province, central China, on what it says are trumped-up charges of "fraud."
With an increase in blasphemy cases in Indonesia and arrests based on Islamic fatwas and mob pressure, rights advocates are calling for laws to be amended or ended.
A Sudanese family that faced severe persecution for their Christian faith has been given refuge and will celebrate their first Christmas in the safety of the United States. Nada and Hamouda, a married couple, along with their children, escaped a dire situation in the Arab Muslim country of Sudan, where they were criminally prosecuted and threatened with death for converting to Christianity.
With a history of Islamic extremist attacks dating back to 1991, Nigeria’s Bauchi state is home to a Christian community that continues to suffer oppression and killings, a long-time pastor said.
Voters in Chile voted down a proposed constitution that would have established rights to personhood and religious freedom as well as replaced the charter imposed by a military dictatorship over four decades ago.
A Muslim teacher at an Islamic school in eastern Uganda who became a Christian on Oct. 4 was killed on Oct. 21, area sources said.
