Displaying items by tag: religious persecution

Attacks on two churches in Nepal over the weekend were just the latest in a string of recent violence against Christians. The churches are in the province of Lumbini, which borders India. Photos and videos reviewed by International Christian Concern (ICC) showed broken windows and other signs of violence around the properties, including damage to fences and a broken motorbike. Another photo shared on social media showed two men, identified as pastors, being assaulted on the street. Locals smeared the pastors’ faces with a sticky black substance in a cultural sign of hatred and disrespect. The Lumbini attacks are the sixth and seventh such attacks against churches in Nepal in two weeks. ‘It’s spreading like wildfire’, a Nepalese civil society leader has told ICC. ‘Perpetrators, seeing little to no response from the authorities in recent weeks, are encouraged to act more.’

Mehdi Rokhparvar, who was serving a five-year sentence for ‘acting against national security’ by ‘forming an illegal evangelical Christian group’, was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison in the same week as fellow convert Saheb Fadaie as part of a wider amnesty of prisoners on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Republic. However, such pardons, while welcome, do not address the original injustice of their sentencing and imprisonment as the government continues to regard rights and freedoms guaranteed in international law as crimes; including the right to freely adopt a religion of one’s choice, and manifest one’s faith in community with others.

Over 200 security forces entered Roshankouh village in northern Iran to demolish houses and farms belonging to members of the Baha’i faith. They blocked the roads leading to the village and arrested anyone who tried to stop them. They confiscated mobile phones and warned locals not to take photos or videos of them using heavy construction machinery to demolish buildings. Since early June, Iran has intensified its systematic campaign to suppress the religious minority, raiding households, shutting down businesses, arresting many, and putting Baha’i on trial, including three of the former leaders of the community. 50 Baha’i homes were demolished in the same province; the authorities confiscated the assets of 27 Baha’i families who had lived there for several generations, claiming that the money they earned was ‘unlawfully earned’. 20+ Baha'i businesses were closed in July. Very little Christian love and witness to them exists, although some Persian Christians have begun to reach out to them.

Amnesty International’s recent report accusing Israel of ‘apartheid’ is ‘a shameful misrepresentation of Israel’s diverse and dynamic society’, said the Israeli embassy in London, describing it as antisemitic. ‘We do not agree with the use of this terminology’, a Foreign Office spokesperson said. The UK has joined other countries who have spoken out against the Amnesty report, calling it ‘false, biased, and antisemitic’ and endangering the safety of Jews around the world. Israel’s foreign ministry said Amnesty UK was ‘corrupted by racism and xenophobia’. Its foreign minister said Amnesty was no longer ‘a respected organisation’, but the opposite. ‘It echoed propaganda without checking the facts. Instead of seeking the truth Amnesty echoes the same lies as terrorist organisations.’ Meanwhile anti-Semitism in 2021 is 'the worst year on record': see

Youtube has removed a sermon on sexuality by American pastor John MacArthur. The sermon violated their ‘hate speech policy’ when he said ‘there is no such thing as transgender. You are either XX or XY’. MacArthur’s comments related to Canada’s legislation, Bill C-4, which became law on 8 January. Some pastors and church leaders fear it could lead to the prohibition of sermons on biblical sexuality. Christian organisations say the wording of the bill is so broad, it could be used for ‘the criminal prosecution of Christians who speak biblical truth’. Four thousand preachers have affirmed their opposition to the bill and their willingness to speak out against it. Conservative commentator Todd Starnes said, ‘YouTube affirmed the Canadian law by banning any opposition to transgenderism on their platform, and it won’t be very long before the sex and gender revolutionaries target the source of our beliefs - the Holy Bible.’

At least 30 Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh have recently been falsely accused of forced religious conversions. This was triggered after Hindu nationalists, including members of the BJP party, claimed two Muslim men forcefully converted 1,000 people. BJP politicians publicly praised the arrests and warned against fraudulent conversions of Hindus to other faiths. Now Christians in Uttar Pradesh are being attacked by radical Hindu nationalists justifying their assaults by falsely accusing the Christians of illegal conversions. Similar anti-conversion laws and abuse of Christians are being enacted in eight other states. ‘This is a grave situation for Christians. ‘There is zero response from the Yogi administration. The attacks are mainly perpetrated by hardcore Hindutva activists who enjoy the support of the politicians’, said a church leader, who requested anonymity.

On 23 July the Catholic bishop of Pemba spoke out deploring the world’s indifference to escalating extremist violence in northern Mozambique, where multiple churches have been burnt, people beheaded, young girls kidnapped, and over 200,000 people displaced by the violent insurgency. Parliamentarian Paulo Rangel said. There are reports of insurgents beheading fifteen people in a week. Pray for the Church as it works with families who have suffered attacks and have lost everything. Also there is coronavirus in nine out of Mozambique’s ten provinces. Pray for organisations focusing on preventing contagion by disseminating information and raising awareness. Pray for those distributing essential aid to meet families’ immediate needs, including food, seeds, and hygiene kits. See https://www.actionaid.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/mozambique 

Reza Karkah, is an Iranian Christian living in Bradford with his wife Leigh and four-year-old daughter Bonnie. His bid for asylum has been rejected twice and he faces imprisonment, torture and separation from his English wife and child if the Home Office rejects his application again. Having re-launched his bid for asylum in the UK, he has good reason to believe he would be executed by authorities and exposed to vigilante violence if deported to Iran. His case is supported by the Christian Legal Centre and backed by expert witnesses. It exposes extraordinary assumptions made by Home Office officials that Reza, as a Christian convert, if deported to Iran would not face any risk of persecution. This is despite Reza’s Christian baptism alone being enough for him to be punished by death under Sharia Law. Since going public with his story, Reza's family in Iran have received threats on their lives.

Trump takes first UN stand to stop religious persecution.

President slams world leaders for 'silencing, shunning, or censoring the faithful.'

NEW YORK—President Donald Trump called on countries to end religious persecution around the world, asking governments to release prisoners of conscience and repeal laws that restrict religion and belief.

World leaders gathered in New York recently for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Trump started his meetings by hosting the “Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom” event on Sept. 23 at U.N. headquarters.

In his keynote remarks, the president said that he was the first leader to initiate discussion of religious freedom and persecution at the UNGA high-level meetings. He added that the meeting was long overdue.

“I was shocked when I was given that statistic that I would be the first. That’s very sad in many ways,” he said. “Today, with one clear voice, the United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution.”

Trump urged governments around the world to stop persecuting their citizens, release prisoners of conscience, eliminate laws that restrict religion, and protect oppressed people.

“Our Founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions,” he said.

Trump noted that the religious freedom enjoyed by Americans is rare in the world, adding that 80 percent of the world’s population live in countries where religious liberty is threatened or banned.

He slammed world leaders saying that too often they “preach diversity while silencing, shunning, or censoring the faithful.”

In his speech, Trump condemned both state-sponsored persecution and terrorist attacks against religious targets in the United States and around the world.

“We’re also urging every nation to increase the prosecution and punishment of crimes against religious communities,” Trump said.

He announced that the United States would form a coalition of U.S. businesses for the protection of religious freedom.

“This is the first time this has been done. This initiative will encourage the private sector to protect people of all faiths in the workplace,” he said.

In addition, the Trump administration will allocate an additional $25 million fund “to protect religious freedom and religious sites and relics.”

‘Communist Party in China’

Speaking at the event, Vice President Mike Pence singled out countries where the persecution against people of faith is the most severe, such as Iran, Iraq, China, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

“The regime in Iran brutally persecutes Christians, Sunnis, Baha’i, and Jews,” he said, adding that Iran-backed militias slaughtered Christians and Yazidis in Iraq.

“The Communist Party in China has arrested Christian pastors, banned the sale of Bibles, demolished churches, and imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in the Muslim population,” he said.

“The president’s speech is an important and historic moment precisely because religious freedom is too often ignored or downplayed at the U.N.,” Kelsey Zorzi, Alliance Defending Freedom international director of global religious freedom and president of the United Nations’ NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, said in a statement.

By Emel Akan - Follow Emel on Twitter: @mlakan
Full article at:https://epochtimes.today/trump-urges-nations-at-the-un-to-stop-religious-persecution/

Leo and Jenifa Johnson were intimidated and threatened in a residential area of Tamil Nadu state where they had distributed Christian tracts to homes. As they were leaving the area they were stopped by a man affiliated to the far-right nationalist group, Hindu Munani. He called two other men and they threatened the couple, accusing them of compelling people in the neighbourhood to convert. Leo said, ‘We did not tell people about Jesus. All we did was distribute tracts to homes. No one was forced to take the literature.’ Despite this explanation, the attackers threatened them and demanded they apply holy ash from a local temple on their foreheads. Leo said, ‘Jenifa was terrified and started crying. This should not have happened to us. India is supposed to be a free country where we can practise our faith.’ They were told that if they returned to the area, they would be violently attacked.