Pakistan: Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. In practice it is only applied to Islam, calls for change in the blasphemy laws have been strongly resisted by Islamic parties. The former governor of Punjab and the Federal Minister for Minorities were assassinated in 2011 for their opposition to the blasphemy laws. Iran: Pastor Nadarkhani sits on death row for refusing to recant his Christian faith. The growing Iranian Church is continually harassed attacked and imprisoning believers. Nigeria: 1,000+ have been killed in religious and ethnic violence in Jos over the past two years between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south. Myanmar: Christians have to meet in secret , and recently persecution has been growing. South Sudan: The Sudanese army, with the support of a government-backed militia, is pursuing a genocidal campaign in South Kordofan, targeting the indigenous Christian Nuba peoples for being 'enemies of Islam'.

Pray: for God to comfort and protect Christians caught in the crossfire of religious discriminations, and for believers to be encouraged as they advance God’s Kingdom in 2012, even when it costs them everything. (2Thes.3:3)

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