Committed Christian, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said, ‘When you meet circumstances that you don't understand and can’t control, you have to turn to God and that's a deep rooted Liberian experience.’ The Ebola crisis has driven many to their knees. Churches are overcrowded with people pouring out their hearts before God. Bethel Cathedral of Hope is one such church experiencing unprecedented attendance. ‘Liberia is not a stranger to crisis and so we have that resilience by the grace of God to be hopeful and to rise up in the midst of impossible situations,’ said Bishop Wollo Belleh. A few weeks after the Ebola crisis erupted, Liberian Vice-president Joseph Boakai helped launch weekly prayer meetings encouraging Christians to take hold of God. ‘My prayer is that God would help us overcome this in the shortest time possible, console the bereaved, help us to understand our predicament and work as a nation,’

A number of the 120,000 Christians who fled Mosul and the Nineveh plains to areas like Kurdistan had the Arabic letter N ('noon') painted on their homes by IS to identify them as Christians (Nazarenes). IS view Christians as non-believers, but refugee Christians in Kurdistan have written a song to explain that being 'N' means  ‘unconditional love, to build bridges of peace, to believe in Jesus Christ, to teach, to forgive regardless of the crimes against you’. In Sept 2014 at SAT-7 a current affairs programme 'Bridges' visited Christian refugees from Mosul and Qaraqosh in Iraqi Kurdistan. As well as describing their losses and hopes these believers with the label of N hanging over them sang this remarkable song. The song, musicians, images and the words of love, belief, peacefulness, and forgiveness translated into English can be viewed by clicking the 'More' button.

Bishop James Johnston says Missouri State’s non-discrimination bill discriminates against people of faith and forcing believers to recognise same-sex relationships violates their religious freedoms and essentially makes Christians criminals. The leader in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese issued a letter opposing the measure. ‘Does the government have a compelling interest in forcing every member of our society to participate in the celebration of same-sex relationships?’ Meanwhile a new study revealed that 1/3 of American workers say they have seen or experienced religious discrimination at their workplace according to a new study that asked more than 2,000 Americans about religious freedom at work. 32% of white evangelicals said others look down on them because of their beliefs, while 31% of non-religious workers said the same.  See 

It can be costly to own religious literature in Uzbekistan. On 5 September, Artur Alpayev was fined 50 times the minimum monthly wage for storing religious literature at his home. The literature was seized when his home was raided during a prayer meeting. When sentencing Artur the judge said, ‘We will continue fining you unless you stop storing religious literature in your home.’ Local Christians complained that Artur’s right to ‘search, receive and spread any information, except that which is aimed against the Constitutional order’ under Uzbekistan’s constitution, is not being respected. Police also recently raided the homes of two other Christian couples in search of religious literature. In Uzbekistan all religious literature is subject to compulsory censorship before it can be owned. However, there is no law banning individuals from owning religious literature unless it encourages people to change their beliefs.