IRAN – You may have heard a story like this before. It’s a narrative about a man who devoted his life to persecuting Christians. He would have done anything in his power to eliminate them from the face of the earth. He traveled with orders to find, detain, and bring professing Christians before religious courts…

MUMBAI – A recent study conducted by the Azim Premji University (APU) and the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) concluded that “There is a distrust of leaders from outside the community across all classes, and all caste-class intersections.” Put simply, the majority of Indians prefer leaders with whom they identify most. Voter…

WASHINGTON DC – The Pew Research Center has released its comprehensive annual report on religious restrictions around the globe. The report compares restrictions in 2016 with previous years across two distinct categories: government-imposed restrictions and societal hostilities. More than a quarter (28%) of the 198 countries included in the research were identified as having either…

ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Erdoğan said this week that the decision of the Austrian government’s closure of seven mosques and expulsion of 60 Muslim imams may lead to war “between the cross and the crescent.” Erdoğan would have the world believe that Austria’s actions threaten world peace because its actions were “Islamophobic, racist, and…

CAIRO – On 11 March 2018, Missions Box News reported that Egyptian government officials had granted licenses for 53 churches as a “first block” toward compliance with the legal requirements. The licensing mandate which had been proposed by the Housing Ministry became law in August 2016. Yesterday the Egyptian Cabinet approved the legalization of 166…

ASTANA, Kazakhstan – On March 30, 2018, the Center for the Study of Problems of Religion of the Religious Affairs Department of the West Kazakhstan Region has asked selected churches and religious communities to provide personal information regarding “all underage community members attending your religious association.” The Religious Affairs Department is a division of the…

ISLAMABAD – It has been a rule of law that citizens of Pakistan must self-identify their religion on their passports. Now a judge on the Islamabad High Court has extended the rule to greater lengths. In a ruling delivered on Friday, 09 March 2018, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has ordered that Pakistan citizens must also…

KUCHING, Sarawak, Malaysia – The Malaysian Federal Court failed to rule on an appeal by four Christians who have requested their names and religious faith be changed on their national identification documents. (See “4 Christian Converts in Landmark Case in Malaysia’s Federal Court.”) According to those official IDs, they are “still Muslims on paper.” Malaysia…

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – The lawyer for four Christian converts will plead their case to be allowed to be Christians under Malaysian law. The case will be heard in Federal Court in Putrajaya on Monday, February 26th. The outcome of this case could become precedent for Malaysians wishing to convert out of Islam in a country…

On Sunday, members of a Russian Orthodox church were celebrating the start of Lent when a gunman opened fire on the congregation. Fox News reports, “The shooting unfolded outside a church in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the border with Chechnya. The Russian news agency TASS cited Svetlana Petrenko of the Investigative…

The Rohingya who escaped to Bangladesh to flee violence from the military are being deported and sent back to Myanmar in the next two years. According to BBC, “Myanmar has agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week, Bangladesh says, adding that it aims to return all of them to Myanmar within two years.” The United…

ORLANDO – Pioneers, a global missionary outreach ministry, was established in 1979 by Ted Fletcher, former National Sales Manager for the Wall Street Journal, and his wife, Peggy. That same year, Pioneers supported its first missionary, Ruth Wright, in Nigeria. In 1980 Pioneers sent its first missions team to Papua New Guinea. Along the way,…

PAKISTAN – Earlier this month officials in Abbottabad closed six unregistered house churches within the district for security reasons. Abbottabad is located about 75 miles north of Islamabad, the district captured the attention of Americans when it was discovered that Osama bin Laden had been residing there. The district is home to the Pakistan Military…

QARAQOSH, Iraq – The names of Asian cities are often unknown to most people in the western world. Qaraqosh is one such city. Its connection to Biblical accounts of history dates to hundreds and even thousands of years before Christ as it lies within the Nineveh Governate and close to the ruins of both Nineveh…

ALGIERS, Algeria (Middle Eastern Concern/ SIGHT) – Three believers were arrested in Chlef, 200 km north-west of Algiers, during the third week of December. They were visiting from Tizi Ouzou and had arranged to meet a contact at a café. Police entered the café, found they were in possession of Christian literature, and took them…

Photo by aflaanta std In March, there was an attack on a boat holding Somali refugees. At least 46 people were killed and 39 were injured. CNN reported, “At least 42 people died and 39 were injured in the Friday incident, the United Nations’ refugee agency said. Some 160 people reportedly were on board, according…

Photo by Firdaus Latif Pope Francis traveled to visit the Rohingya in Myanmar to see the conditions they live in. There he prayed for them and condemned the violence against them. Per CNN, “Pope Francis prayed for Rohingya refugees during a general audience on Wednesday, decrying violence against them ‘simply because they uphold their Muslim…

Photo by Andrew A. Shenouda One man in one of two Coptic Church bombings on Palm Sunday turned himself in. Per Fox News, “A man suspected in one of the two Palm Sunday bombings of Coptic Christian churches in northern Egypt has turned himself in to authorities.” The police got a tip off of where Mahmoud…

Photo by Paolobon140 Over 240 people were taken hostage by ISIS soldiers in the Philippines at the end of May. One priest appealed President Duterte to stop fighting against Islamic extremists. Fox News reports, “A Catholic priest who claims he’s been kidnapped alongside more than 240 hostages by fighters linked to the Islamic State in…

At the end of last July, an ISIS soldier came to a Roman Catholic Church in France. There he murdered a priest by stabbing him and then slitting his throat. One of the French nuns fled the scene after seeing the priest was about to be murdered. Per CNN, “Before she fled, she witnessed the…

Photo by By Davidetorino at Italian Wikipedia It was New Years Eve of 2016. People were waiting for the New Year to come at midnight in Istanbul, Turkey. The clock hit midnight and all the sudden people heard a banging noise. They thought it was a fight, but it ended up being a terrorist shooting…

Photo by SA 3.0 On June 19, a man by the name of Darren Osborne attacked Muslim worshippers as they were coming out of a mosque during Ramadan in London. He is known for becoming angry when he is drunk. New York Times reports, “He was born in Singapore, but his family moved back to Britain…

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas Last November, a terrorist in Indonesia bombed a church. This was not the first time he had done terrorist activities. In this case, the terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail at the church. Per Time Magazine, “A man formerly convicted of terrorist offenses has been arrested for allegedly throwing a Molotov…

Photo by Eddy bf Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian and Chinese ethnic minority in Indonesia has been accused of blasphemy against the Quran. At first the protests were peaceful, but them violence started. According to the BBC, “One elderly man died, the Associated Press reports, citing police. Several other people, including police officers, have…

A muslim lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi was assassinated on January 29, 2017 while in an international airport. Time Magazine reports, “Many in Myanmar are in mourning this week after the assassination of a prominent Muslim lawyer and peerless symbol of the country’s democracy movement, Ko Ni, who was shot in the head at point-blank range…

  By Gilbert Bochenek   On January 30, a man walked into a mosque in Quebec, Canada and started shooting. Three people were killed in the attack. There were also 19 others who were injured. According to CBC, “Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted…

The Myanmar military is cracking down on Myanmar’s minorities, particularly the Rohingya. Many of them flee into Bangladesh. CNN reports, “Authorities in neighboring Bangladesh said dozens of people have attempted to flee across the border in recent days.” Those in Myanmar think that the Rohingya are Bangladesh citizens and as such are there illegally, even…

  By Athanasius 77 In December, just a few weeks before Christmas, a Coptic Church in Cairo was bombed. At first, the authorities had no idea who was responsible for the attacks. According to Fox News, “The Islamic State [ISIS] claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed 25 people. They also alleged that the…

In mid-October of 2016, 21 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped were returned to their hometown by Boko Haram. CNN reports, “The 21 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped and released by terrorist group Boko Haram were reunited with their families amid tearful scenes on Sunday.” It was a joyous celebration for many of the parents, yet it was…

In the midst of chaos and destruction caused by ISIS in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, reports of Christian conversion among ISIS fighters are emerging thanks to the distribution of Bibles by Open Doors. One pastor reports about an angry man coming to his door and threatening to behead him. The pastor remembered the words of…

The March 22 attack by a suicide bomber on Maelbeek, a downtown Brussels subway station, killed 16 people but crippled the city for only a month as the station reopened in April. When Maelbeek became operational, the Belgian capital’s underground network returned to full capacity. Officials have maintained high security throughout the subway system. Joe…

After a wave of gruesome violence that included hacking victims to death, the Bangladesh government has arrested more than 11,000 people. Among those arrested were 150 members of Jama’atul Mujahedin Bangladesh, an Islamist group that the country had previously banned. The targeted victims include Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, activists and foreigners. The group’s actions have…

As coalition forces back Iraqi military efforts to regain ISIS-controlled cities, the resulting victories in Fallujah and elsewhere leave cause for concern, according to FBI Director James Comey. Comey believes the defeated ISIS militants in Iraq will take their fight to Western Europe and the United States. Minorities, particularly Christians, in Muslim-majority Iraq believe that…

With the backing of a U.S.-led coalition, Iraq’s military has battled back the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Mosul, that nation’s second largest city, in an initiative called “Operation Conquest.” Mosul had been a major victory for ISIS in June 2014 as they captured the city of more than 2 million people…

An estimated 500 African refugees drowned off the coast of Italy when smugglers recently forced too many people into one boat, according to the United Nations. This incident occurred about one year after the worst refugee drowning incident in April 2015, when 800 people died on their journey from Libya to Europe. Reports of the…