These Christians Were Burned Alive for Their Faith

 A Christian father and his young daughter were burned alive after Boko Haram raided their church.

fireasOn the fateful day, while we were in the church praying, they stormed and ordered us to renounce our Christian faith or be killed,” said John Mbah, recounting the day his father and sister were murdered at the hands of the Islamic terror group.

When Mbah and the other Christians living in Dadawa, Nigeria went to church that day in April, they had no idea they would become the targets of radical Islamic terrorists. Continue reading

Pope faces thick past and tricky present on Armenia trip

YEREVAN, ARMENIA – Analysts like to say that the South Caucasus region, including Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, is one of those spots where the burden of history is especially heavy.

Newly minted leaders here often make stops at the tombs of kings or martyrs from the past, in order to claim legitimacy in the present, and grievances from a century or more ago still define regional relationships.

Tensions forged by the past complicate life for anyone trying to navigate the area, even a pope. Francis is making not one but two trips to the South Caucasus in 2016, including his present June 24-26 outing to Armenia and a separate foray to Georgia and Azerbaijan in late September and early October.

Officially, organizers say logistics prevent combining the three stops, including the fact that Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia is presently in Crete for the “Holy and Great Council” of the Eastern Orthodox churches, and thus wouldn’t be on hand to host the pontiff.  Continue reading…

Catholic church accused of using ‘mafia-like’ tactics to fight sex abuse bill

3500The Catholic church in Pennsylvania has been accused of employing “mafia-like” tactics in a campaign to put pressure on individual Catholic lawmakers who support state legislation that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.

The lobbying campaign against the legislation is being led by Philadelphia archbishop Charles Chaput, a staunch conservative who recently created a stir after inadvertently sending an email to a state representative Jamie Santora, in which he accused the lawmaker of “betraying” the church and said Santora would suffer “consequences” for his support of the legislation. The email was also sent to a senior staff member in Chaput’s office, who was apparently the only intended recipient.  Continue reading…

Five Suspects Arraigned in Beheading of Nigerian Christian

womanhanddeadas_siFive people have been arraigned in Nigeria in the brutal murder of a Christian woman who was accused of blaspheming Mohammed.

Nigerian authorities said 74-year-old Bridget Abihime, a trader and pastor’s wife, was surrounded last Thursday by a mob of Muslims and beheaded at a market in Kano.

It is reported that the woman was killed for allegedly saying Islam’s prophet was not important.  Continue reading…

Saudi Arabia: Muslims Converting to Christianity Despite Persecution

29591-cross-sunset-facebook-800w-tnAlthough Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Muslim country that is hostile to Christians, many in the country are converting to Christianity and receiving support for their faith online.
According to ChristianToday.com, there are about 1.4 million Christians living in Saudi Arabia. Although this is only 4.4 percent of the country’s total population, it is up from only 0.1 percent just over 100 years ago.
Islam is the official state religion and those who reject it–whether Christians, atheists, or those of any other religion–are often severely persecuted. In fact, Saudi Arabia ranks fourteenth on persecution charity Open Doors’s World Watch List of countries where Christians face the worst persecution.  Continue reading…

Egypt: Muslim mob attacks Christians, parade naked woman

Mideast Egypt ChristiansCAIRO (AP) — An armed Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her naked on the streets in an attack last week in which seven Christian homes were also looted and torched in a province south of the Egyptian capital.

According to the local Orthodox Coptic church and security officials, the assault in the Minya province village of Karma on Friday began after rumors spread that the elderly woman’s son had an affair with a Muslim woman — a taboo in conservative Egypt.  Continue reading…

40,000 Christians Persecuted By Muslims In Germany

gettyimages-461062563-640x480A new study shows that potentially thousands of Christians have been attacked and harassed in German migrant homes by Muslim guards and fellow migrants.

Multiple human rights organizations are warning the German government of the conditions that Christians in asylum homes are being subjected to. One organization in particular has chronicled 231 specific cases of the harassment of Christians by Muslim migrants and Muslim security guards in asylum homes.  Continue reading…

Evangelicals lose water supply as officials punish them for refusing to pay amount to fund Catholic fiesta in Mexico

evangelicals-in-mexicoAn evangelical community in Mexico is now suffering from lack of potable water after local authorities cut off their supply for refusing to pay their contribution for the holding of a Roman Catholic fiesta in honour of a Catholic saint.

The family of Maranatha Church’s pastor Octavio Gomez and four other evangelical families in San Jose village in the city of Teopisca in Chiapas state, Mexico refused to pay when the authorities, together with the fiesta organisers, came to visit them early this month demanding a fixed contribution of 200 pesos, equivalent to about $12, the Evangelical Focus reports.

The authorities threatened to cut off their water supply if they persisted in not paying the amount. Moreover, the authorities warned that they would have to pay a fine of 4,000 pesos ($229) to have the water line reconnected once it’s been cut.  Source