Christian Persecution Worse Than Any Time in History

[maybetoday]

China Forcibly Removes Crosses from 250 Churches in a Single Province

Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | Tuesday, June 9, 2020

A cross being removed from a church in China, China Forcibly Removes Crosses from 250 Churches in a Single Province







#China #world #top headlines #christian persecution

Chinese officials forcibly removed the crosses from more than 250 churches in one region early this year even though the congregations are registered with the government and are legal, according to a new report.



Religious liberty watchdog Bitter Winter says from January through April, crosses were removed from at least 250 Three-Self churches in the eastern province of Anhui. Unlike illegal house churches, Three-Self churches are members of a government-recognized Protestant body.



On April 1, 10 government officials in Anhui’s Fuyang city approached Gulou Church with the goal of overseeing the removal of the building’s cross but were blocked by more than 100 members, Bitter Winter reported. Despite the bold effort of the Christians, the cross was removed the next morning. The congregation is 124 years old.



Church officials said they were told all religious symbols – including Christian, Islamic and Buddhist – must be removed across the country.



“We support the state and comply with its regulations,” a congregation member told Bitter Winter. “We can have a dialogue with the government if it thinks that we have done something wrong, but they can’t persecute us this way. Officials did not show any documents, fearing that people would implicate them with anything in writing. They only conveyed verbal orders and forced us to obey them.”



In one county in Anhui province, crosses from all 33 churches were removed.



In the Anhui city of Lu’an, crosses were forcibly taken down from 183 churches.



Often, local officials cover their orders with deception. An official in Anhui’s Huoqiu county ordered the removal of a cross, saying it “might fall and injure people,” Bitter Winter reported. In Hanshan county, government officials criticized church crosses for being “too tall, too large, too wide, or too eye-catching,” Bitter Winter said.



One church member in Anhui told Bitter Winter that China fears Christians will “unite with foreigners against the state.”



“As crosses are being removed throughout the country, those who refuse to cooperate will be accused of opposing the Communist Party,” the church member said. “We are pressured to give up our faith, but we will persevere.”



Churches in China must register with the government and join either the Three-Self Patriotic Movement or the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Because state-registered churches face severe restrictions, millions of Christians worship in illegal underground churches.



Related:



Chinese Police Secretly Install Surveillance Cameras on Church, Threaten to Shut it Down


link

[PurplePuppy]

Jihadists kill 58 people within 48 hours in attacks targeting Christians in Burkina Faso

Christians were among those targeted and killed when armed jihadists launched three separate attacks within 48 hours in Burkina Faso that left at least 58 dead.





At least 162 Christians were killed in Burkina Faso between April and December 2019 in a series of targeted attacks by militants



Fifteen were killed when a convoy of traders, including children, was attacked while travelling from Titao to Sollé, in Loroum province, on 29 May.



On 30 May, armed Islamist militants opened fire at random in a cattle market in Kompienga province, killing at least 30 people and injuring many others.



On the same day, a humanitarian convoy was attacked by extremists in Barsalogho, Sanmatenga province, claiming the lives of six civilians and seven soldiers. Another 20 people were injured and a number were reported missing.



A Barnabas contact reported that it was clear from the testimony of a survivor that the militants were targeting Christians and humanitarians taking food to an internally displaced people (IDP) camp, where many mainly-Christian villagers had taken refuge after fleeing prior jihadi violence.



A survivor described how he was travelling in an ambulance in the convoy when it was attacked. The survivor said, “The driver shouted ‘forgive, forgive, we are also followers of the prophet Muhammad’. One of them [the gunmen] turned to his fellows saying ‘they have the same religion with us’.” The attack on the vehicle was apparently then halted.



Violence by Islamist extremists has surged in Burkina Faso in the last year, causing thousands to leave their homes. The increase in vicious attacks targeting Christians began in April 2019 in the northern town of Silgadji when a pastor, his son and four members of his congregation were shot in cold blood for refusing to convert to Islam.

link

[maybetoday]

Latest Nigerian bloodshed claims pastor, pregnant wife

By Katey Hearth
June 10, 2020





Nigeria (MNN) — A Nigerian pastor and his pregnant wife were laid to rest on Friday, leaving behind eight children between the ages of one and 19 years old. It’s the latest in a barrage of ethnic and religious violence overwhelming Nigeria. More Nigeria headlines here.



“It’s frustrating,” Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA says.



“The government of Nigeria seems to lack either the will or the ability to get control of these kinds of attacks and put a stop to them.”



Bloodshed is increasingly common these days in Nigeria. Hostility between the country’s Christian and Muslim populations has effectively split the country in two. Earlier this year, the number of internally displaced people in Nigeria surpassed two million.





(Graphic courtesy of VOM USA)



“Yet again, we see Christians being targeted,” Nettleton says. “Nigeria has been on a sort of nationwide lockdown because of the coronavirus, but it has not slowed the wave of attacks.”



Nigerian Christians killed while farming

As described here on Pastor Emmanuel Saba Bileya’s LinkedIn profile, the Nigerian church leader furthered his theological education at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “It gave me an environment that was peaceful and with good resources so I could concentrate on my studies,” Pastor Bileya commented in this 2015 article.



In a recent letter to his Nigerian cohorts, Calvin Theological Seminary President Jul Medenblik wrote of his interactions with Bileya:



I remember our interactions as ones that always exuded his appreciation, joy and faithfulness. As you may know from a Banner (church magazine of the CRCNA) article, he was so appreciative of his time at Calvin Seminary that he took upon himself the task of cleaning windows as a tangible expression of his appreciation. As a result, I will never walk by any of these windows again without remembering Pastor Emmanuel and Juliana and their children.



Windows help us see and provide a way for sight and vision beyond the walls of a building. Pastor Emmanuel helped us see beyond the walls of Calvin Seminary to see and hear of his ministry in Nigeria. Even as he and his church and family faced significant challenges, he always expressed deep confidence in being called by God to live fully before His face and be an instrument of reconciliation.



After graduating in 2014, Pastor Bileya returned home to train pastors and church leaders. He later began distance learning at the Institute for Worship Studies or IWS. On a memorial page, the IWS community remembers Bileya’s servant leadership:



Rev. Bileya was an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria. Born on Christmas Day of 1968, his family gave him the name Emmanuel, “God with us.” For all in the IWS community who were blessed to meet Emmanuel, share a class with him, or enjoy a meal alongside him, it can truthfully be said that “God with us” was an apt name for him. Emmanuel’s humility and gentleness, his kindness and compassion, and his love for God’s Word and God’s people spoke to all of the voluminous love of God in His Son, Jesus Christ.



Love for the Lord and his community put Bileya and his wife in harm’s way last week.


Tribal conflict has ravaged Pastor Bileya’s village and the wider community for several weeks. Most people fled for safety, but Bileya stayed behind, “praying and hoping for God’s restoration of peace and protection of the town and church.” As described on the memorial page, Pastor Bileya and his wife sent their eight children to a safe haven mere days before the couple was attacked.



On Monday, June 1, “This pastor and his wife were in their field, working on their crops, [when] they were attacked and both of them were killed,” Nettleton says. “She was pregnant at the time, so their unborn child was also killed in this attack.”



link

[schwartzie]

Religious persecution is engulfing the world


By Arielle Del Turco, Op-ed Contributor| Thursday, June 18, 2020
Believers in many countries face severe challenges, according to the State Department’s annual Report on International Religious Freedom, released last week.


Religious freedom conditions in China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, and many other countries fail to meet basic international human rights standards. This led Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to decry the “great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship.” This dire report comes on the heels of a historic directive issued by the Trump administration to advance religious freedom’s standing in U.S. foreign policy.



The State Department’s latest report points to China as a global leader in religious freedom violations. In 2019, Christians, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners all found themselves victims of the Chinese government’s continued campaign against religion.



The report noted that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces state-affiliated religious institutions to insert government propaganda into their teachings. Meanwhile, the CCP shuts down unregistered houses of worship altogether. The U.S. government estimates that China arbitrarily detains over one million Uyghurs due to their faith and ethnic identity. The Chinese government will go to great lengths to suppress religious belief, leading Secretary Pompeo and other U.S. officials to label China’s oppression a “war on faith.”



The State Department’s report also recognized mounting inter-religious violence in Africa. The last year saw Muslim Fulani militants commit many violent attacks on Christians. The terrorist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) brutally attacked both Christians and Muslims in large numbers. A surge in violent attacks has occurred in recent months.



Pakistan continues to be a dangerous place for religious minorities. The report noted complaints against the Pakistani justice system, which regularly fails to bring perpetrators of violence against religious minorities to justice “due to a lack of follow-through by law enforcement, bribes offered by the accused, and pressure on victims to drop cases.” There continues to be reports that young Christian and Hindu girls were kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and forced to marry their captors. Societal discrimination against Christians and the enforcement of blasphemy laws continue to make life difficult for Pakistan’s impoverished Christian communities.



As religious believers encounter intimidation and danger in so many parts of the world, the United States is well-positioned to advocate for change. The U.S. has benefited immensely from the “first freedom” enshrined in our First Amendment and cherished by our Founders. But religious freedom is not only for Americans — it is a human right owed to all people, and it benefits everyone when religious freedom is respected. Countries that embrace religious freedom are more secure and make stable trading partners, which promotes regional economic growth. The United States’ role in advancing religious freedom as a fundamental human right contributes to a safer and more prosperous world.



To their credit, the Trump administration has paid attention to the plight of religious communities around the world. On June 2, President Trump signed a historic executive order dedicated to promoting religious freedom, pledging that “the United States will respect and vigorously promote this freedom.” The order requires the prioritization of religious freedom in the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). U.S. officials have, at times, referred to religious freedom as a foreign policy priority, but their statements have often lacked teeth. Now, per the executive order, the State Department and USAID must develop a plan to implement it within 180 days. Under the Trump administration, religious freedom is getting the attention it deserves.



The State Department’s latest report indicates global religious freedom conditions are deteriorating, and this compels us to act quickly and efficiently. President Trump’s executive order was an important first step, but there is still much more to be done. As the State Department and USAID look to implement this order, they should fully embrace all possible options for promoting religious freedom abroad and protecting religious communities. In many countries, repressive governments have effectively silenced religious minorities from speaking up to defend themselves, but the United States has the opportunity to speak up on their behalf. If implemented correctly, President Trump’s executive order will enable U.S. diplomats to do just that.

link

[Honoria]

Over fifty attacks in six months by Boko Haram go unreported

3 Jul 2020



The Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) has reported that Boko Haram terrorists carried out over “fifty different attacks on different communities between the end of 2019 to June 2020,” most of which were “unreported or under reported by both the print and electronic media.”



In a statement read out on 2 July by EYN National President Reverend Joel Billi during a press conference in Yola Adamawa, the Church also revealed that over 700,000 church members have been displaced, eight pastors and over 8,370 lay people have been killed, and an unknown number of people have been abducted by the terrorist factions. “Only seven out of 60 District Church Councils […] were not directly affected by the insurgency.”



The EYN is the largest Christian denomination in northeast Nigeria, where the Boko Haram factions operate. Consequently, it is the denomination most impacted by terrorist violence. 217 of the 276 school girls abducted from their school in Chibok in April 2014 are EYN members, and over 300 of the denomination’s 586 churches have been either burnt or destroyed, “with uncountable numbers of houses belonging to our members looted or burnt.”



In his Democracy Day speech on 12 June, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that the former inhabitants of local government areas (LGAs) previously overrun by Boko Haram had long since been able to return to them. Describing this assertion as “unfortunate, misleading and demoralizing,” the EYN President clarified that the four EYN District Church Councils (DCCs) which existed in the Gwoza LGA of Borno State prior to the insurgency are no longer there. “There are over 18,000 of our members who are still taking refuge in Minawao, Cameroon. There are also about 7000 of EYN members who are taking refuge in other IDP Camps in Cameroon […].” While some people have returned to Gwoza town and Pulka, “the total number of IDPs in the Cameroon Camps, who are over 95% from Gwoza, is over 47,000.” Additionally, 34 villages in southern Borno and northern Adamawa are currently deserted due to repeated attacks by Boko Haram.



While the statement commends “the renewed zeal” of the security forces in tackling Boko Haram, it also calls on the Federal Government and the State Governments of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to rescue the remaining Chibok Girls “as matter of urgency,” and appeals to the Federal Government to rescue Leah Sharibu, Alice Ngaddah, “and others abducted by Boko Haram factions.”



The statement urges President Buhari to deploy “at least a battalion of military to the deserted areas behind the Gwoza Hills” in order to facilitate the return of refugees, and to send “more security personnel to volatile areas to mitigate further attacks.” Other calls are that the government should reconstruct and rehabilitate homes, schools and houses of worship destroyed by the insurgents, and make plans for the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the end of 2020.



The statement also addresses the high levels of insecurity prevailing throughout the country, urging the government “to live up to its constitutional responsibility” by bringing “the continuous killings, abductions, rape and all forms of criminality” to an end, and to urgently address “the activities of Fulani Militia, Armed Bandits and Kidnappers terrorizing our communities.” It further implores State and Federal Governments “to ensure that Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is taught in public schools” in northern states where this is not occurring, and the “immediate reversal and correction of the imbalance in most appointments” by the president, which “have always been skewed to favour a particular section and religion.”



CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “The Boko Haram factions continue to be responsible for the most appalling violence in northeast Nigeria on an almost daily basis. However, aside from particularly appalling incidents that garner international attention, the majority of these attacks go unreported and unnoticed. Both local and international media outlets must do more to report on the violence which is unfolding across Nigeria. We are deeply saddened by the suffering endured by the EYN and its members, and echo its calls on the Nigerian government to take immediate action to mitigate and address attacks by all non-state actors. We also reiterate our call to Nigeria’s international allies to encourage the government in its efforts to tackle every source of the violence effectively, including by offering technical assistance and humanitarian support to those who have been displaced or otherwise affected.”



Note to editors:



1. A sample of unreported attacks since December 2019:



· On 25 December 2019 Boko Haram attacked the Bagajau community in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, killing nine Christians. Among them were Damjuda Dalihis, his two children and their friends, who were burnt alive in their room. Other victims included Daniel Wadzani, Ijuptil Chinampi, Jarafu Daniel, Peter Usman, Ahijo Yampaya, Medugu Auta and Waliya Achaba.



· On 29 December 2019 18 Christians were abducted following an attack on the Mandaragirau community in Biu LGA, Borno State, in which the church building, primary school and foodstuffs were destroyed. The oldest abductee was Esther Buto, 42, and the youngest was Saraya Musa.



· On 18 January 2020 Boko Haram attacked Kwaragilum village in Chibok LGA, Borno State, and abducted female EYN members Esther Yakubu, Charity Yakubu, Comfort Ishaya, Deborah Ishaya, Gera Bamzir and Jabbe Numba.



· On 27 January 2020 the Tur Community of Madagali LGA, Adamawa State, was attacked and the homes of 10 EYN members were looted and burnt.



· On 2 February 2020 all three EYN Churches were burnt down during an attack on the Leho community of Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State.



· On 20 February 2020 Boko Haram overran the Tabang community in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, abducting a 9-year-old boy, injuring a female EYN member, and burning down the homes of 17 EYN members.



· On 21 February 2020 the Garkida community, the birthplace of the EYN, was attacked and the first EYN Church was burnt down, along with an Anglican and a Living Faith church building. Additionally, the EYN Brethren College of Health Technology, the EYN Rural Health Department and its vehicles, and prominent Christian homes and shops were looted and burnt, and Mr Emmanuel Bitrus Tarfa was abducted.



· On 29 February 2020 four Muslims, two Christians and a soldier were killed during an attack on the Rumirgo community in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State.



· On 1 March 2020 Boko Haram attacked Rumirgo in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, once again, and left with a truck loaded with foodstuffs.



· On 3 April 2020 Boko Haram attacked Kuburmbula and Kwamtiyahi villages in Chibok LGA, Borno State, burning down 20 homes and abducting and subsequently murdering Meshack John, Mutah Nkeki and Kabu Yakubu.



· On 5 April 2020 Boko Haram attacked Mussa Bri in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, looting and burning Christian-owned shops belonging to Samuel Kambasaya, Yuguda Ijasini and Matiyu Buba.



· On 7 April 2020 the Wamdeo community in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, was overrun by Boko Haram terrorists, who burnt two vehicles, burgled stores and killed five people, including Ndaska Akari, Yunana Maigari and a security guard at the EYN clinic named Pur Thlatiryu.



· On 6 May 2020 Boko Haram attacked the Debiro, Dakwiama and Tarfa communities in Biu LGA, Borno State, killing Mr Audu Bata, destroying two of the villages along with several houses in Tarfa, and burning down two EYN Churches.



· On 12 May 2020 Boko Haram once again attacked Mussa Bri in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, killing Luka Bitrus and inflicting machete wounds on Mrs Ijaduwa Shaibu.



· On 30 May 2020 terrorists attempted to annihilate an entire family in Kwabila village in Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State. Dauda Bello, Baba Ya’u and a woman named Kawan Bello were killed, while Aisha Bello, Rufa’i Bello and Amina Bello were hospitalised with injuries sustained during the attack.



· On 2 June 2020 Boko Haram returned to Kwabila village and killed Bello Saleh, the head of his household, injuring Amina Bello, who died later in hospital.



· On 7 June 2020 Kidlindila community of Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State witnessed the abduction of woman named Indagju Apagu, while a man named Wana Aboye was injured, a car was stolen, and several houses were looted



· On 16 June 2020 Boko Haram attacked Mbulabam in Chibok LGA, Borno State, abducting a young girl named Mary Ishaku Nkeke. Her brothers Emmanuel and Iliya went missing for three days.



· On 17 June 2020 Boko Haram attacked the Kautikari community in Chibok LGA, Borno State, killing Mr Yusuf Joel, 30, Mr Musa Dawa, 25, and Mr Jacob Dawa, 35. Five women and girls belonging to EYN were abducted: Martha Yaga, 22, Mary Filibus, 13, Saratu Saidu, 22, Eli Augustine, 21, and Saratu Yaga, 20.



· On 22 June 2020 Boko Haram attacked the Kautikari community in Chibok LGA once again, killing Bira Bazam, 48, and Ba Maina Madu, 62; and abducting Laraba Bulama, 20, Hauwa Bulama, 18, and Maryamu Yohanna, 15.



· June ended with a terrorist attack on farmers in Nasarawo, Kautikari, Chibok LGA, in which Mr Zaramai Kubirvu, 40, was killed.


link

[Shoshanna]

Turkey expels Protestant missionaries for 'threatening public order'

The Turkish Protestant community is witnessing a purge as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government turns up pressure against the church.




Jul 9, 2020



Mark Alan, a retired schoolteacher from Fort Collins, Colorado, is something of a late developer. He was 42 when he "came to faith” and 65 when he married for the first time, with Duygu, a Protestant convert from Turkey. “It was love at first sight,” Alan, now 73, recalled in a telephone interview with Al-Monitor. The couple settled into a comfortable life in the Aegean port city of Izmir. “I always felt safe in Turkey, I had a real heart for the Turkish people,” Alan said. Then in a single day, their whole world fell apart. Alan was on his way back from the United States last June when he was pulled aside at the airport by Turkish police and told he was banned from entering the country ever again. “They didn’t explain why,” Alan said. He insisted that he had no role in the local church in Izmir where his wife served as a book keeper.



Alan is among more than 50 foreign Protestants, including Finns, Germans and South Koreans, who have been summarily banned from Turkey as recently as June 26 on the grounds they present “a threat to Turkey’s public order and public health.” Some 26 are US citizens.



The wave of deportations began soon after Andrew Brunson, a pastor from North Carolina, was freed from a jail near Izmir in October 2018 after serving two years on outlandish terrorism charges linked to the failed July 2016 attempt to violently topple Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The evictions are continuing full throttle and tearing families like Alan’s apart.



On June 5 of this year, Joy Anna Crow Subasiguller, the American wife of a Turkish pastor in Ankara, was notified by Turkey’s Interior Ministry that her residence permit was not being renewed. She was given 10 days to leave. No reason was offered to the 39-year-old mother of three. She is still breastfeeding the couple’s 4½-month-old daughter, Derin Mercy.



“I am sad at the prospect of my family having to leave our home, my husband’s precious family, and our friends and church family,” Subasiguller told Al-Monitor. She is appealing the decision in a Turkish court. Subasiguller has lived in Turkey for the past 10 years. She said she expected an answer within one or two months. Similar appeals have all been rejected.


Article continues at link

[maybetoday]

Fourth Christian, a Pastor, Killed in Less Than Two Months in India

By Morning Star News on July 13, 2020






NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Maoists in Maharashtra state killed a church pastor on Friday (July 10), the fourth death of a Christian for their faith in India since late May, sources said.



In Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District in the western peninsular state, pastor Munshi Devu Tado was leading a worship service on his property for about 15 village families from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. when three armed men and three women escorted him away, said his wife, Jaini Munshi Tado.



“They shook hands with him at first, then took him by his hand and, after few steps, they tied his hands at his back with a rope,” she told Morning Star News. “I, my father-in-law and brother-in-law followed after them, pleading and enquiring as to why they are taking him. They said they just want to talk to him and that we need not worry, they will send him back in a little while.”



Family members continued to follow until the Maoists forcibly stopped them and pushed them away, throwing them to the ground, Jaini Munshi Tado said.



“Hardly five to seven minutes later, we heard a gunshot,” she said, weeping. “We immediately ran in the direction only to find the body of my husband in the pool of his blood, and the Maoists had gone. I wept bitterly, my husband was gone.”



Pastor Tado was estimated to be in his mid-thirties. He leaves behind four children, ages 6, 5, 4 and 1.



Villagers upset with the growth of the church and the number of converts to Christianity from their native tribal religion incited Maoists to kill the pastor, though the assailants tried to give the impression that they killed him for being an informer, sources said.



The Maoists left a note in Pastor Tado’s pocket saying that he earned large amounts of money as a police informer against the militant insurgents, Jaini Munshi Tado said.



When police arrived to investigate, they told Christians that Pastor Tado was not an informer for them, and that they did not even know him, said pastor Vijay Kumar Vachami, a mentor and close associate of Pastor Tado.



Villagers had sent three letters to Maoists at different times spreading false information about Pastor Tado to instigate them against him, Pastor Vachami said.



“The Maoists once sent back a message saying, ‘We do not want to kill Tado, make him understand, and he will understand,’ but the villagers did not stop at that,” Pastor Vachami told Morning Star News. “They pestered the Maoists to the point that they actually executed the horrendous killing.”



The pastor and his family began to suffer persecution after the couple put their faith in Christ seven years ago, he said. A Christian from a nearby village had told them the gospel, and Tado’s family was the first family to convert from their tribal religion in the village of about 100 families, he said.



“They were persecuted in every way,” Pastor Vachami said. “Then one day, their house was attacked and brought down by the villagers. They were told to leave the village or else they would be killed.”



Three years ago, Pastor Tado left his village and made a temporary shelter for his family a mile from the village on his farmland, he said. Pastor Tado began to lead regular worship services at his new place, and people began receiving Christ, said Pastor Vachami, who lives in a neighboring village.



“There were only three Christian families in the past, but this year due to the hard work of Tado, the number of families increased to 18,” he said.



Contributions from church members helped Pastor Tado erect a separate worship place on his farmland, which the Christians inaugurated two weeks ago, he said.



“He was a very simple man and a very faithful servant of God,” Pastor Vachami said. “Please pray for his family that is left behind.”



Former Maoists



Pastor Tado and his wife were once Maoists, Jaini Munshi Tado said.



They joined the Maoist Naxalite movement in 2005, and police arrested them in 2007 from their home in Bhatpur village for participation in the communist insurgency. They were convicted and spent 18 months in prison, she said.



Upon their release, they returned to their village and began to make a living working their farmland. Their former Maoist contacts visited and even encouraged them to continue with the fresh start in their lives, she said.



“Since that day till only now, the Maoists never visited us or troubled us, nor called us back,” Jaini Munshi Tado said.



A First Information Report was registered at the Bhamragarh police station, but the family has not received a copy as investigations continue. Police declined to take calls from Morning Star News.



Pastor Tado’s body was scheduled for autopsy at the government hospital of Bhamragarh on Sunday (July 12).



“We earned our living by serving the Lord and by working in the agriculture fields,” Jaini Munshi Tado said. “Now that my husband is gone, I will ask God for His grace for me to bring up the four children.”



Including the death under mysterious circumstances of a Christian woman in Chhattisgarh state the last week of May, Pastor Tado’s killing would be the fourth religiously motivated slaying of a Christian in less than two months. In Bari village, Jharkhand state, followers of tribal religion on June 7 abducted and killed Kande Munda. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death.



In the case in Chhattisgarh state, tribal Hindus persecuted a widowed, Christian mother of four before her body was found severely mutilated in the wilderness near her village, sources said.



The body of 40-year-old Bajjo Bai Mandavi appeared to have been eaten by wild animals when it was found two miles into the wilderness near her native Kumud village, Kuye Mari, on May 29, but local Christians suspect villagers upset by her conversion killed her. She was last seen going into the wilderness of Kondagaon District to collect firewood on May 25.



The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.



India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.


link

[schwartzie]

China taking children away from Christian parents, threatens to send them to re-education camps

Nate Flannagan 28 July 2020 | 12:53 AM







China has threatened to send children from Christian families to re-education camps, according to alarming reports from a member of a local church in the country.



A member of China's Early Rain Covenant Church has described the intensifying persecution of Christians by the Chinese Communist Party, saying that authorities had threatened members of the church that they could have their children seized and taken away to re-education camps. Others had been told that their adopted children could be forcibly removed from their Christian parents.



Liao Qiang, a member of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, has told International Christian Concern (ICC) that their church had previously been shut down by authorities, and that their pastor, Wang Yi, had been jailed in 2018. However, despite this, the government continues to harass and persecute the church's members.



Qiang himself was forced to flee China, and now lives with extended family in Taiwan following "limitless persecution" from the Chinese Communist Party.



He has said, "They not only threatened us, normal adult, normal church members, but they threatened our children. Some of our members have adopted children, and CPC forcibly sent the adoptive children back to the original family. That is the main reason why we fled China. Because we can't guarantee our adopted child would not be taken away by them."



Previously, ICC has reported that authorities in China forcibly removed children from the family of church members Pei Wenju and Jing Jianan, with Chinese Communist Party officials saying they were being removed as the children were "trapped by an evil religion".



Qiang has also described how some parents had been ordered by China authorities not to send their children to Christian church-run schools. Others had been told they risked having their children taken away to re-education camps.



He has said, "The biggest help is to report the persecution. Report it fairly. We aren't saying the U.S. government should put pressure on the Chinese government. This isn't what we hope for.



"What CPC is most afraid of is being exposed. They are afraid of transparency. We don't want the government or the public to pressure CPC. Because under such circumstances, CPC will definitely intensify religious persecution. The worse China-U.S. relations get, the more CPC persecutes Christians."



The brutal Chinese regime hopes to use persecution as a tool to bargain with the West when it comes to trade negotiations, according to Qiang. He has said that the CCP "makes you think that they are willing to compromise, because they know Americans care about freedom of religion. If China makes a concession in religious freedom, then U.S. should compromise in trade."



ICC's regional manager for Southeast Asia, Gina Goh, has written in a report: "With the intensified crackdown against churches, both state-sanctioned and underground, there is no longer a safe place to be a Christian in China."

She said that "almost every province in China has seen Christian persecution on the rise", but in particular Henan and Anhui provinces "have a high percentage of Christians" and have witnessed brutal "cross demolition campaigns."



Goh has said, "Thousands of crosses have been removed since 2018, with some churches levelled to the ground. Deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations could further encourage crackdown against churches in 2020."


link

[schwartzie]

Anti-Christian incidents in France rose 285% since 2008: Observatory

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter FOLLOW| Wednesday, July 29, 2020



Smoke and flames rise from Notre-Dame Cathedral on April 15, 2019, in Paris, France. A fire broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly spread across the building, collapsing the spire. The cause is yet unknown but officials said it was possibly linked to ongoing renovation work. | Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images

There’s been about a 285% increase in the number of “anti-Christian incidents” reported in France over the last decade-plus, according to the head of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe.



As six French churches have caught fire in the last year and a half, including the major Cathedral in Nantes last week, government data indicates a stark increase in the number of alleged attacks and acts of vandalism committed against houses of worship since 2008.


“The French government reported 275, what they call, anti-Christian acts [in 2008]," OIDACE Executive Director Ellen Fantini told The Christian Post Monday. "So that is anything from targeting a church in some way with vandalism or a public Christian statue, it could be a Christian cemetery or it could be actual assaults against French Christians with an anti-Christian bias."



"If we look at 2018 and 2019, the numbers are little over 1,000 [per year]. So the increase from 275 to a little over 1,000 works out to 285% increase.”



According to France’s Interior Ministry, there were 1,052 recorded anti-Christian incidents committed in 2019, which mostly consist of attacks on religious property. The 2019 incidents are broken down into 996 "acts" and 56 "threats."



“What is shocking about that actually is how low the government’s numbers are,” the director of the only observatory that covers Christian freedom of conscious issues across all of Europe said.



In addition to the government’s published data on anti-Christian actions, Fantini said that the French government also submits data about hate crimes committed with a bias against Christians to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.



However, the government’s data on hate crimes against Christians don’t seem to match the figures the government provides on anti-Christian incidents.



“Those numbers, the most recent figures for hate crimes, were nearly 2,000 in 2018,” she explained. “So when people react with shock when we say that this works out to about three a day, we are taking conservative numbers. When we take even the government’s own numbers of hate crimes against Christians, it works out to more than five a day.”



“It is not clear why those [two sets of] numbers don’t match up. The French government has not been transparent about why those numbers don’t match up. What we can safely say is that the French government reports both of these numbers. It would suggest that the lower figure must be the absolute minimum and the figure given to OSCE is likely accurate, though I suspect even that number is lower than the real figures."



When asked what “anti-Christian incidents” entail, Fantini stated that they tend to be acts of “vandalism with a message.”



“They are not necessarily like graffiti where you could identify what these people want, as compared to Spain. … In France, we see a lot of decapitation of statues, we see the destruction of precious objects. I don’t mean precious by material value but destruction, for example, of consecrated hosts in Catholic churches. There is basically nothing worse you could do in a Catholic church than destroy the consecrated host.”



The researcher added that France sees “a lot” of small intentional fires at churches. Those fires don’t usually burn down the buildings, however.



“There are a lot of broken windows. For something like a broken window, we don’t know if it was a kid playing with a ball or whether it was somebody who hates the church or hates Christians. My organization tends to, if we don’t have any other information, to not really say that we think an incident has an anti-Christian bias," she noted.



“But if they smash a window and destroy things, then we know that is going on. It’s hard to figure out what motivation is because most of the time vandals aren’t caught. Most churches don’t have security cameras. Most churches are open to the public all day long but don’t have security guards. To be honest, I think we only see the visible tip of the iceberg because so many churches across Europe and America as well experience vandalism and simply don’t report it.”



The observatory’s executive director opines that part of the reason there is an increase in attacks and acts vandalism committed at places of worship in France is that the rising secularism in the country “has led the society generally not to think of churches as special sacred places.”



Fantini said perpetrators of church attacks and acts vandalism in France tend to be radical Islamists or people aligned on the radical extremes of the political left, including Antifa movements, anarchists and radical feminists.



“They all set their sights on churches for different reasons,” she said. “In France, we certainly have not seen any kind of far-right attacks on churches. In France, I would say it is sort of the cultural leftists on the extremes as well as the radicalized Islamists. Although we haven’t seen that as much as we did a few years ago.”



Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Priest Jacques Hamel during an attack on his Normandy church by two men claimed to be aligned with the Islamic State.



“He was the priest who was beheaded by ISIS sympathizers in the South of France while he was celebrating mass,” she said.



While there is not enough data available to calculate the rise of anti-Christian incidents throughout Europe, Fantini believes that such incidents are “absolutely on the rise everywhere.”



“We see in Germany arsons and vandalism, we see it in Spain, we see it in the U.K. Really, I can’t say that there is any place in Europe where this phenomenon is decreasing,” she warned. “I was just looking at the U.K. The U.K. has a government fund to protect places of worship of all kinds. It was started five years ago and the amount in the fund has already doubled to £3.2 million.”



In Spain, she said churches see quite a lot of “destruction and vandalism.”



“In particular, the anarchist movements, their favorite phrase is: ‘The only church that illuminates is the one that burns,’” the researcher explained. “Every year on International Women’s Day, which is celebrated all over Spain, it is an opportunity for the feminist activists to put their tags on Spanish churches, they destroy things, they protest. Spain is no stranger to the activist left when it comes to targeting churches.”



One factor that has created an “uptick” in anti-Christian incidents in Europe, Fantini believes, is the mass migration stemming from the global refugee crisis in which millions of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have poured into Europe.



“The major wave of migration between 2015, 2016 and 2017, around there, that definitely resulted in an uptick in incidents,” she said. “If we look at France, simply because they actually report some statistics, you do see a jump that happens right around that time. I would say, for the most part, it has settled down a bit.”



Even in the United States, Fantini said that between the end of May and the third week of July, there were “20 incidents across 12 states” effecting Catholic churches alone as there has been much social unrest following the death of George Floyd.



“The activists in the U.S. have been fairly explicit about saying, ‘Burn it all down,’” the Vermont native said. “I do think we are going to see it get worse in Europe because I think the activists who are already simmering here will feel emboldened by what they see happening in the U.S. These movements are connected in terms of ideology.”



Fantini was clear that her organization does not use the term “persecution” when discussing the situation facing Christians in Europe.



“We do that very intentionally because we understand that the persecution of our brothers and sisters [in other regions of the world] is beyond compare,” she said. “We can’t claim that and we don’t.”


link

[schwartzie]

N. Korean Christians facing starvation as regime bans cash aid to defectors’ families amid COVID-19

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter FOLLOW| Wednesday, July 29, 2020Facebook Twitter Email Print Menu Comment 1


Persecuted Christians in North Korea are facing heightened challenges amid the coronavirus outbreak, fearing they might not survive because defectors are now barred from sending money back home.



Songyon Lee, a Christian living in South Korea, told Radio Free Asia that she'd received several letters from her mother in North Korea detailing the hardships believers are facing during COVID-19.


“I understand your difficult circumstances as you try to settle down in your new life in South Korea,” Songyon’s mother wrote. “But it is a very difficult moment here. Please help me one more time.”



Songyon said she sent money to her mother back in March, but with the rising cost of food and the supply of imported food rapidly disappearing, the North Korean people are struggling to survive.



North Korea has increased border security due to COVID-19, causing many North Korean brokers’ and smugglers’ activities to decrease. Earlier this year, the country shut down cross-border travel with China and Russia, restricted domestic travel, and placed diplomats and foreigners under effective house arrest, The Washington Post reports.



One broker told Songyon, “I’m afraid and scared of even making a call these days; there is a real crackdown on North Korean defectors and brokers. Not now, but let’s wait until the current level of security calms down,” he said of getting money to her mother in North Korea.



Persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA notes that the inability to send money affects the North Korean underground church of an estimated 300,000 believers. One believer told the organization: “The church cannot survive without food.”



A March 2019 survey by the North Korea Human Rights Information Center in South showed that six out of 10 defectors had sent money to their family members in North Korea, with the average amount of $2,460 sent each time, according to Open Doors.



"Without the defectors' economy, the economic crisis in North Korea will only get worse— many will not survive the actual illness and the food shortages created by the lockdowns and a crop-destroying drought," Open Doors warns.



The Korean Herald reports that the most recent anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaign sent into North Korea by defectors, might also be contributing to North Korea's crackdown on brokers [from China or South Korea] who, "for certain fees, arrange phone calls and money transfers for defectors ... often bribing the North’s provincial security officials."



"Defectors here have been sending cash to and corresponding with their family left behind in the North via Chinese brokers, but that has stopped after Pyongyang delegated the job of monitoring defector families to a central party organ in charge of state security," the Korean Herald said.



The news outlet also reports a different average amount of money defectors are sending back home. It says that, according to a human rights group based in Seoul, six out of 10 defectors sent at least one payment back home to their families in North Korea, with the one-time average payment being $1,340 (1.62 million won).



Despite the regime's claim that North Korean has suffered zero infections or deaths from the novel coronavirus, its people are facing harsh penalties for not wearing masks during the pandemic. Those who fail to wear masks face at least three months of “disciplinary labor” with harsher penalties for people caught sneaking into China, a country official told Radio Free Asia.



“Residents of the border area were threatened that they would face more than a year of hard labor if they are caught secretly visiting China or having contact with Chinese without permission,” the source said.



Although the regime claims it has no cases of the virus, the World Health Organization reports that North Korea has quarantined 25,551 people over the past few months, and more than 1,100 people in the country have been tested for the coronavirus.



On Sunday, North Korea locked down the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea after finding what could be the country's first official coronavirus case there, according to ABC News.



North Korea’s state-controlled Central News Agency said “a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country” after a suspected patient returned from South Korea by illegally crossing the border last week.



North Korea, led by dictator Kim Jong-un, is ranked as the worst persecutor of Christians worldwide on Open Doors USA's World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.



The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has also designated North Korea as a “country of particular concern” for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act.


link

[maybetoday]

Police Demolish Christian Homes in China



Xiamen House Church Targeted for the Fourth Time



07/26/2020 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on July 22, local authorities descended on Xingguang Church in China’s Xiamen city in Fujian province for further demolition of Christian homes in conjunction to the house church.



A month after local authorities brought in more than 100 officers from four different agencies to demolish Xingguang Church on June 11, dozens of security guards and officers from the local Ethnic and Religious Bureau returned to demolish the remaining homes within the residential building, where the church also once stood.



In a series of videos shared by preacher Yang Xibo from another highly persecuted church, Xunsiding Church, dozens of chengguan, or Urban Management Law Enforcement officials, were seen marching toward the remaining units that were not taken down during the June operation.



In Yang’s Facebook post, he mentioned that the developer initially sold these units with the selling point that the six-meter tall loft could be divided into two floors, which also received local government’s approval.



“Yet the government and dirty [cops] are barbaric to bypass all the regular administrative law enforcement procedure and forcibly demolish [the homes]. The main reason behind their action is to prevent anybody from gathering here again (although since the last demolition, no one has gathered here),” he continued.



Without proper documentation or notification, the authorities broke into a Christian’s home despite the resident’s resistance. The 67-year-old woman was soon shuffled off by dozens of uniformed chengguan, some equipped with anti-riot shields.



Other Christians at the scene who were trying to intervene were blocked at the stairs and prevented from moving further. When they questioned the authorities why they illegally entered private property and demolished people’s residence, they were met with silence.



The demolition team then destroyed the flooring between the two floors, before removing personal items from the home. A policeman who was called in by the Christians prohibited anyone from recording, claiming that his job was to make sure the demolition proceeded smoothly.



Xingguang Church was first raided on April 19 by government staffers from five different departments, followed by a violent raid on May 3, where many members were injured and some were briefly detained. The church’s preacher, Titus Yu, recently filed a complaint pursuant to China’s Supervision Law against three officials for their abuse of power and illegal intrusion of personal property. No response has been given.



China Aid also reports that on July 7, lawyer Li Guisheng was treated poorly by the Jimei District authorities when he submitted relevant evidence for this case. He had no way of knowing whether or not this case would be accepted or when he can expect a response.



Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, said, “For the Chinese government to frantically persecute Christians even after their churches were shut down shows how Beijing has no interest in respecting religious freedom. What the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not understand is that Christianity will not be wiped out just because the buildings no longer stand. The more the government erodes the rights of Chinese citizens, the more enemies it creates within its territories. One day, this pressure cooker will explode, threatening the CCP regime, the exact endgame it is fearful of.”


link

[Berean]

China: Police shutter house churches nationwide, order Christians to stop believing in God

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter FOLLOW| Thursday, July 30, 2020


Christians attend a Sunday service at Shouwang Church in Beijing's Haidian district, in this Oct. 3, 2010, file photo. Shouwang is a "house church," a church that is not officially sanctioned by the government and houses smaller congregations. | REUTERS/PETAR KUJUNDZIC

House churches across China have experienced intensified persecution in recent months, with Communist officials telling Christians they are not permitted to believe in God in the atheist country.



Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Center for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China, documented numerous instances where Christians were threatened and harassed by Chinese Communist Party officials.




In June, a group of officials in the county-level city of Leiyang, in the central province of Hunan, raided a house church. They confiscated the church’s donation box and destroyed 10 Bible verses on the walls, telling the Christians their actions were “the result of their disobedience” and that it was “illegal to hold religious gatherings without a permit or joining the Three-Self Church.”



In May, the Religious Affairs Bureau in the province’s Yongzhou city shut down a house church for “holding illegal gatherings without permits” and confiscated all valuables in the venue, including a computer, a photocopier, and Bibles.



In April, police in Dengzhou city in the central province of Henan raided a house church, confiscated its Bibles and hymnbooks, and took eight congregation members to a police station for interrogation.



One Christian later revealed that a police officer said to him that they could "not believe in God in China.”



The believer also revealed that half a month later, police visited the eight arrested members at home to ask if they had continued to attend religious gatherings. Officers warned them that they would be sentenced to three to five years in prison if they gather again.



“We don’t break any law by believing in God, but the government treats us this way,” the believer said. “The government wants to eliminate all religions and threatens us with the future of our family members, forcing us to give up our belief. It’s really shameless.”



Protestant Christianity is one of five approved religions alongside Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Catholicism in China. Religious organizations must register with one of five state-sanctioned patriotic religious associations, which are supervised by the State Administration for Religious Affairs.



Christian churches that refuse to register with the government, known as “house churches,” are illegal. However, even Three-Self churches — those registered with the government — have experienced an uptick in persecution in recent months.



Numerous reports have revealed the persecution Christians have endured at the hands of the CCP, including arrests, detentions, imprisonments, and church attacks. Such persecution is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to abolish religion and enforce greater control over people's lives.



In Yugan county, authorities shut down at least 48 Three-Self churches and meeting venues between April 18-30, according to Bitter Winter.



The magazine reported that “countless number of churches” were also ordered to remove their crosses in Jiujiang, Fuzhou, Fengcheng, Shangrao, and a few other cities in the province in April.



Persecution watchdog Open Doors USA ranks China as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians. The organization notes that all churches are perceived as a threat if they become too large, too political, or invite foreign guests.



According to some estimates, there are more Christians in China than Communist Party members.


link

[OmegaMan]

These people are going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize their "god," Lucifer, is going to be right next to them in the Lake of Fire! 


In Latest European Church Attack, Prayers to Lucifer, Satanic Symbols Scrawled on Sanctuary Door

August 1, 2020


A Christian church in Goleszów, southern Poland was viciously vandalized last weekend by cowardly thugs who have yet to be identified.



On the doors of the church, the thugs crudely scrawled “Ora pro nobis, Lucifer,” Latin for “Pray for us, Lucifer,” around an inverted cross, an inverted star, the number 666, and the words for “church of the devil” in Latin.



The crime was committed last Saturday night and was not discovered until Sunday morning when the church sacristan arrived to prepare for mass.



According to Breitbart, Christian churches and other sites across Europe have suffered a record number of attacks. In 2019 alone, the outlet reports, “some 3,000 churches, schools, cemeteries, and monuments vandalized, looted, desecrated, or defaced.”



The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDACE) noted in its 2019 report “a rise in the number of churches, Christian symbols, and cemeteries across Europe being vandalized, desecrated, and burned, compared to previous years.”



“Christians have been fired, sued, and even arrested for exercising their freedom of expression or conscience,” the watchdog group went on. “As we have noted in the past, Christians in Europe are not simply experiencing social discrimination, prejudice, or restrictions on freedom. Christians, including clergy, have been attacked or killed for their faith.”



The report also cited the French Interior Ministry’s official annual crime statistics for 2018, which included 1063 “anti-Christian acts” and demonstrated a 250 percent increase in such acts over the ten-year period from 2008 to 2018.


link

[maybetoday]

Uganda: Pastor, church member beaten and drowned in retaliation for evangelizing Muslims

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor FOLLOW| Saturday, August 01, 2020


A church bell hangs from a tree branch outside a Catholic church and a school in Odek village, Uganda. | (PHOTO: REUTERS/JAMES AKENA)

Radical Muslims in eastern Uganda beat and drowned a 25-year-old pastor and a 22-year-old church member in retaliation for preaching the Gospel to local Muslims.



Pastor Peter Kyakulaga of Church of Christ and parishioner Tuule Mumbya were murdered in a lake in Lugonyola village in the Gadumire Sub-County of Kaliro District, the U.S.-based Morning Star News reported this week.


The murders occurred on the night of June 22, but reports of the crimes only came out of the East African country this week.



The day before the murders, hardline Muslims warned the pastor and his church members to stop evangelizing in the area.



“We have discovered that your mission is not to fish but to hold Christian meetings and then convert Muslims to Christianity,” one of the Muslims told the Christian evangelists, according to a relative of the pastor. “We are not going to take this mission of yours lightly. This is our last warning to you.”



David Nabyoma, the chairperson of the local council from Namuseru village, where the church is located, was informed about the attack.



“They were requesting help, saying Muslims from Lugonyola had invaded the area around the lakeside, and several Christians were reported to have been injured, including my son,” Nabyoma, a member of the Church of Uganda, was quoted as saying. “Immediately we rushed to the scene of the incident with several Christians. We hired four boats and drove to the lake and found out that two of the Christians had been badly beaten and drowned in the lake and died instantly.”



The country’s church leaders pleaded with Christians not to retaliate, but pray instead.



While Uganda is a predominantly Christian country, with Muslims making up only 12% of the population, Christians have faced attacks for their faith in Muslim-majority areas.



Recently, Open Doors said in a report that “extremists are exploiting the opportunity to blame Christians for causing the (COVID-19) pandemic” in Somalia, Uganda and Niger.



In 2018, hundreds of Muslims in eastern Uganda expressed anger after Christians held public debates about Jesus, among other things, leading to the arrest of six pastors.



About 70 pastors and 30 churches held a series of talks in Sironko, defending Christianity. Speeches included the testimony of Pastor Moses Wangaia, a popular Christian apologist, who explained why he converted from Islam to Christianity.



Also in 2018, a Ugandan man who left Islam to accept faith in Christ suffered severe burns on nearly half his body as members of his family took vengeance on him by attacking him with scarring-hot cooking oil.



Morning Star News reported at the time that 27-year-old Gobera Bashir was the victim of an honor attack that occurred in the Budaka District, less than a week after he attended church with a friend and converted to Christianity.


link

[maybetoday]

WATCH: China Removes Crosses From Churches, Elderly Man Allegedly Thrown On Ground For Trying To Stop It

By Ryan Saavedra

•

Aug 4, 2020 DailyWire.com

•

.

NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images

A local government in communist China reportedly led a group of workers to two churches last month and ordered them to remove the church’s crosses, according to leaked reports.



The reports come from Bitter Winter, a publication that the U.S. Department of State has cited in official government reports and describes as “an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China.”



“A little past 4 a.m. on July 7, officials from Yongjia county government in Zhejiang Province’s Wenzhou city lead over 100 personnel to Yongfu village to remove crosses from two churches,” Bitter Winter reported. “Eyewitnesses reported that most of the demolition personnel wore uniforms of a private security company.”



Bitter Winter posted videos of two of the crosses being removed at two of the churches.



WATCH:











“During the confrontation, a man in his 80s was pushed to the ground and injured,” the publication continued. “According to local believers, the church cross escaped removal during the crackdowns on Zhejiang churches in 2014 and 2015, when more than 1,700 crosses were removed in the province, only because the congregation managed to protect it. This time, however, they couldn’t save it: it was toppled at 6:30 that morning, as security guards banned the congregation from filming the scene.”



The publication included a video of the elderly man that was reportedly thrown on the ground for trying to defend one of the crosses.



WATCH:







Bitter Winter reported in May that clergy from the same denomination of state-approved churches, the Three-Self Church, were punished for not preaching the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda. Twelve preachers were reportedly banned from being able to preach after they gave “sermons against government regulations.”



Other leaked reports out of China last month indicate that people who were on government welfare, including those with disabilities, were being cut off by the Chinese Communist Party if they did not renounce their faith.



Officials “were ordered to remove crosses, religious symbols and images from the homes of people of faith who receive social welfare payments and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping,” Bitter Winter reported last week. “The officials were instructed to annul the subsidies to those who protest the order.”



Those reports came out of Linfen, where officials reportedly told residents, “Impoverished religious households can’t receive money from the state for nothing — they must obey the Communist Party for the money they receive.”



Qi Yan, chairman of the Huangjinbu people’s congress, told The South China Morning Post in 2017, “Many poor households have plunged into poverty because of illness in the family. Some resorted to believing in Jesus to cure their illnesses. But we tried to tell them that getting ill is a physical thing and that the people who can really help them are the Communist Party and General Secretary Xi.”



“Many rural people are ignorant. They think God is their savior,” Qi said. “After our cadres’ work, they’ll realise their mistakes and think: we should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party for help.”


link

[Berean]

14 Baptist church members killed during suspected Fulani massacre in Nigeria

By Blake Fussell, Contributor FOLLOW| Wednesday, August 05, 2020


Fourteen members of a Baptist church in the Kogi state of Nigeria were reportedly killed during a raid by suspected Fulani radicals last week. Residents have since fled the area as farming communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt continue to be targeted.



As alleged genocide has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Christians in Nigeria this year, the attack last Wednesday is the latest reported massacre of Christians in Nigeria.



Kogi State Command Commissioner of Police Ede Ayuba told the nonprofit persecution news outlet Morning Star News that an attack was carried out in the Agbadu-Daruwana area of the Kogi state around 2 a.m. on July 29.



Ayuba explained that killed in the incident were 13 members of one family, leaving only one surviving member.



The survivor lost his wife, mother, all of his children and the rest of his extended family, including an aunt, uncle and sister-in-law.



According to Morning Star News, leaders of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship posted on the group’s Facebook page that the victims in the Agbadu-Daruwana attack are all congregants of Bethel Baptist Church, a member of the Lokoja Baptist Association.



“They have since been buried,” the All Africa Baptist Fellowship’s Facebook post is quoted as explaining. “All the community members, mainly Christians, have all fled. Please pray for God’s intervention against antichrist in the land.”



According to a resident of the area, a Fulani language was spoken during the attack.



The Fulani people group, which consists of millions across Africa, are predominantly Muslim cattle herders. Some have been radicalized to carry out heinous attacks on farming villages across Nigeria's fertile Middle Belt states in recent years as land resources have become increasingly scarce.



The attack took place in a predominantly-Christian village, near other villages that have been victims of attacks.



“They invaded the village armed with guns and riding motorcycles,” the resident named Rachael Nuhu claimed. “They were speaking in the Fulani language as they attacked our people. This is not the first time they’re attacking our communities, as other villages around us had been attacked in a similar way by these herdsmen.”


The attack comes as human rights groups have sounded the alarm that the atrocities committed against Christians in Nigeria — both by Fulani herdsmen and Islamic extremist groups in Nigeria's northeast — are reaching the standard for “genocide.”



On Jan. 30, Christian Solidarity International issued a genocide warning for Nigeria after the Jubilee Campaign issued a similar warning last year in a report to the International Criminal Court.



The U.S. State Department placed Nigeria on its special watch list of countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom last December.



Last week, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law estimated that no less than 1,421 Christians have been killed in the first seven months of 2020, with Fulani radicals reportedly responsible for 1,027 deaths. Meanwhile, extremist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast Lake Chad region are responsible for 310 deaths.



The Intersociety report provides a state-by-state breakdown showing that 54 have been killed in Kogi state this year. Violence has hit harder in other states as 363 Christian lives were taken in the Kaduna state, 158 in Pleatue state and 152 in Benue state.



“Thousands of defenseless Christians who survived being hacked to death have also been injured and left in mutilated conditions with several of them crippled for life,” Intersociety stated in a July report. “Hundreds of Christian worship and learning centers have been destroyed or burnt; likewise thousands of dwelling houses, farmlands and other properties belonging to Christians.”



Intersociety, which is headed by Christian criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi and based in Anambra state, also reported a rapid increase in young women being abducted in Nigeria. Sometimes, women are forced into sex slavery and rarely returned to their communities.



Intersociety estimated in July that 1,000 Christian citizens have been abducted in Nigeria this year.



Nigeria ranks as the 12th-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List.



According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 10 women, an infant and an elderly man were reported to have burned to death inside a home during a suspected Fulani attack in settlements close to Chibwob in early July.



“All the areas under Jihadist Herdsmen attacks are Christian communities, as to date," Intersociety explained in its July report. "There are no pieces of evidence anywhere showing killing of Muslims and taking over of their lands, farmlands and houses or destruction or burning of Mosques by the Jihadist Herdsmen."



The frequency and severity of attacks towards Christians reached the level of genocide in Nigeria more than a year ago, according to the Jubilee Campaign, which advocates on behalf of religious minorities across the globe.


link

[shalom]

Over 500 Christians Massacred by Islamic Extremists in Ethiopia This Summer

September 15, 2020


A campaign of relentless, door-to-door attacks have left over 500 Christians dead at the hands of Muslim extremists in Ethiopia since June.



According to a Persecution of Christians report published last week, the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church urged the government of the East African nation to put a stop to the attacks on Christian homes and churches.



The persecution watchdog organization reported that the Qeerroo, a group of young Oromo Islamist radicals, were responsible for the murders of pregnant women, children, and entire families in the Oromia regional state, home to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.



Over the summer, the Qeerroo roamed the region armed to the teeth with guns, machetes, swords, and spears, The Barnabas Fund reported earlier this month.



“Local witnesses said that police stood by and watched as the murders unfolded,” the Christian aid organization reported. “However, contacts reported that, in Bale Agarfa, some Christians were saved by the intervention of courageous local Muslims who risked their own lives to protect them.”



“These were the most horrific days for Christians in the Oromo region,” the Serbian Orthodox Church reported back in July. “There are different factions in the region. Some are ethno-nationalist and others are religious. The majority of those who got killed in a brutal way (beheaded and mutilated) are Orthodox Christian of Amhara Ethnicity.”



Eyewitnesses to the attacks reported that the vicious murderers even desecrated the bodies of their victims by “dancing and singing, carrying the chopped or hacked body parts of those they slaughtered,” even dragging the bodies of an elderly Christian couple through the streets of Gedeb Asasa.



The extremists also burned down several Christian-owned homes and businesses while vandalizing others, reportedly totaling billions of dollars’ of property damage.



Through this unspeakable tragedy, our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia have laid down their lives rather than renouncing their Savior.



We must plead with the Lord in fervent prayer for their safety. At the same time, let this also be cause for introspection—would we match their boldness for Christ? The day we find out may come without warning, folks.


link

[schwartzie]

"The Scene was Horrific": Persecution of Christians, August 2020

by Raymond Ibrahim

September 20, 2020 at 5:00 am




"If we report these cases, the offenders get away with it by apologising and saying that they did it in an unconscious way. Should a Christian do something similar, he is immediately accused of blasphemy and the local Christian community is guilty by association. They rape our women, kill our people, destroy or burn our properties.... [All] we want is for our constitution and the law to treat us as equals, with justice, and for the guilty to be put on trial." — Rev. Irfan James of Peshawar, AsiaNews.it, August 25, 2020, Pakistan.



"You get so disappointed when you see immigrants do that. I'm an immigrant myself. And I don't get it. Sweden has given them everything they want." — Naem Sufan, sputniknews.com, August 2020, Sweden.



Maira Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian girl, escaped from the home of Mohamad Nakash—her kidnapper, whom the Lahore High Court had recently ruled is her legitimate husband despite her objections—and fled to a police station, where she gave testimony, including on how she was being "forced into prostitution" and "filmed while by being raped," with threats that the tape would be published unless she complies with the demands of her rapist/husband and friends... — churchinneed.org; August 26, 2020, Pakistan.

Full article at link

[maybetoday]

Mobs of Thousands Attack Christian Homes in India

By Morning Star News on September 30, 20202 Comments





NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Incited by Hindu extremists, thousands of tribal animists in Chhattisgarh, India last week drove Christians in three villages from their homes in assaults that police declined to prevent or stop in spite of prior warnings, sources said.



The attacks on Sept. 22-23 by mobs that swelled to more than 3,000 agitators damaged homes, sent Christians fleeing for their lives and left a woman hospitalized with serious injuries, but police officers’ only response was to pressure Christians to contribute to the Hindu festivals that were the touch point of the hostilities.



Sivram Koyam, a resident of Kakadbeda in Kondagaon District, said he and other Christians were at the local police station on Sept. 22 trying to warn officers of impending violence when they received calls from relatives saying fierce mobs were attacking their homes.



“From three in the afternoon till eight in the night, I pleaded with and begged the police officers to go and stop them, but they did not go,” Koyam told Morning Star News. “The furious mob came in search of me, and not finding me home, they picked up my wife and smashed her on the ground three times.”



The mob of about 3,000 animists were chanting Hindu slogans as they damaged homes in Kakadbeda village, he said.



“One of them tore my wife’s blouse [the garment worn beneath a saree],” Koyam said. “Besides grievous internal injuries, my wife was gripped with fear and traumatized by the incident. She developed fever and could not move due to severe pain and injuries.”



She had difficulty breathing due to chest injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Kondagaon 11 miles way, he said. She underwent treatment and was expected to be discharged soon.



The mob damaged 10 homes belonging to seven Christians in Kakadbeda, and the next morning (Sept. 23) they proceeded to Singanpur village, damaging homes of three Christians, and Tiliyabeda village, damaging the homes of two Christians.





Story continues at link

[maybetoday]

China Sentences Christian Bookseller to 7 Years, Destroys Nearly 13,000 Texts

Michael Austin, The Western Journal By Michael Austin, The Western Journal

Published October 5, 2020 at 2:15pm


Christian persecution in China continues to worsen.



Sources recently confirmed to the nonprofit International Christian Concern that a Chinese Christian online bookstore owner, Chen Yu, was charged with “illegal business operations” on Sept. 27.



He was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of 200,000 renminbi ($29,450).



Chen was previously detained on Sept. 1, 2019, for selling unapproved religious publications imported from the U.S., Taiwan and other countries, according to ICC.



Chinese police launched an investigation to trace where the illegal religious publications had gone. Those publications were then confiscated.


Gina Goh, ICC’s regional manager for Southeast Asia, spoke out against Chen’s arrest.



“The sentence for Mr. Chen Yu shows how the Chinese government is increasingly frightened by all things religious. From religious symbols, Chinese couplets, to Christian books, anything that features religious elements is no longer tolerated by the Chinese Communist Party,” Goh said.



“The disproportionate sentencing of Christians, such as Early Rain Covenant Church pastor Wang Yi and Chen Yu, under the same charge implies that the crackdown against Christianity will only intensify. The US government and international community should continue to stand up to the tyranny in Beijing.”



China’s oppression of Christians and restrictions on religious freedoms has continued to worsen over the past few years.


Back in 2018, the Communist Party of China banned the online sale of Bibles.



Shortly thereafter, the CCP announced the Bible was being reinterpreted so that it conformed to “Chinese-style Christianity.”



David Curry, the president and CEO of Open Doors USA, spoke out about China’s Christian persecution in a blog on the Open Doors website published back in January.



“The government’s tightening on the Christian community in China — an estimated 97 million people — is real and happening right now. Every once in a while, the Chinese government will arrest some pastors, or shut down churches, or do something aggressive like take down crosses from steeples. But more often, the way they squeeze the church is quieter — and perhaps deadlier,” Curry wrote.



“Their primary fear is that Christians who follow Jesus have a greater allegiance to Him than the Communist Party — and they want to squeeze the life out of that allegiance.”


The Chinese government has come under especially intense scrutiny over the course of 2020 as numerous reports continue to come out confirming the government’s oppressive policies.



According to many of these reports, members of the Uighur ethnic minority are being carted off and sent to concentration camps.





As China continues to amass power on the world stage, the threat to religious liberty is becoming ever more apparent.



China’s assault on Christians, Muslims and other religious groups is only growing more prevalent.



Thankfully, Chen Yu doesn’t appear to have been hurt in any way. He’ll have the opportunity to serve his sentence and start his business again from scratch.



There’s nothing a Chinese court can do to take away his faith in Jesus Christ.

link

[PurplePuppy]

Jihadis Kill Four Christians in Indonesia and Attack Salvation Army Church

[Berean]

Jihadis Behead More Than 50 People in Mozambique



Jihadis beheaded more than 50 people in to villages (Nanjaba and Muatide) in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. The ISIS-linked group is attempting to establish an Islamic State in the Christian-majority nation.

[Shoshanna]

Pakistani Christian Girl Murdered for Refusing Muslim Marriage Proposal

[songbird]

India: Pastor shot, killed in street after baptizing new believers


India: Pastor shot, killed in street after baptizing new believers

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor FOLLOW| Saturday, December 19, 2020


Christians meet near their rebuilt church in Kandhamal. In 2008, almost every church in the area was destroyed by Hindu nationalists. | John Fredricks

Three unidentified men shot and killed a pastor in the east Indian state of Jharkhand while he was returning home with his wife after baptizing new believers, according to a report.



Pastor Salim Stephen Surin, a part-time evangelist in Rania village of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, was killed on Dec. 8, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported Friday.



“They killed my husband in front of my own eyes,” Tarsis, the wife of the slain pastor, was quoted as saying. “I was terrified seeing my husband collapse having been shot in the chest. I started to think about my children and loudly cried out to God to save me and take care of my [two] children.”



Tarsis said she pushed one of the three men who shot her husband, after which he pointed the gun toward her. “I ran into the thick bushes and the nearby forest. I probably walked for more than 10 hours to reach my home. I purposely did not take the road to avoid the attackers.”

Full story at link

[schwartzie]

China Is Detaining Christians In Secret Facilities Forcing Them To Renounce Their Faith Or Be Tortured: Report

By Ryan Saavedra

•

Apr 5, 2021 DailyWire.com


NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party is reportedly detaining Christians in secret facilities and forcing them to renounce their faith or face being tortured for months.



“A member of a Christian ‘house church’ in the southwestern province of Sichuan who asked to be identified by a pseudonym Li Yuese said he was held in a facility run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front Work Department, working in tandem with the state security police, for 10 months after a raid on his church in 2018,” Radio Free Asia reported. “Another Christian who asked to remain anonymous told RFA that similar facilities are being used across China, not just for Protestants, but also for members of the underground Catholic church, and of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a target of authorities since 1999.”



Radio Free Asia is a non-profit broadcasting corporation funded through the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent federal government agency.



The communists reportedly focus mostly on targeting “house churches” that are not members of the CCP-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association, which teaches people a CCP-approved version of Christianity because it views Christianity as a national security threat.

Full article at link