Evangelicals Now

World News

• Albania: headway

  Fellowship of European Broadcasters

  The gospel is slowly making headway in Albania, it was reported in March.

  Last year, Hervin Fushekati received permission for The International School of Theology and Leadership (ISTL) to run the first Theology Masters course in Albania. Further info: www.transformeuropenow.org

• China: sentenced

  All-Party Parliamentary Groups

  Chinese preacher Huang Yizi, who opposed an ‘anti-church’ demolition in which 400 places of worship were partially or completely destroyed during a 12-month campaign, has been jailed, the Telegraph reported in late March.

  Mr Huang has been sentenced to prison for one year for ‘gathering crowds to disturb social order’, a claim which his supporters say has been ‘trumped up’. The demolitions were carried out despite an alleged internal order from the central government to stop the demolition of places of worship in the region.

• Crimea: difficulties

  F18 News (www.forum18.org)

  One year after Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, the forced imposition of Russian restrictions on religion has brought difficulties for those trying to exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief.

  Individuals and religious communities have faced raids, fines, religious literature seizures, government surveillance, expulsions of invited foreign religious leaders, unilateral cancellation of property rental contracts and obstructions to regaining places of worship confiscated in the Soviet period. Only 1% of communities which had state registration under Ukrainian law have succeeded in gaining the compulsory Russian re-registration.

• Egypt: attacked

  Barnabas Fund

  After Friday prayers on 27 March, an angry mob of armed Muslim rioters stormed the Egyptian village of Al-Our, home to 13 of the Egyptian Christian men who were beheaded by Islamic State militants in Libya.

  Enraged by a statement issued by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in which he unexpectedly granted permission to local Christians to build a church, Muslim residents rampaged through the village shouting ‘no church will be built on this ground’ after Friday prayers concluded. They also threw stones at the home of Samuel Alham Wilson, one of the local Christians who were killed.

• Ethiopia: released

  Barnabas Fund

  Two men who were distributing Bibles in Ethiopia’s Melka Belo region were arrested in March in separate incidents and later released after enduring physical abuse and harassment from authorities.

  According to International Christian Concern (ICC), Gemechu Jorgo and Sheikh Amin were arrested on 10 and 13 March respectively. Both men were later released on 23 March.

• India: 55% increase

  Morning Star News

  The number of incidents against Christians in India has increased 55% since Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi became prime minister in May 2014, according to figures from the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported in March.

  During a protest by religious minorities near India’s Parliament House on 19 March, rights activist and Christian leader John Dayal said there have been 168 incidents against Christians in Modi’s first 300 days in power. That figure compares with 108 such cases in the 300 days before Modi took office.

• India: attacked

  Barnabas Fund

  A group of Hindu radicals attacked a church in Jabalpur, in Madhya Pradesh, late on 20 March, hurling stones at the building and accusing the Christians of converting Hindus to Christianity.

  Around 200 people from the state’s Mandla District were visiting the church for a Bible convention. Some 50 attackers, mostly from the Dharma Sena and Bajrang Dal Hindu activist groups, arrived at the church and initiated an argument with the church leaders before vandalising the premises.

• Iran: falsely accused

  Barnabas Fund

  Imprisoned Farshid Fathi was falsely accused of insulting a prison imam on 5 March after he refused to hand over his Bible for inspection.

  The prison imam assigned to Ward 10 of Rajaei-Shahr prison in Karaj ‘arbitrarily issued an order to confiscate our Bibles for inspection’, said one of the Christians imprisoned there. ‘Since we had received our Bibles with legal permission from the superintendent of the prison, we refused to hand them over.’ Already sentenced to an additional year on top of his original six-year sentence for a previous false allegation, Pastor Fathi could now face up to two more years in prison.

• Kenya: Garissa attack

  Christian Solidarity Worldwide & others

  Al Shabaab, the Somali-based Islamist terror group, attacked Garissa University in northeast Kenya on 2 April, killing at least 147 and injuring over 100.

  According to several reports, the assailants separated the students based on their religion and allegedly released Muslim students, while killing several non-Muslims on the spot and taking others as hostages.

• Kosovo: Roma

  Fellowship of European Broadcasters

  Since the Kosovo war ended in 1999, 860 mosques have been built in Kosovo and the number of churches has dropped from 22 to 20, it was reported in March.

  During the 1999 wars, about 100,000 Roma were expelled from the country. Blerim Skivjani is a Roma working in Pristina. As a pastor, Blerim is discipling young men within the ‘Fellowship of the Lord’s People’ in Pristina. Further info from: www.transformeuropenow.org

• Malaysia: new law

  Barnabas Fund

  Malaysia’s north-eastern Kelantan state is set to propose the enforcement of the Islamic hudud Bill in the Malaysian Parliament after it was unanimously passed by the Kelantan State Assembly on 19 March.

  This Bill would remove the caps currently in place for shari’a punishments and would extend them to permit amputation, stoning, flogging and execution. Although not applying to non-Muslims it would effectively prevent conversion from Islam to another religion, because the ultimate penalty for this would be a death sentence.

• Nigeria: expelled

  Metro newspaper

  Troops expelled Boko Haram militants from the north-eastern town of Bama and cleared the terrorists’ final stronghold in the

  State of Yobe, it was reported on 18 March.

  The Nigerian defence HQ said that, following days of careful manoeuvres dodging landmines and other obstacles, its soldiers had ‘finally succeeded in routing terrorists from Bama in Borno state’ after six months. The victory came after the town of Goniri in Yobe was retaken. A total of 36 towns have been cleared of the extremists since January.

• Pakistan: burned to death

  Christian Solidarity Worldwide

  A 13 year-old boy who was set alight by two men in Lahore, Pakistan, on 10 April after identifying himself as a Christian, died of his injuries on 15 April.

  Reports say that Noman Masih was in a market in Gulshan Ravi when he got into conversation with two men on a motorbike. They assaulted him, threw petrol and set him on fire when they found out he was a Christian. He sustained burns to 55% of his body. Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab, has called for the perpetrators to be arrested.

• Pakistan: killed

  World Watch Monitor

  At least 17 people were killed and 80 others injured as two churches in the main Christian district of Lahore were attacked by suicide bombers on 15 March.

  The incidents took place in Yahounabad, a poverty-stricken Christian neighbourhood in Lahore, outside two churches, St John’s Catholic Church and the Protestant Christ Church, separated by just 400 metres. An Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, linked to the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility.

• Pakistan: attacked

  Barnabas Fund

  Christian reporter Shamim Masih was attacked on 29 March in the capital city Islamabad and warned to stop reporting on Christian persecution.

  According to the leader of the Pakistan Christian Congress party, Nazir S. Bhatti, the reporter was attacked by two people on a motorcycle as he visited a residential part of the city. Pakistani police have so far not registered the incident.

• Pakistan: water pumps

  British Pakistani Christian Association

  The BPCA has received funds to build five water pumps for the deprived Christian community of Jaranwala, it was reported in March.

  Many living in this community have suffered the ignominy of poor health and regular taunting because of their inability to wash properly and drink clean water. Poor Christians in this community earn around £600 per year and the boring of pumps would cost over a year’s salary.

  No help has ever been provided to the Christians of this community, despite it being the worst off community in the area. Research revealed that no Muslim home was without water.

• Turkey: closed

  Barnabas Fund

  Turkey’s government closed the last two remaining Syrian border gates on 9 March, fearing a terrorist attack from Syria.

  The Oncupinar and Cilvegozu gates in Hatay province have remained closed since then, with only lorries carrying aid and authorised trade allowed to cross the border into Syria. Now Christian Syrians fleeing Islamic State (IS) violence face the terrifying prospect of having to cross the border illegally through dangerous smuggler routes if they are to escape from the extreme violence and anti-Christian threats of IS.

• Ukraine: persecution

  All-Party Parliamentary Groups

  In parts of Ukraine taken over by separatist, pro-Russian rebels, persecution against anyone who does not belong to the Russian Orthodox Church has escalated, Al-Jazeera America reported in March.

  Rebel soldiers in Donetsk have ransacked or taken over Jehovah’s Witness halls, Baptist churches and Church of Christ buildings, because the rebels say the land is Russian Orthodox. These actions are all part of a conflict that has seen religious and national identities merged in the rebels’ bid to take over south-eastern Ukraine. The result has been not only war, but also the persecution of Christians, Jews, Muslims and other religious groups.

• USA: threat to churches

  Religion Today

  Churches in Lake Worth, Florida, have been ordered to obtain business licences to continue operating, it was reported in March.

  City officials went so far as to send an undercover code enforcement officer to a congregation that meets in a coffee house to report back on what occurred at the weekly service. Churches that do not comply with the regulations risk being shut down.

• USA: new Bill

  Christian Headlines

  Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that could allow businesses to cite religious reasons for refusing service, is drawing criticism from political and business leaders, it was reported in early April.

  Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Bill into law on 26 March amid public outcry from opponents. Critics say the law will allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT customers. Pence has since said he will try to ‘fix’ the law to better clarify the act.

• World: help for SAT-7

  SAT-7

  In early April, SAT-7 was in a very difficult cash-flow situation.

  There was a significant deficit in the ministry’s core funding in 2014, which meant that, by early April, SAT-7’s operational cash for all channels was virtually exhausted. It will need some unexpected extra gifts if they are to meet the current broadcasting and programme production costs, as well as pay the rent and staff salaries at their different locations. To get them back to a stable cash-flow situation before the lean summer months, they will need more than £1,365,000 in new gifts before June.

• World: new milestone

  Bible Society

  The YouVersion Bible app has now been downloaded over 175 million times on Smartphones and tablets around the world, it was reported in March.

  YouVersion partners with Bible Societies and it supports 1,092 versions of the Bible in 780 languages. Many of these texts are from Bible Societies that are embracing digital technology.