These articles were first published in our May edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, told church members that the setting on fire of around 200 Bibles in a trailer near his church by an unidentified suspect on Easter Sunday is proof that Christianity is ‘under attack’ in the United States.
‘If you think Christianity is not under attack more than ever before in the United States of America, you’ve not been paying attention,’ Locke said.
Muslim farm owners in Pakistan have beaten a Christian labourer with iron rods and shot him in the leg for requesting the wages owed him.
Waqas Masih, a 42-year-old farm worker from Garaiyan Kamalpur village in Faisalabad, had asked for his wages to buy clothes for his two children for Easter celebrations, said his brother, Akash Masih. ‘The two men first brutally tortured Waqas with the iron rods, and then one pulled out a pistol and opened fire on him, resulting in a bullet injury on his right thigh.’
A Christian couple in India has been sentenced to prison after Hindu extremists instigated a false case of forcible conversion against them.
A woman they are accused of pressuring denied in court that the Christians tried to forcibly convert her or her husband, but Pastor Ramesh Ahirwar and his wife Sakshi Ahirwar of Viveknagar Bhansa village in Madhya Pradesh, were still convicted under the state’s anti-conversion law. The district court sentenced them to two years in prison and a fine of 25,000 rupees (US$300) each.
Six Kenyan merchants who have been killed by suspected militants from the Islamic extremist Al Shabaab in the Somali border town of Dhobley were probably attacked for spreading Christianity.
They had been selling utensils and other household goods for six years, a Christian leader in northern Kenya said. ‘Our brothers had been doing business to support their families, but were also sharing the love of Jesus Christ to Muslims in Dhobley.’
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared that the detention of Cuban Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo is arbitrary.
Pastor Rosales Fajardo was violently arrested after participating in peaceful protests that took place across Cuba in 2021. He was later tried and convicted of charges of ‘disrespect’, ‘assault’, ‘criminal incitement’ and ‘public disorder’.
Muslim residents in Saga Bunar, western Indonesia, have forced a pastor to stop using her home for services. Dozens of Muslim residents gathered outside her house after worship ended.
The authorities said police arrived and dispersed the crowd, but video shows police present among other people in a room while the pastor, identified only as Kinerinda, read out an agreement reached with local residents: ‘Starting from today, there will be no more religious services or worship services in the house I live in’, she said.
A ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Gyeonggi Province, has taken place. Over 30,000 on-site attendees and church members from around the world participated simultaneously through live and online broadcasts.
The ceremony looked back on the growth of the church since it was founded in 1984. In addition, plans and visions for the year ahead were shared, and pledges made to fulfil the role of the church in civil society, and serve and practice as light and salt.
The southern German city of Frankfurt has officially celebrated Ramadan in a series of street illuminations.
For the city council, led by a progressive government, celebrating the Islamic month of fasting is a way of ‘appreciating’ the beliefs of the over-100,000 people in the city who identify as Muslims, representing around 10% of the population. Decorations included golden stars, glowing crescent moons and colourful oriental Fanoos lanterns. They were inspired by a similar initiative in London last year.
Thomas Schirrmacher, General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), has resigned for health reasons.
‘For many months, the WEA International Council has realised that Dr Schirrmacher was struggling with health concerns as a result of long Covid, which was particularly concerning in light of his heavy responsibilities as Secretary General’, it said, wishing him ‘a full and speedy recovery and pray for God’s healing hand upon him to continue his significant global ministry’.
Former US President Donald Trump is promoting the God Bless the USA Bible, inspired by Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem ‘God bless the USA’. It costs $60 (£47).
Trump urged his followers to buy the Bible. He also talked passionately about Christianity’s importance in America, suggesting that a decline in religious observance is at the heart of national problems.
A Ukrainian priest abducted by Russian occupiers nearly a year ago could face 12 years in prison after a secret court trial for alleged espionage. The Revd Kostiantyn Maksimov, 40, from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was charged with espionage under the Russian Criminal Code.
The prosecutor’s office alleges that Maksimov transmitted to an employee of the Ukrainian security service the coordinates of the deployment of Russian air defence technical equipment.
The original Crosby-Schøyen Codex, recognised as one of the earliest Christian liturgies, is expected to sell for over £2 million when it is auctioned by Christies.
Its 104 pages were meticulously inscribed over four decades on Egyptian papyrus between 250–350 A.D., it represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of book-making.
Iain Taylor