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Churches in Sri Lanka have frequently faced harassment from community members, Buddhist religious leaders and civil authorities. To read previously published reports on some of these cases, go to our country report. The following three incidents that occurred in mid-March demonstrate some of the challenges regularly experienced by Christians.

Persecution in India comes from many sources. Religious disagreements among family or neighbours can escalate to violence, or Hindu leaders may openly oppose the spread of the Gospel in a community. While such incidents may be reported to the police, legal assistance does not always result. In many instances, police may even join in the harassment of Christians.

Bob Fu (Fu Xiqiu), the founder and president of ChinaAid, is a ministry partner with The Voice of the Martyrs. In addition to providing support for Christians in China, the organization he established in 2002 highlights human rights abuses in the country.

Leaders of the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine have continued a campaign against unregistered church communities. The pro-Russian leaders of this breakaway region insist on registration for all religious organizations. However, of the 195 organizations registered in 2019, 188 were Russian Orthodox. The remaining seven are either Muslim, Old Believer, Jewish or Catholic. No Protestant churches have been allowed to register.

Seventeen Liberian believers are being persecuted by their families after having converted from Islam to Christianity. They have been threatened, beaten and ordered to stop attending church and listening to Christian music. As a result of the persecution, many of them have fled to nearby villages for safety.

These young believers placed their faith in Christ after hearing the Gospel from visiting pastors who also gave each of them a pocket-sized Bible. Although they were initially afraid to listen to the pastors for fear of persecution, the new believers continued attending night meetings. The relatives noticed that they had stopped going to the local mosque and eventually learned of their conversions to Christianity.

Christian leaders in Algeria have asked for international support following several recent incidents that threaten the human rights, and especially the religious rights, of Christians in the country, according to a February 7 report from Middle East Concern. Believers are under pressure in the following three ways: