Tags
Discrimination
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Converts Driven from Their Homes
More than a dozen Christian families from the village of Mai in northwestern Laos were driven from their homes by other members of the majority-Buddhist community. This recent incident is the latest in a string of similar attacks against Laotian followers of Jesus, despite the fact that laws have been instituted in this country to protect the free exercise of religion.
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Christian Farmers Killed in Two Separate Attacks
Muhammad Waseem, a Muslim landowner in Punjab's Khanewal district, assaulted and killed a Christian farm labourer on February 6th after accusing the believer of stealing oranges from his property. The victim, Emmanuel Masih, was irrigating the orchard at around 3 a.m. when he was approached by Muhammad and four other men. Though Emmanuel pled his innocence, the five men brutally beat the married father of six to death.
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Rising "Tax on Faithfulness"
Evangelical believers in Russia were forced to pay what is being called a "tax on faithfulness" in 2022, and this year that price is expected to increase. Throughout the country, basic Christian activities have been investigated and punished as crimes. "Believers paid fines, appealed their decisions, and in most cases lost their appeals," reported Dr. Hyun Sook Foley from The Voice of the Martyrs Korea. "It is a trend that The Voice of the Martyrs Korea is monitoring closely as 2023 begins."
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Pastor Keshav Released on Bail
Since March 2020, Pastor Keshav Raj Acharya of the Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal, has faced numerous allegations and charges. Initially charged with spreading false information about COVID-19, the pastor was eventually cleared of all accusations. However, he was later arrested for two cases of "outraging religious feelings." In July 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. (For more information, click here.)
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Christian Woman Severely Beaten
Since 2015, members of the Great Commission Baptist Church in the community of Rancho Nuevo, Hidalgo State, have been prohibited from accessing their land to cultivate crops. On December 21st, Maria Concepcion Hernández-Hernández was physically assaulted for merely viewing her plot of land after being asked by a neighbour to remove two trees from the property. When local leaders were informed that the Christian woman had gone to her land, she was ambushed and brutally beaten.
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Ministry Leaders Appeal for Pastors' Release
A group of pastors in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is appealing for the release of 30 fellow pastors who are being detained in prisons around the state. According to Pastor Jitendra Singh, General Secretary of the Pastors' Association of Uttar Pradesh, all of the detained church leaders have been falsely charged under the state's anti-conversion legislation which was enacted in February 2021.
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Stricter Controls for Social Media Interactions
Starting on December 15th, Chinese Internet users can be held liable for merely "liking" a social media post that the government considers harmful or illegal. The new rules are part of the recently imposed guidelines published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, mandating that all service providers carefully monitor comments and reactions – both digitally and through "speech review teams." Any so-called "bad information" is to be reported to the Internet Information Department.
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Christians Expelled from Tribal Village
On December 4th, a group consisting of 13 Christian families were expelled from their home village in rural Chhattisgarh because they refused to deny their faith. The families, comprising a total of 66 individuals, were summoned to a village council meeting in the town of Mungwal. The villagers opposing these families tried to pressure them to deny their faith in Jesus Christ, mandating that they return to their former tribal religion.
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Local Governments Impede Church Buildings
Local officials have denied a group of Indonesian Christians the right to build a place of worship, even though the believers own the land. This situation has been taking place in a small city, which has approximately 10,000 Christians, that's located near the capital of Jakarta.
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Outdoor Worship Service Banned and Pastors Fined
On September 15th, the Persecution & Prayer Alert reported on renewed threats against the New Life Church in Minsk, Belarus (read more). The church building was sealed by governing authorities in February 2021, and since then its members have met weekly in the facility's parking lot.