Pastors have reported that they have been forced to shelter rebels inside their churches as well as within their surrounding communities. The rebels are well aware that hiding in these sanctuaries guarantees them protection, given the government’s longstanding commitment to ensuring that attacks do not target civilians, churches or hospitals.
Read MoreWhile the president takes a beating on social media for his USAID cuts, African pastors are silencing those blaming Trump for it. “President Trump is doing what must be done for the good of his country,” said Tinashe Hungwe, a cleric in Zimbabwe. “It is high time to make our governments accountable and provide for their people not to blame the U.S.”
Read MoreThe beheaded bodies of 70 Christians were found in a Protestant church in North Kivu Province in the Congo around Feb. 15, several religious freedom advocates said, blaming the extremist Allied Democratic Forces. The ADF is accused of approaching homes in Mayba, in the Lumbero territory, beginning Feb. 12 and capturing as many as 100 Christians through Feb. 15.
Read MoreAyaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, author and thinker, has become best known for her outspoken views on Islam, women's rights and the societal consequences of secularism. Her religious journey to becoming one of the most prominent critics of Islam into her recent conversion to Christianity has been shaped by personal experiences of suffering, political activism and intellectual transformation.
Read MoreMore than nine in 10 U.S. Protestant pastors say their church has engaged in at least one of six ways to bring attention to Christians suffering persecution within the past year, according to a Lifeway Research study. Around one in 14 (7%) say they haven’t done any of those six and less than 1% aren’t sure.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Freedom of religion means that religious beliefs, or irreligious ones, can be criticized, even mocked, as happens frequently in Sweden to, for example, Christian sentiments. In an open society, people of different faiths — Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics and secular humanists — must be able to live side by side in freedom and security. But they may be critically scrutinized, even ridiculed.
Read MoreAbout 50 Christians were killed, dozens kidnapped and homes destroyed since late January in several attacks spanning southern to northern Nigeria, Christian persecution watchdog groups said. At least three pastors were killed in attacks in Kaduna in north-central Nigeria and Gombe in northeastern Nigeria.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Freedom of worship is tenuous around the globe. The Pew Research Center’s latest annual report found “high” or “very high” levels of government constraints on religion in 59 of the 198 countries and territories it analyzed – a new record. When Pew began releasing reports on the issue in 2007, just 40 countries’ restrictions on religion were classified that way.
Read MoreThe church’s initiatives involve venturing into coffee farming to transform unused land into productive agricultural spaces, mass registration of untitled church land, issuing spiritual warnings and pursuing legal action against land grabbers. The plan will safeguard property and contribute to economic growth — ensuring that church land remains a valuable resource for future generations.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Feb. 9 resignation of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, which conveys little remorse or admission of failure, must at least be followed by swift and constitutionally sound action from Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to ensure that this potential first step toward resolving the prolonged conflict is somewhat effective.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Oklahoma can open St. Isidore: an online Roman Catholic charter school named after the patron saint of the internet. If affirmed, the school would be the nation’s first faith-based charter — a sea change in education law, expanding the boundaries of government aid to faith-based schools.
Read MoreExtolling the importance of religious liberty, Trump announced the formation of a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” in the country as well as the launch of the White House Faith Office during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning. The task force will come by executive order on Feb. 6, he said, and will be led by newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Read MorePresident Donald Trump has halted for at least 90 days a refugee admissions program that resettled 100,000 individuals fleeing persecution in fiscal year 2024, including nearly 30,000 Christians. By an executive order Monday, Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests” of the nation.
Read MoreChristians in Iran were sentenced to a combined total of over 250 years in prison last year — a sixfold increase compared to 2023, according to a new report. In all, 96 Christians were sentenced to a combined 263 years behind bars in 2024. That’s compared to 22 Christians sentenced to 43½ years in 2023.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Catholic Church was one of the social and ideological pillars of Francoism from the moment of the coup, as evidenced by the ‘Collective letter of all Spanish bishops’, made public July 1, 1937 to support a movement that “has strengthened the sense of homeland” and “has guaranteed order in the territory.” The same regime that was born out of a “crusade” with the purpose of shielding the power and traditional privileges of the church, ended up creating a prison to imprison priests critical of power.
Read MoreAfrica, with more Christians than any other continent, has in Nigeria the deadliest nation for believers at the hands of Islamic terrorists and suffers persistently high violence in a dozen countries in its sub-Saharan region. Add to that the civil war in Sudan that has created the largest displacement crisis in the world, as well as lingering civil wars elsewhere, and it’s no wonder that an additional 15 million Christians are suffering high levels of persecution.
Read MoreThe rise in land disputes involving religious institutions in Uganda has triggered a trend of demolishing of churches and mosques throughout the country, raising religious freedom concerns over safety regarding places of worship. The issue has become a major problem across the country, a trend that has intensified over the last four years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100, was eulogized last Thursday at his state funeral in Washington, D.C. in a Scripture-filled service recalling a lifetime of good deeds and spirituality. Overlooked in all the tributes to the 39th U.S. president and born again evangelical Baptist was Carter’s role in 1979 from preventing the demolition of the mausoleum of Chassidic Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Uman.
Read MoreKhairunissa, along with her siblings and parents, spent years living in a multi-religious and multicultural apartment in Gujarat state’s Ahmedabad city. When communal tensions and targeted violence against Muslims erupted in the Indian city on Feb. 28, 2002, her family initially felt secure, confident that their neighbors would be able to protect them.
Read MoreGlobal Christian Relief (GCR), the watchdog group launched in 2023 when Open Doors USA reorganized, has released its first persecution report, citing top five countries persecuting Christians in select categories. The 2025 GCR Red List is marketed as a “first-ever quantifiable and verifiable index” of incidents in five key areas.
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