Tag: Proselytism

Turkey gives Western Christian evangelist 15 days to leave country

October 25, 2018 Turkey Ankara, David Byle, Istanbul, Police, Proselytism, Turkey, USA

After 20 months in bureaucratic limbo, Canadian-American Christian David Byle was arrested on 13 October and detained overnight by security police in Ankara, the Turkish capital. His detention took place the morning after US pastor Andrew Brunson was ordered released by an Izmir court and allowed to return to the . . . Read More

Algeria: Christian family accused of ‘proselytism’ – hearing postponed

October 10, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Churches, Idir Hamdad, Kabylie, Minorities, Proselytism, Protestant Church of Algeria, Tizi Ouzou

Four Algerian Christians accused of proselytism will appear in court on 6 November, in Bouira, in the north-eastern region of Kabylie. They had been due to appear yesterday (9 October), but the hearing was postponed. The four, including three members of the same family, are all from the town of . . . Read More

India: 2 years after Supreme Court order, no investigation into ‘shocking’ number of Kandhamal acquittals

September 11, 2018 India Catholics, Delhi, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Odisha, Proselytism

The man spearheading the campaign for “justice” for the victims of the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history has denounced the failure of the Odisha state government to follow up on a Supreme Court order to investigate why there have been so few criminal convictions despite nearly 6,500 . . . Read More

Having human rights in Kazakhstan depends on state permission – report

September 5, 2018 Kazakhstan Children, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Proselytism, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Women

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan tries to make the “exercising of human rights conditional on state permission”, says the Oslo-based news service Forum 18. “[Kazakhstan] systematically violates intertwined fundamental rights – such as the freedoms of religion or belief, of expression and of assembly” when it has international obligations to respect and defend these, . . . Read More

India: Kandhamal Christians still waiting for justice one decade after massacre

August 23, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Odisha, Proselytism

Some 56,000 Christians fled their homes during the rioting and many stayed in camps such as this one in Raikia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Ten years after the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history, the local community continues to struggle, with reparations from the government slow in coming and seven reportedly innocent Christians still in prison. Nearly 100 Christians were killed, 300 churches and 6,000 Christian homes were damaged, and 55,000 people . . . Read More

Nepali law criminalising ‘hurting of religious feelings’ comes into force

August 17, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Charikot, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Nepal, Proselytism

A law criminalising religious conversions and the hurting of religious feelings comes into force in Nepal today, a year after the bill was passed. As World Watch Monitor reported last year, Nepal’s Christian minority fears the new law will be abused by those seeking to settle scores – as has . . . Read More

We’ll close one church every week, Indian Christians told

August 6, 2018 India Churches, Converts, India, Maharashtra, Proselytism

church Maharashtra (World Watch Monitor)

Christian villagers in a rural district of India’s Maharashtra state have been told that one church will be closed down every week because they have been “destroying” local tradition and culture by “luring” others to convert to Christianity. Since June, over a dozen houses belonging to Christians have been attacked . . . Read More

US commission calls for Iranian Christians’ release after ‘new miscarriage of justice’

August 2, 2018 Iran Amir Saman Dashti, Church of Iran, Evin Prison, Hassan Rouhani, House churches, Human rights, Iran, Kermanshah, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Proselytism, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Rasht, Religious freedom, Saheb Fadaie, USA, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

From left: Saheb Fadaie, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of an Iranian pastor and three of his church members, after they were taken to prison last week to serve ten-year sentences for “acting against national security” by “promoting Zionist Christianity” and running “house . . . Read More

Nepal: Couple deported for ‘converting Hindus into Christians’

July 13, 2018 Nepal Kathmandu, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

Proselytism is a crime in majority-Hindu Nepal. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Christian couple have been deported from Nepal after they were accused of proselytism, a criminal offence in the country, reports national newspaper The Himalayan Times. De Vera Richard, from the Philippines, and his Indonesian wife Rita Gonga had been staying in Nepal on business visas and were running a . . . Read More

India: 16 more Christians detained under Jharkhand’s ‘anti-conversion law’

July 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Caste, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Missionaries, Proselytism, Religious freedom, RSS

A number of the Christians who were arrested by police, after they held a prayer service at the house of a Christian family in Phulpahari, India. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A group of 16 Indian tribal Christians who visited another tribal family in the eastern state of Jharkhand to talk to them about Christianity are in police custody after the local village head accused them of “conversion by inducement”. Last year, Jharkhand became the seventh Indian state to introduce a . . . Read More

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