http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:01:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26537/iranian-authorities-raid-house-church-in-shiraz-arrest-christians http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26537/iranian-authorities-raid-house-church-in-shiraz-arrest-christians#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:54:48 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26537 Iranian authorities this week arrested Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz, according to sources.

The sources put the number of the arrested Christians, who belong to one of Iran’s many underground house churches, at between six and 10.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26537/iranian-authorities-raid-house-church-in-shiraz-arrest-christians/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26536/burma-troops-%e2%80%98kill-torture%e2%80%99-christian-kachins-despite-ceasefire-pledge http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26536/burma-troops-%e2%80%98kill-torture%e2%80%99-christian-kachins-despite-ceasefire-pledge#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:47:11 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26536 Burmese troops kill or torture civilians and destroy churches and even entire villages of the predominantly Christian Kachin minority despite pledges from Burma's nominally civilian government that it seeks ceasefire agreements with ethnic groups, investigators say.

Rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said it recorded "grave human rights abuses" during a three week visit to the Rangoon and Kachin State on the China-Burma border.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26536/burma-troops-%e2%80%98kill-torture%e2%80%99-christian-kachins-despite-ceasefire-pledge/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26518/russian-mission-group-warns-of-crackdown-on-evangelicals http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26518/russian-mission-group-warns-of-crackdown-on-evangelicals#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:26 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26518 As protesters demanding more freedom and fair elections prepared to demonstrate in freezing temperatures in Moscow last Saturday, a major Russian mission group warned of more difficulties for evangelical Christians and other religious minorities in Russia and other former Soviet Union nations. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26518/russian-mission-group-warns-of-crackdown-on-evangelicals/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26464/seven-christians-killed-in-bauchi-state-nigeria http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26464/seven-christians-killed-in-bauchi-state-nigeria#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:58:54 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26464 Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi state on Sunday left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed.

The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2 was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko Haram sect, with the church building and surrounding houses bombed.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26464/seven-christians-killed-in-bauchi-state-nigeria/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26456/christians-in-sudan-and-south-sudan-facing-death-and-detention http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26456/christians-in-sudan-and-south-sudan-facing-death-and-detention#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:53:28 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26456 Christians in Sudan and newly created South Sudan face possible detention, beatings and even death amid a "deteriorating humanitarian situation" with thousands of people being killed this year alone, aid workers and Christians say.

In Sudan's capital Kharthoum, minority Christians have also been pressured to leave the country towards South Sudan, with reports of detentions and beatings, church leaders said. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26456/christians-in-sudan-and-south-sudan-facing-death-and-detention/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26448/sudan-threatens-to-arrest-church-leaders http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26448/sudan-threatens-to-arrest-church-leaders#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:02:55 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26448 Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information.

The warning arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds that the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic law). ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26448/sudan-threatens-to-arrest-church-leaders/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26441/ugandan-teenager-tortured-for-becoming-a-christian-regaining-use-of-legs http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26441/ugandan-teenager-tortured-for-becoming-a-christian-regaining-use-of-legs#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:40:19 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26441 A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps.

Susan Ithungu had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along with police rescued her.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26441/ugandan-teenager-tortured-for-becoming-a-christian-regaining-use-of-legs/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26431/somali-convert-from-islam-whipped-in-public http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26431/somali-convert-from-islam-whipped-in-public#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:47:20 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26431 A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said.

Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26431/somali-convert-from-islam-whipped-in-public/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26421/anti-christian-incidents-nearly-doubled-in-indonesia-in-2011 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26421/anti-christian-incidents-nearly-doubled-in-indonesia-in-2011#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:51:02 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26421 Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority.

The worst is perhaps yet to come if authorities continue to overlook the threat of extremism, said a representative from the Jakarta-based Wahid Institute, a Muslim organization that promotes tolerance.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26421/anti-christian-incidents-nearly-doubled-in-indonesia-in-2011/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26395/pakistani-christian-falsely-charged-with-%e2%80%98blasphemy%e2%80%99-after-argument http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26395/pakistani-christian-falsely-charged-with-%e2%80%98blasphemy%e2%80%99-after-argument#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:34:34 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26395 A young man has been charged with desecrating the Quran under Pakistan’s controversial “blasphemy” laws after the Christian had an argument over rent with his Muslim landlord, his attorneys said.

Police charged the man after his landlord accused him of burning pages of the Quran in order to prepare tea.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26395/pakistani-christian-falsely-charged-with-%e2%80%98blasphemy%e2%80%99-after-argument/feed 0