Category: Christianity

BBC director general admits Christianity gets tougher treatment than Islam, other religions

BBC The BBC director general Mark Thompson has claimed that Christianity is treated with less sensitivity than other religions because it is “pretty broad shoulders”.

He suggested other faiths had “very close identity with ethnic minorities” and as a result were covered in a more careful way by broadcasters.

In recession-hit Hungary, churches take over state schools

Hungary Local government officials in Hungary are handing state-owned schools over to churches, unable to afford their upkeep during the economic recession, according to church sources.

“Churches are entitled to run schools in Hungary as public service providers, receiving the same taxpayers’ money as public sponsors,” said Balazs Odor, ecumenical officer of Hungary’s Reformed Church.

Wycliffe Bible Translators

Wycliffe Bible Translators Translators of U.S.-based Wycliffe Associates have launched two Bible translation projects in countries where evangelism, or even reading a Bible, is forbidden.

Wycliffe CEO Bruce Smith said among the nations targeted by his organization was at least one predominately Muslim country with a strongly Islamic government, where he claimed Christians face persecution, even from family members and neighbors.

Pilgrims return to Jesus’ baptismal site as Israel removes landmines

mines Pilgrims are flowing back to the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River as Israel removes 40-year-old land mines and improves the area, but barbed wire and armed soldiers testify to the area’s tense past.

Located in a closed military area on the West Bank a few kilometers from Jericho, the site — Qasr el Yahud — has been revered since the fourth or fifth century as the place where John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the Messiah

Iran Court Acquits 11 Evangelical Christians

Iran Eleven members of one of Iran’s largest evangelical house church movements, who were charged with ‘action against the order of the country’ and drinking alcohol, have been acquitted by an Iranian court, BosNewsLife learned Friday, May 20.

The charges referred to their involvement in a house church meeting and to taking communion wine, Iranian Christians said earlier.

Saudi Arabia Jails House Church Christians Without Trial

Saudi Arabia Two Indian Christians of a thriving Pentecostal house church in Saudi Arabia have been moved from pre-trial detention to a prison in the Saudi capital Ryadh where they are “forbidden to pray or read the Bible” and “suffer of a lack of food and medical attention.”

The two were initially detained in January and received 45-days of “pre-trial detention” on charges of attempted proselytizing.

Update: Pastor not ‘fired’ for not believing in hell

Turns out that the pastor of a rural United Methodist church was not ‘fired’ from his job after voicing his doubts that sinners live an eternity of torment.

It was initially reported that Reverend Chad Holtz was dismissed from Marrow’s Chapel in Henderson, North Carolina, when he posted a note on his Facebook page supporting a book written by prominent young evangelical pastor Rob Bell. But Holz explains it “was less a firing and more a divorce.”

Iran Christians Jailed, Bibles “Burned”

Human rights violations Iran Five Iranian house church Christians were behind bars Wednesday, March 15, after being sentenced to one year imprisonment on charges of “crimes against the Islamic order” and there were reports that Iranian authorities have been burning Bibles.

The attacks come amid wider reported pressure on groups deemed dangerous by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government.