First Light Before the Dawn
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Hundreds of Christians hit the streets of Indonesia’s capital this week to urge government action after local officials demolished a church building and threatened to close others at the behest of Islamist forces. Christian protestors, joined by minority Ahmadiyya and Shia Muslims, held a shared prayer service and sang the [...]
LOS ANGELES (Morning Star News) – Vietnamese officials are calling the death of a Christian in police custody a suicide – a claim family members of the severely beaten Christian strongly refute. Hoang Van Ngai, previously identified by his Hmong name of Vam Ngaij Vaj, died on March 17 in custody in Gia Nghia, Dak Nong [...]
LOS ANGELES (Morning Star News) – A Hmong church leader in Vietnam has been beaten to death in police custody, area sources said. Police beat Vam Ngaij Vaj around his neck and shoulders and likely used electric shock on him, resulting in his death on March 17, said a church leader who spoke with those who [...]
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Morning Star News) – Days before Burmese President Thein Sein was reportedly nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last week, a report revealed his government troops had killed and raped dozens of civilians and burned hundreds of churches and homes. At war with rebels in predominantly Christian Kachin state, government troops killed [...]
DANANG, Vietnam (Morning Star News) – Newly converted Christians of the Sedang ethnic minority in Vietnam’s Central Highlands were terrorized last week – their homes and personal property badly damaged or destroyed in four consecutive night raids, and some of the faithful seriously injured from beatings in broad daylight, sources said. Since becoming Christians in [...]
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – China’s Christians felt a noticeable rise in persecution in 2012 as the Communist government began the first of a three-phase plan to eradicate unregistered house churches, a new report says. Cases of persecution of Christians rose by about 42 percent last year compared with 2011, according to the report by [...]
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Morning Star News) – Protestant Christians and leaders of other faiths in Vietnam are criticizing a new decree on religion that went into effect this year as a significant step backward, with one Christian activist saying it could put an end to the house-church movement. In a Jan. 18 [...]
(Morning Star News) – Christians worldwide just celebrated the birth of Jesus. For many in the West this was a festive season marked by worship services, gift-giving and time with family and friends. But for the church in the Middle East, fear of persecution cast a long, dark shadow over the Christmas holiday. Oppression [...]
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Concerns are growing over at least 50 cases of religious freedom violations against Christians in Indonesia last year, as not only extremists but ordinary Muslims were responsible for many of the acts of intolerance and violence, according to a recent study. “Cases of intolerance against Christians remained high in the [...]
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – In Lao villages far from the international community’s eye, Christians who refuse to take part in traditions involving worship of ancestral spirits face severe pressures. Authorities in southern Laos recently tried to force more than 200 Christians in six villages in Savannakhet Province to convert back to traditional, ethnic [...]