Priest from Northeastern Syria Killed as Christians Suffer in Turkish Offensive

Syrian church facing violence from both Islamic State and Turkey.

(Morning Star News) – Islamic State (IS) militants claimed responsibility for killing an Armenian Catholic priest and his father on Monday (Nov. 11) in eastern Syria, where they had traveled from their home in a northeastern town hit by Turkish air strikes and terrorist bombs. In the wake of a Turkish military operation into Syrian […]

Kurdish Authorities in Syria Close Schools Run by Assyrian Christians

De facto regional government discouraging return of Assyrian refugees, critics say.

JERUSALEM (Morning Star News) – Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have closed private schools administered by the Syriac Orthodox Church, which Assyrian Christians say threatens the survival of the Christian community in the region. The schools in the Kurdish-governed northeastern region of Syria were forcefully closed for refusing to implement a curriculum that school officials say […]

Morning Star News’ Top 10 Persecution Stories of 2015

Islamic violence accelerates in countries not known for religious conflict.

(Morning Star News) – Islamic extremist violence in countries not known for religious tensions, majority-Christian Kenya and Uganda, topped Morning Star News’ stories in 2015. While the Islamic State terrorized Christians in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria killed innocent civilians in the shadow of Boko Haram, in northeast Kenya Al […]

The Problem of Islam and the Islamic State

An atheist and an Anglican offer bold solutions.

(Morning Star News) – Two remarkable pieces about Islamist violence were published last week in mainstream media – one answering the ambivalence thoughtful people feel on what to do about the Islamic State, and the other answering perplexity on what to do about Islam. They are remarkable first because, unconcerned about political correctness, they strongly […]

Islamic State Threatens to Kill Christians in Syria in Video Showing Executions

Three Assyrians shot to death in recording.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) late last month killed three Assyrian Christians, presumably in Syria, according to an execution video released Wednesday (Oct. 7). In the video, the group threatened to kill some 200 other Christians in Syria unless it receives a ransom of $50,000 each for their release. […]

Christians in Syria Struggle to Survive amid Terrors

Pastor caught between obligations to ministry and to family.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – His 6-year-old daughter still wakes up screaming, more than three years after the sounds and sights of war first gave her night terrors. At least a few times each week, she wakes up with her muscles clenched, her head thrown back and her mouth open, screaming. Her father, a pastor […]

The Islamic State: Hastening the Apocalypse?

Motives for unspeakable cruelty lie in Sunni 'End of Days’ teaching.

(Morning Star News) – Since summer 2014, the Islamist terrorist group ISIS – a.k.a. Islamic State – has devastated the political, geographic and combat landscape of the Middle East. At the same time, along with its ominous black banners, it has raised worrisome questions about the true nature of Islam. For the Middle East’s ancient […]

Syrian Mother, Three Children Flee Attack as Officials Consider How to End Islamic State

Christians worldwide pray as fate of kidnapped Assyrians in Syria is awaited.

March 6, 2015 (Morning Star News) – As the West and Middle East grapple with how to end the Islamic State (IS), an Assyrian mother who escaped Islamic State kidnapping in northeastern Syria said she does not know of the whereabouts of her husband. With IS videos of its beheadings and other cruelties fresh in mind, […]

Humanitarian Catastrophe in Mosul, Iraq Demands Response

Severe hardships afflict Christians in Islamist insurgency’s takeover.

(Morning Star News) – Less than a week after Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) described the Islamist takeover of Mosul, Iraq as genocide and challenged the West to counteract it, Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, published a trenchant piece on the Fox News website asserting that ISIS, the Sunni Muslim […]

Syrian Christians Mourn Murdered Priest

Dutch clergyman refused to leave embattled country’s people in spite of dangers.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Christians across Syria are mourning the loss of a Dutch priest who, despite grave personal danger, refused to leave the civilian population stranded in Homs. The Rev. Frans Van der Lugt, 75, a Jesuit priest, was killed Monday morning (April 7) in Homs, according to the Jesuit Curia of the […]