Pastoring & Leadership

We Persevere Round-Up 14

KarAngEllis

We Persevere: Roundup 14 – Week Ending September 17, 2016.

We Persevere is a roundup of items of interest concerning religious freedom at home and abroad. It is curated for RAANetwork by K.A. Ellis, Ambassador for International Christian Response.

 

NIGERIA: Former US Representative Frank Wolf, who is now senior fellow at the human rights organization 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, visited Nigeria in February to witness what the U.N. has called “the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world.” According to Rep. Wolf, “Whole areas in the northeast have been cleansed of Christians, and now Boko Haram is killing Muslims who do not hold to their extreme interpretation.” Learn more about this grossly underreported crisis…

CUBA: “If you’ve lived in Cuba or know anything about the way things are from the inside, you know the Office of Religious Affairs is nothing more than an arm of the state established to suppress the religious liberties and rights of Cuban citizens,” says one prominent pastor who was arrested in March, just hours before US President Barack Obama arrived in Cuba for an official state visit. “The reason the government sometimes tries to silence the Church or to close down church buildings is because it is worried about how many people are turning away from the state and looking to God (and the Church) for answers and for hope.” he said. Read more…

INDIA: Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim leaders in India have united to speak out against the increasing hate crimes against religious minorities in the country and to find ways to address the issue. Read more about their solidarity and their plan…

UZBEKISTAN: As Uzbekistan prepares to elect a new president after the death of longtime dictatorial ruler, Islam Karimov, Christians in the former Soviet state fear religious persecution will only worsen. Current prime minister and acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this week that he will seek the presidency. “If Mirziyoyev becomes the next president, the persecution of Christians will be even worse,” one pastor said before Mirziyoyev’s announcement, remaining anonymous. Read more…

EGYPT: The government in Egypt is signaling that Christians can be attacked “with impunity” because of a new law that discriminates against the religious minority, human rights advocates are warning. The new law allows local authorities to forbid new church buildings and requires any new churches that are built to be “commensurate with” the number of Christians in the area. Read more…

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