Barnabas Fund, 22 February 2022

A Sri Lankan pastor was served with a notice barring him from holding church services in his home.

The letter – citing communications between the police and Sri Lanka’s central government – asserted that express permission is required for a building to be used as a place of religious worship.

The letter added that there were objections to Christian worship taking place in the pastor’s home from the local authority overseeing Buddhist affairs.

The pastor, who has been using his home for worship since 2013, has sought the necessary permission several times, but has received no response from the Ministry of Buddhas asana and Religious Affairs.

A Barnabas Fund contact explained that the law does not in fact require official registration for places of worship.

“The government is trying to get the information about house churches,” he explained. “This is a new development by the Ministry trying to crack down on house churches.

Sri Lankan Christians, who make up 8% of the population, suffer discrimination and harassment and sometimes violence from Buddhist extremists, Muslim extremists and Hindu extremists.

Morning Star News, 14 February 2022 (excerpts)

Christian churches, seminaries and other ministries have been shaken by a Dec. 20 government announcement that all religious information on the internet will be forbidden unless organizations obtain government permission – an option that is not open to unregistered house churches.

Only 5 government-approved religious organizations may apply for such permission: The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (representing officially-approved Protestant churches), the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the official organizations of Buddhism, Islam and Taoism.

The measures follow complaints by President Xi Jinping that prohibitions against using the internet to “advertise” religion were easily eluded and more should be done to make sure that the internet and social networks are not used as tools for “religious propaganda,”  according to religious rights magazine Bitter Winter.

“They can broadcast sermons and lessons but would be checked by the authorities for their ‘Sinicized’ content, making sure they promote socialist values and are not used as proselytization tools,” according to Bitter Winter.

Religious universities and colleges may disseminate content via the internet only to their students; any attempt to spread religious content to minors or “induce minors to believe in religion” will lead to the termination of the license.

“Organizations which will not obtain the license, and individuals, may not disseminate any religious content or even allusions through the internet,” it stated.  “Sharing images or comments on ‘religious ceremonies …’ will be severely prohibited.  Xi Jinping asked for a crackdown on religious content on the internet.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 15 February 2022  (excerpts)

Five United Nations (UN) Special Procedures have signed onto a joint communication to the Cuban government requesting information about the treatment and detention of Cuban Protestant pastor Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, who participated in nationwide peaceful protests in July 2021. 

The communication also raises concerns regarding alleged threats, torture and other mistreatment that the pastor has suffered at the hands of Cuban State Security.  It calls on the Cuban government to provide information on why the pastor was arrested, the justification for the charges against him and why he was held in incommunicado detention. 

The communication, dated 16 December 2021, gave the Cuban government 60 days to respond to their request, but no response was provided.

Reverend Rosales Fajardo was arrested on 11 July 2021.  He has been imprisoned in Boniato Maximum Security Prison since August 2021 and is facing charges which include ‘disrespect’, ‘assault’, ‘criminal incitement’ and ‘public disorder,’ for which the government has previously indicated that they are seeking to impose a 10-year prison sentence.  He was tried on 20 and 21 December 2021 and informed that he would be sentenced on 5 January 2022, but this has been repeatedly delayed.

Barnabas Fund, 15 February 2022 (excerpts)

Police in Pakistan have registered a murder case against over 150 Muslims following the death of Christian shopkeeper Pervez Masih on 14 February in Lahore.

The incident happened after a group of Muslims was involved in an altercation the previous evening with Pervez at the games shop he ran. The dispute was apparently settled following the intervention of mainly Christian members of the local community.

The next morning, however, the Muslims went to the shop with guns, clubs and iron bars. One of them hit Pervez with a brick, causing a critical head injury. Pervez, in his late 20s, died in hospital.

Large numbers of police officers have since been sent to the area to calm tensions where Christians are a minority.

Police Superintendent Sukhera said, “We engaged elders of the Christian community and defused the tension.”

A team from the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, which provides legal aid to Christians, is investigating the killing and helping Pervez’s family following the funeral, held on 15 February.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said his government has “zero tolerance” for those taking the law into their own hands and perpetrators would be dealt with by “the full severity of the law” and action taken against “police who failed in their duty”.

Morning Star News, 28 January 2022  (excerpts)

Suspected Fulani herdsmen killed 4 Christians in Plateau state on January 22, after 18 Christians were slain in another area of the state on January 11, where six of those slain were children.  The latter attack lasted for over two hours undistracted and unchecked.

In the two attacks, eight other Christians were reported wounded, and in one village 24 homes were burned down.

Fulani herdsmen also attacked the area in May, killing seven Christians.

Davidson Malison, a representative of the predominantly Christian Irigwe ethnic group, said, “We have called on security agents and the government on several occasions to grab the political will to end the spate of carnage being unleashed on Christians, yet no concrete and tangible efforts have been made.”

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year.

Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.

Church in Chains, 20 January 2022

Chinese authorities detained Chen Yu on 11 September 2019 for “illegally selling foreign-published religious materials” and officially arrested him on 18 Oct 2019.  His bookshop had sold more than 20,000 books (mostly Bibles and other Christian books) through a Chinese e-commerce platform.  Police used the bookshop’s records to contact buyers across China and more than 800 books were confiscated.

On 27 September 2020, after he had spent nearly a year in prison, Linhai People’s Court sentenced him to 7 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 yuan for “illegal business operation”.  The government confiscated his mobile phone and ordered the Public Security Bureau to destroy 12,864 books seized from the bookshop.  His lawyer submitted an appeal to the Taizhou Intermediate People’s Court.

Bitter Winter reported that police were enraged that Chen Yu sold thousands of copies of the book Transformation of the Gospel by Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence.  During the nationwide investigation, officials demanded that customers who had purchased copies of “Transformation of the Gospel” return them.

Bitter Winter commented, “Not coincidentally, it was when the trial against Pastor Wang Yi was being prepared that bookseller Chen Yu was arrested.  The prosecutor characterised Chen’s bookselling operation as an ‘anti-Chinese conspiracy,’ because some of the Bibles and books he sold were printed in Taiwan and the United States, and claimed that Chen had more than 10,000 customers.”

The Joshua Project 11 January 2022

What is the future for China’s Uyghurs, a people with a rich and centuries-old Turkic culture severely oppressed by China’s government?  Millions of Uyghurs live in China’s north-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, now a police state that imprisons well over 1,000,000 Uyghurs in brutal “re-education” camps.  Although almost all Uyghurs are Sunni Muslim, they mix their Islam with folk religion.

Their community-oriented culture and religion face serious threats.  Such a situation makes them less open to outside ideas.  Few Uyghurs are open to Christ and Han Chinese Christians have little interest in reaching them.

The Uyghurs may listen to believers who demonstrate the compassion and love of the only Saviour.  Their language contains the complete Bible, the JESUS Film and many audio and visual materials based on the Bible.

Pray that members of this people group will soon have as rich an understanding of the need for God’s presence as Moses did.

A small but growing number of Uyghur believers live in nearby Central Asia.  Pray that they would be strengthened in their faith and filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Ask God to disciple Uyghur believers to reach Uyghur communities throughout China.  Pray God would stir Chinese Christians to intercede for and reach out to China’s suffering Uyghurs.  Ask that suffering Uyghurs would experience God’s comfort from within re-education camps and broken homes.

Voice of the Martyrs, 6 January 2022

After worshiping peacefully together in a tin hut for more than 10 years, a church of more than 20 families from the Chakma people group recently began constructing a church building in their village in Bangladesh.

Shortly after building began, a mostly-Buddhist organization known as the Underground Army destroyed the church building’s windows and threatened to torture or kill the men of the church, who fled into the jungle for several weeks.

Frightened, the women and children of the church lived together in one home for safety.  Eventually, the Underground Army found the women and beat them with canes, leaving them bruised.  The militant Buddhists then looted the believers’ empty homes, stealing their crops and livestock.

For their safety, the Christian children have not attended school since the initial attack.  Pray for the families to remain strong in their faith despite the pain they’ve endured and the uncertainty they face.

Pray that the Buddhists will witness the gospel in the lives of those they are persecuting and repent.  Pray for the completion of the church building’s construction.

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world.  Churches are careful when offering relief to the poor and needy because they do not want to encourage false conversions among people claiming faith in Christ solely for economic benefit.

Millions of Bangladeshis are learning about Christ and the Bible through media outreaches.

Release International, 10 November 2021 (excerpts)

During a four-day online speaking tour, Jamal, a Muslim- background Christian, described how his Hand of Help organisation is giving new hope to Christian refugees in northern Iraq who fled the conflict with Isis and have been given a safe haven in the region of Kurdistan.  And through remarkable favour with the government, Jamal’s work has been extended to help displaced Muslims and Yazidis.

In 2003, before the upheavals of the Gulf War and Isis, there were around 1.8 million Christians in Iraq.  Today there are considered to be fewer than 400,000 Christians living in Iraq.

As well as distributing relief aid, Hand of Help train seamstresses, electricians and hairdressers and teach computer skills.

Through all of this comes the message of Christ’s love. Jamal’s team uses the Gospel of Luke to teach his students keyboard skills.

The Kurdistan government has seen the remarkable work Hand of Hope is doing and is right behind it.  The country’s parliament has presented the ministry with its Shield of Honour.

The government has given this openly Christian ministry access to teach at a prison and to work in camps for displaced Muslims and Yazidis.

Says Jamal: ‘This is a Muslim country and we are a Christian organisation.  We clearly say we are Christian and yet they allow us to go to the camps.  It’s amazing!

International Christian Concern, 12 December 2021

As the United States and Iran come closer to reaching agreement on the renewal of a nuclear deal for Iran, Christians continue to face severe persecution at the hands of the Iranian regime.

Since President Biden took office, U.S. officials have been negotiating with their Iranian counterparts in an effort to revive an agreement that aims to curb the Iranian nuclear program.  Though the plan passed under President Obama in 2014 amidst heavy criticism for being too soft on the regime, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018.

The Biden administration is still committed to reaching an agreement with Iran, but as these negotiations continue, the regime continues to arrest Christians for worshipping. In addition to being named a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations by the State Department, ICC highlighted persecution in Iran in its recent 2021 Persecutor of the Year Report.  ICC also listed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi among the worst persecutors of Christians.

As talks continue between U.S. and Iranian diplomats, the United States must emphasize human rights for all Iranians in these meetings to promote greater religious freedom in the country.