Two Christian evangelists were brutally attacked recently on a jungle road en route to an India village, and then were left in the dark because their six assailants thought they were already dead.

The victims, Mahindra Kharoley, 20, and Munshi Prasaad, 30, were attacked in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh. They were bicycling home to their village after a prayer meeting in Dunda Sivni 15 miles away. The attackers followed them on two motorbikes, then with their faces covered accosted the two, accused them of “forced conversion,” and beat them, Compass Direct News said.  Read more... (299 words, 1 image, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

A Ukrainian Orthodox church was damaged by a bomb blast recently that killed a nun and wounded eight others.

The blast occurred at the Intercession Church in the city of Zaporоzhyе, southern Ukraine. The bombing occurred on the country’s celebration of its conversion to Christianity in 988 A.D., BBC News said.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill came to the country for an eight-day visit to mark the event. This caused a stir among some nationalists. Kirill also heads the biggest branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox church. Some Ukraine clergy, however, have chosen to be independent of Moscow, the BBC said.  Read more... (258 words, 1 image, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

A group of youths attacked recently a Christian house church in a Vietnam village while a worship service was ongoing.

They gang broke into the house of evangelist Mang Vuong, smashed the walls, stole over $3,000, and destroyed furniture, books and utensils while jeering at Vuong for building his Xi Thoai village home which doubles as a house church, Compass Direct News said.

The same youth gang had long been harassing Vuong and sending death threats. Vuong works for the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, the country’s largest government registered denomination, CDN said.  Read more... (551 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Bhutan’s government has proposed a new “anti-conversion” bill that is being used by vigilantes in other nations as a means to falsely accuse and imprison Christians.

The bill cites Bhutan’s Penal Code under section 463 which says, “A defendant shall be guilty of the offense of proselytization if the defendant uses coercion or other forms of inducement to cause the conversion of a person from one religion or faith to another,” Compass Direct News said.  Read more... (517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

The recent enactment in Argentina of a gay marriage law is being largely viewed to indicate the waning influence of the Catholic church in Argentina–and generally, Latin America.

The law, which allows gay couples to marry and adopt children, is perceived to indicate that there is a greater desire for more liberal social legislation in what had long been viewed as a Catholic stronghold, Reuters said.

The law was signed by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on July 21 after bitter legislative debate and strong lobbying from the Catholic church, with a 33-27 vote. Some aver that this also paves a way for the president’s husband, Nestor Kirchner, to be reelected president in 2011, RD Magazine says.  Read more... (458 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Local police in an Indonesian village tore down recently a house church that had been in use regularly since 2006.

Amid clashes with church members, police demolished the Narogong Pentecostal Church house in Limusnunggal village, south of Jakarta. Ten people were arrested, Compass Direct News said.

The destruction was spurred by the Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnanggal, a group which emerged in 2008. From the start they fought to drive out the church and three months before, expressed their objection to the Cileungsi offices, CDN said.  Read more... (365 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

An American family was expelled recently from Aceh, a devoutly Islamic province in Indonesia, after they were accused of proselytizing to Muslims.

Immigration officials said that they have not yet decided whether Robin Kay Jordan, wife Kelly and daughter Claire would face deportation. However they were forced to leave their rented house in West Aceh and have been transferred to the immigration office in North Sumatra, the AP said.

Proselytizing is illegal in Indonesia, a nation with the highest population of Muslims in the world at 237 million. Most of the Muslims are moderate, the AP said. However, only Aceh is permitted to partly implement the Shariah, and they have aggressively enforced it including banning women from wearing tight clothes and jeans, the Jakarta Globe said.  Read more... (307 words, 1 image, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

A rise in the number of Christian believers is perceived in China along with that of other faiths as an immense spiritual vacuum parallels China’s economic boom.

A 2006 survey on China’s religious beliefs revealed a boom in Christian, Catholic and other faiths. Out of 4,500 respondents, 31.4 percent or the equivalent of 300 million Chinese described themselves as religious, NPR said.

The boom is perceived to parallel China’s economic boom. Professor Liu Zhongyu of East China Normal University, Shanghai, who authored the survey said, “Since the political atmosphere has relaxed, [the Chinese people] turn to religion for comfort.”  China considers itself officially atheist, NPR said.  Read more... (450 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Christian churchgoers in Uganda will be issued identity cards even as overnight prayer meetings are being suspended in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in a restaurant and a rugby club where people had gathered to watch the World Cup finals.

For the safety of churchgoers, identification cards will be issued for all church members, and every church will have its own checkpoint.

The Uganda National Fellowship of Born-again Churches has also put on hold all overnight prayer meetings and crusades nationwide, The Monitor said.  Read more... (374 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Hundreds of nurses in Pakistan took to the streets recently to demand justice for a Christian nursing student who was allegedly raped and thrown from the fourth floor of a Pakistan hospital by the Muslim doctor who raped her.

Some 200 nurses, both male and female from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre said they would not end their strike until the victim, 23-year-old Magdalene Ashraf, gets the justice that is due.

They suspended work for five hours in condemnation of the act, The Nation said.  Read more... (427 words, 2 images, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)