Two Christian pastors and a deacon will be spending the next six years in some of Iran’s most desolate prisons because of their Christian faith.
Pastors Benham Irani and Matthias Haghnejad along with deacon Silas Rabbani will be taken to prisons as far away from family and friends as the Iranian government can take them after convictions on trumped-up charges to justify the government’s campaign of hate against Christians.
“We are deeply concerned by the six-year sentences given to pastors [Benham] Irani and [Matthias] Haghnejad and deacon Silas Rabbani, and the fact that they will serve these sentences so far from their families and home towns,” said Christian Solidarity Worldwide Chief Operating Officer Andy Dipper.
“We are particularly appalled by the extra six years given to pastor Irani, who has already endured ill-treatment whilst in prison and now faces nearly a decade in prison on trumped-up charges. We urge the Iranian government to release without delay every person who is imprisoned for their faith. Their incarceration contravenes international covenants guaranteeing freedom of religion or belief, to which Iran is party.”
The government claims the Christian men were taking “action against the state” and “action against the order” along with Pastor Irani being accused of “spreading corruption on Earth.” He could have received the death penalty on the last charge.
A Pakistani court has upheld a death sentence for a Christian woman who was accused of blaspheming the prophet Mohammed during an argument with a Muslim woman.
The Lahore High Court rejected the appeal of Asia Bibi on her sentence that was passed down by a lower court. Bibi’s lawyers say they will appeal the decision to the country’s Supreme Court.
Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 for the accusation.
“The case against Asia Bibi is a great example of how Christians and other religious minorities are abused in Pakistan by fundamentalists wielding the controversial blasphemy laws. The blasphemy laws were originally written to protect against religious intolerance in Pakistan, but the law has warped into a tool used by extremists and others to settle personal scores and persecute Pakistan’s vulnerable religious minorities,” International Christian Concern’s Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark told the Christian Post.
Stark said that many times accusations of blasphemy are used against Christians as weapons.
“Sadly, the vast majority of blasphemy accusations brought against Christians and others are false. Unfortunately, pressure from Islamic radical groups and general discrimination against Christians in Pakistan has transformed trial courts and now appeals courts into little more than rubber stamps for blasphemy accusations brought against Christians, regardless of the evidence brought to bear in the case.”
A Georgia school board has given into a group of anti-Christianists who demanded Bible verses be removed from a statue donated to the school.
The virulent anti-Christian group American Humanist Association sent a threatening letter to the school over a monument that was built in August and touched by the school’s football team on the way to the field. The monument has two Bible verses on it.
The school board voted unanimously to give into the anti-Christian group and remove the Bible references because the school’s attorney said it was likely they would lose a court challenge.
“Kirby told board members, in part, that the monument presented some legal problems in connection with the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman. The case produced the so-called ‘Lemon test,'” reported Jim Thompson of the Athens Banner-Herald.
“Kirby went on to tell the board that the issues raised by the Madison County High School monument were too similar to other court cases on the establishment clause to believe that the county’s situation might set a new legal precedent …”
The AHA celebrated the removal of Christianity from public.
It was a simple article from a Commander in the Air National Guard about their own spiritual journey in their role as a Commander.
However, after one anti-Christianist complained about the content, a higher-ranking commander ordered the article removed so as not to offend the unidentified service member.
Col. Craig R. Baker sided with the anti-Christianist and said the publication would be sent out again minus the life story of Col. Florencio Marquinez.
“There have been many challenges and adversities along the way that really impacted my life,” he shared, after speaking about his appreciation for the Airman’s Creed. “It is my strong spiritual foundation that has kept the light shining on my path. I would not be the man I am today if isn’t wasn’t for my mother leading our whole family to Jesus Christ. Her creed to us five children growing up is God first in your life, then comes family and third, work.”
“My career both in the military and civilian world has brought many challenges and struggles, but one verse from the Bible that really helped me get through them is from Matthew 19:26, ‘With God, all things are possible,’” Marquinez continued. “So no matter how stressful your life can be with juggling family issues, relationships, career advancement, work, school or any burden that life throws your way, cast it upon the Lord and He will sustain you.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom is accusing Col. Baker of violating the civil rights of Col. Marquienez because his views cannot be squelched simply because of his religious beliefs.
A Chinese pastor who was arrested during the recent government crackdown on Christians is thanking God for the “opportunity of going to jail.”
Huang Yizi, 40, is facing up to seven years in prison for his speaking out against the government’s destruction of Christian churches. He was arrested in August when police dragged him from his home in front of his wife and two children.
The official charge is “gathering crowds to disturb social order.”
Beijing rights lawyer Zhang Kai says Yizi is doing well and that from what he can see there is no basis to charge him.
“As a defense lawyer and judging from the evidence so far I don’t think Huang’s actions constituted any crime. Personally, I believe Huang’s arrest is directly related to the general crackdown on churches in Zhejiang.”
Chen Guangcheng, a human rights activist in China, said that the communist government is actually more dangerous than terrorist group ISIS.
“I believe that we have underestimated the threat from the Communist regime like China. They are many, many times more dangerous than the terrorist groups out there. I believe the people will realize later this is true,” Chen said.
A Christian pastor that had been kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram escaped after 10 months in captivity.
Pastor Rotimi Obajimi had been taken to the Sambisa Forest where he was tied down for months. He was then moved to another location before bring brought back to the Forest where he escaped during a heavy downpour.
“We were so amazed to see him because we have been praying earnestly for a long time trusting Jesus that He would surely come back, but lo and behold he was brought to our headquarters in Maiduguri by the military,” a pastor at Redeem Church in Maiduguri told SaharaReporters.
The pastor is in Maimallari Hospital for treatment and will be debriefed by military officials before he will return to his church.
Boko Haram has been slaughtering Christian pastors so the fact Pastor Obajimi was shocking to Nigerian officials.
A New York high school that was caught discriminating against a Christian club last year and tried it again this year has reversed course.
Ward Melville High School in Long Island tried for the second straight year to deny the Christian group Students United in Faith permission to meet on campus. After pressure from Christian rights groups, they reversed course.
“Please be advised the district has decided to alter its position on this issue,” wrote John Sheahan, an attorney for the Three Village Central School District. “In light of this change, the district will grant SUIF recognition as a student group for the 2014-15 school year and reverses any contrary decision.”
The school denied accusations they violated the Equal Access Act.
Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Institute praised the teens who stood up to their school in a statement to Fox News.
“John Raney and Jeremy Johnson may just be high school students, but they did more for liberty than all of Washington, D.C.,” he said.
Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse announced they will be airlifting almost 90 tons of aid and supplies to those who have been forced to leave everything behind to flee the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
“Winter is coming to the area, making a difficult situation even worse for these families,” read a Samaritan’s Purse press release. “The airlift will bring critical supplies to the region, including winter coats for children, blankets, warm socks, sleeping bags and shelter materials.”
Items in the airlift include over 2,500 kerosene heaters for families to keep their makeshift homes warm.
Christian groups working in the area have decried the lack of support for Christians and other minorities that are fleeing the murderous Islamic group.
“I think you’re seeing the rise of ISIS because of a lack of attention to the freedom of expression within the Middle East. You have extremist groups within Islam, like ISIS. It’s not true of every person who is Islamic. But there are extremist groups like this who want to force people to convert to Islam at the point of a gun,” David Curry, the CEO and president of Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post in an interview in September.
“Unless we understand that threat, not just to Christians in the region but to people worldwide, we’re not going to respond properly. I think it has risen because of a lack of attention and a lack of concern for Christians and other minority groups.”
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram is continuing to follow in the footsteps of ISIS as they beheaded another seven people.
The seven were murdered in the northeastern Nigerian town of Ngamdu during the night as people slept. Resident woke in the morning to find the seven bodies on display.
“[The murderers] slit their throats just the way people slaughter goats,” a Ngamdu resident told reporters.
Fifteen terrorists were killed in the Ngamdu area two weeks ago when local militia rose up and drove the terrorists out of the town. The group vowed to get revenge on the town because of the killings.
The Nigerian government has been helpless in stopping the terror group from overtaking about two dozen towns in the northern part of Nigeria. The group claims they have an Islamic caliphate.
