Authorities in southwestern China launched a large-scale raid against Early Rain Covenant Church during its Sunday worship service on June 14, detaining dozens of believers, according to reports received by ChinaAid and a subsequent church statement.
Read MoreA new Pew Research Center study found religious hostilities increased sharply around the world in 2023, driven by harassment of religious minorities and fallout from the Israel-Hamas war. Government restrictions on religion remained near record highs, an issue affecting billions of people across dozens of countries.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A recent decision by the U.S. Department of Defense has reopened one of the longest-running religious disputes in American history: Whether members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be considered Christians. The controversy emerged after the Pentagon revised a list of religious affiliations available to military personnel.
Read MoreMore than 3,000 Christians from multiple countries gathered in person and online on June 9 for a global prayer event supporting believers facing persecution in China, where authorities have intensified pressure on house churches and clergy in recent years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A delegation of 12 Buddhist monks recently walked across Sri Lanka along with their adopted dog Aloka. People of all faiths in Sri Lanka, who have witnessed riots and bloodbaths in the past decade, welcomed them. Apart from Buddhist monks, Christian, Muslim and Hindu leaders joined the U.S.-based delegation during their week-long peace walk across the island nation.
Read MoreAfrican American religious practice is so much more complex than Christianity. Matthew Peterson spoke with Harvard Prof. Ahmad Greene-Hayes about his recent book, “Underworld Work,” which explores Black spirituality following the Civil War through to the Jim Crow era in the South.
Read MoreArgentine soccer icon Diego Maradona’s magic goal in the June 22, 1986, quarterfinal match against England in Mexico, which he attributed to the “Hand of God” as it was secured by his fist, has been the subject of intense debate whenever and wherever soccer fans are gathered.
Read MoreThe St. Paul city attorney declined to file state charges against protesters who disrupted a Southern Baptist church service in January, citing insufficient evidence. Pastor Jonathan Parnell and legal advocates criticized the decision as a failure to protect religious freedom.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On July 5, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is encouraging its American members to participate in a special fast: a day to “express gratitude for religious liberty and to pray that it be strengthened throughout the world,” in the words of its top three leaders.
Read MoreEighteen pastors and church workers, including Senior Pastor Ezra Jin, remain in detention. In an interview with The Free Press published May 11, Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, also disclosed previously unreported details of a 2021 incident in which she alleges her father was drugged.
Read MoreOn Jan. 18, a cell of anti-ICE demonstrators crashed a Sunday service at the Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in St. Paul, Minnesota. Debates about the legality of this protest have been defined by the Red vs. Blue divide in American politics, which has dominated the Donald Trump era. On the cultural right, this protest was seen as a violation of the First Amendment religious-liberty rights of the worshippers. On the left, efforts to prosecute the activists were seen as a violation of their First Amendment free-speech rights.
Read MoreDuring the American Revolution, women like Abigail Adams asserted moral and spiritual authority despite lacking legal rights. Through religion, household leadership and revival movements, they shaped communities and laid groundwork for later reforms in abolition, education and women’s rights.
Read MoreA court in central China, issued verdicts on May 22 against 31 members of a house church fellowship in one of the largest coordinated prosecutions of Christians in recent years.
Read MoreIn the heart of Budapest lies a theater unlike any other. Founded 20 years ago, Gólem Theater stands as the only professional Jewish theater in Hungary. By blending humor with questions of identity, the theater seeks to engage audiences with a different side of Jewish culture.
Read More(OPINION) An international investigator will visit Nigeria to assess the religious persecution occurring across the country, and there are so many issues that it’s hard to know where she should begin. Will she detail the mass kidnappings that have occurred regularly over the past decade? The religious and tribal fighting? The terrorist organizations wreaking havoc on the country?
Read More(ANALYSIS) The way Hollywood portrays faith is changing because American culture is changing. The growing divide in these portrayals reflects the same growing divide in America. Next year may be when this clash gets its biggest arena — and we will all be watching, popcorn in hand.
Read More(REVIEW) A “Romeo and Juliet” style love story, “Cast Aside The Clouds” that protests how religious intolerance — such as the kind regularly levied against the Baháʼí people in Iran — threatens love by targeting innocent people for oppression.
Read MoreThe Ugandan government has announced the postponement of this year’s Uganda Martyrs’ Day celebrations, scheduled for June 3, in response to an Ebola outbreak affecting both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has claimed over 130 lives thus far.
Read MoreAt a time when statues are coming down, this is a case about two that are proposed to go up. A city in Massachusetts plans to erect two statues featuring Catholic saints, but some residents have said that it shows favoritism to one religion. Now, it’s up to the courts to decide what to do next in a case that could reach the Supreme Court.
Read MoreOnly days after U.S. President Donald Trump left a Beijing summit with CCP Chairman Xi Jinping where religious freedom and jailed religious leaders were discussed, authorities in eastern China have demolished a prominent church, razing the building with large excavators.
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