Large numbers of churches were closed last year, with only four of Algeria’s 47 official Protestant congregations continuing and at least 10,000 churches shut down in China, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, a historical site in the West Bank that is widely esteemed by Jews and Christians has been vandalized by a group of Palestinian protesters. Known as Joshua's Altar and located on Mount Ebal, the sight was damaged last week by Palestinian protesters, who burned tires on the site's remains and spraypainted Palestinian flags and Arabic inscriptions onto its stone pieces, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Israeli scholars say their research affirms the destruction of a biblical city — the conquest of Gath by King Hazael of Aram detailed in the Second Book of Kings — using a novel technology that measures magnetic fields in burnt bricks. This innovative study seemingly validates the biblical account of the destruction of the Philistine city of Gath by Hazael, king of Aram, as depicted in 2 Kings 17:17.
The Taliban said it has been arresting women in Afghan cities for purportedly wearing a “bad hijab,” a violation of the terrorist group’s strict dress code, which is one of many restrictions imposed on women in that country since it returned to power in 2021.
Christian Today speaks to Ali Wood, Tearfund's country director for Lebanon, about how Christians are responding to the many challenges affecting the crisis-hit country.
A former terrorist who was associated with the Fatah political party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization before converting to Christianity in the 1990s believes the Israel-Hamas war is preparing many Muslims in Gaza to become Christians.
As we have watched the news over the last few years, we have seen many stories of refugees fleeing strife or persecution in the Middle East, from Iraq, from Syria, and now Gaza. Some are displaced and seek sanctuary in safer parts of their own countries, and others flee their own country for other lands. At Christmas time, we also remember that after the birth of Jesus, he too was a refugee from Bethlehem to another land. The story is recorded in Matthew 2:13-23.
"A ceasefire and peace - these are the two things I want for Christmas," says Brendan Metcalfe, chief executive of Friends of the Holy Land. Months of war between Israel and Gaza are taking a "terrible" toll on the entire region, with devastating consequences for people in the West Bank and Bethlehem who rely on tourism.
Jerusalem church leaders have met Israeli President Isaac Herzog to appeal for "an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire". They said that their meeting with Herzog was "not a mere exchange of Holiday Season pleasantries" but was held with the purpose of "conveying the global ecclesiastical stance, demanding, on behalf of Christians worldwide, an immediate cessation of the bloodshed in Gaza".
The killing of an elderly woman and her daughter in Gaza City’s Holy Family Church on Saturday (Dec. 16) was the sixth attack by Israeli Defense Forces on the compound since war in Gaza broke out, a relative told The Washington Post.
Noting a widespread wave of arrests of religious minorities in Iran since June, the U.N. General Assembly last month adopted a resolution calling on the Islamic regime to “cease the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary arrests and detention.”
A Muslim teacher at an Islamic school in eastern Uganda who became a Christian on Oct. 4 was killed on Oct. 21, area sources said.
