Newsfeed
Christians Say Sayfo Martyrs Should Get Genocide Status
Author: Jayson Casper
Publication Date: 21/10/2022
Source: Christianity Today
In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, evangelicals laid down their lives for their Lord. Living in Nusaybin, once home to the ancient theological school of Nisibis, they were among the firstfruits of the Sayfo (“sword”) martyrs.
Overall, modern estimates posit half a million deaths of Syriac-Aramean Christians at the hands of Turkish and Kurdish soldiers, concurrent with the Armenian genocide that claimed 1.5 million lives. Today this Christian community, still speaking the language of Jesus, seeks its own recognition.
Christian, Yazidi villages remain deserted years after ISIS defeat
Publication Date: 26/10/2022
Source: Rudaw
Christians are vanishing from the Nineveh plains, according to church leaders in the province, and Baghdad’s failure to provide services means those who fled the ISIS onslaught of 2014 are unlikely to return.
Victims of religious oppression in Turkey reveal why Christian population is dwindling
Author: Anugrah Kumar
Publication Date: 14/10/2022
Source: Christian Post
Victims of religious oppression in Turkey shared their stories at an event on religious freedom at the European Parliament where the speakers suggested that political and social atrocities in that country were behind the Christian population's decline from 20% to a mere 0.2% over the last century.
The victims highlighted atrocities against Christian minorities committed by the Turkish government and parts of society, according to the human rights group ADF International, which held the event this week in partnership with the group European Conservatives and Reformists.
Eviction for Christian refugees in Baghdad: the building where they live must become a shopping center
Publication Date: 15/10/2022
Source: Agenzia Fides
In 2014 they had to flee Mosul and the cities of the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq. They had abandoned their homes and all their belongings in the face of the advance of so-called Islamic State (IS) militias, they finally found refuge in Baghdad in and around a building in the Zayouna district, now known as the "Virgin Mary" Refugee Camp. Now they have to give way to the commercial interests of entrepreneurs and the Iraqi capital's urban development plans and leave their already precarious living quarters. Over the past few days, more than 120 Christian families have been asked to move out of the building complex in which they are housed. A corresponding order was previously issued by the Directorate of Investments in Baghdad. A new shopping center is to be built in the area.
Will Egypt’s Sectarian Tensions and Discrimination Against Christians Come to an End?
Author: Zeina Hanafy
Publication Date: 24/10/2022
Source: Egyptian Streets
“My family and I stopped going to church because they would frequently get attacked, and the one we would normally go to [Saint Mary Church in Ard El Golf] was just recently threatened,” Kenzy Helmy* tells Egyptian Streets.
Helmy, a 20-year-old university student in the UK, opened up to Egyptian Streets about the public discrimination Christians in Egypt face on a regular basis. It is a feeling shared by many, that prejudicial actions are somehow protected in Egyptian society. Regardless of the laws implemented, Christians still feel the sectarian tensions from those around them, whether at work, schools, or in sports, and particularly during religious holidays – these tensions have become an unfortunate cultural regularity.
Christians in Iran under pressure, COI report says
Author: Pat Ashworth
Publication Date: 14/10/2022
Source: Church Times
EVIDENCE shows that simply being a Christian in Iran is enough to warrant arrest, a new Country of Origin (COI) report on Christians and Christian converts says.
The publication of the report coincides with increasing unrest in the country, after the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody, after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in the approved manner.
Pope’s visit had no ‘positive impact’ on Christians' status in Iraq: Assyrian politician
Publication Date: 4/11/2022
Source: Rudaw
The visit of the head of the Catholic Church to Iraq last year had no “positive impact” on the status of Christians in the country, an Assyrian politician told Rudaw on Friday, decrying the lack of equality for the religious minority in Iraq.
Iranian Christians Pressed During Protests, but Never Without Hope
Author: Scott Barkley
Publication Date: 12/10/2022
Source: Church Leaders
Nathan Rostampour received yet another patchy correspondence today (Oct. 11) from his native Iran, where the internet has been shaky in the wake of protests that have the potential to change a decades-long regime.
'Dream come true': Arab Catholics in Bahrain speak of Pope’s visit
Author: Ramola Talwar Badam
Publication Date: 31/10/2022
Source: The National
When Hala Fayez distributes communion at a public Mass led by Pope Francis in Bahrain, it will be an emotionally charged moment for the parliamentarian. Ms Fayez belongs to a small Arab Catholic community, who are Bahraini citizens and deeply connected to the history of the tiny Gulf island that their parents and grandparents called home.
After death of Mahsa Amini, Christians condemn oppression and discrimination in Iran
Author: Christian Today
Publication Date: 4/10/2022
Source: Christian Today
As the death of Mahsa Amini continues to stir global protests, Iranian Christians are adding their voices to the condemnation being expressed over the treatment of women and enforced wearing of the hijab in Iran.
Angry protests have been held in Iran, the UK and other countries after the 22-year-old died in the custody of Iranian morality police. Amini was arrested on 13 September for supposedly wearing an "improper" hijab.
