In Depth:  Christian Post

A new law in Texas banning abortion from as early as six weeks has been welcomed by Christian and other pro-life groups, but condemned by abortion-rights activists.

The so-called Heartbeat Act was allowed to go ahead by the Supreme Court and came into force at midnight on 1 September. There were reports of abortion clinics performing abortions right up to 11.59 the night before to beat the deadline.

Seventy years ago the Nepali Government census recorded no Christians in the country at all. Today, the World Christian Database (WCD) ranks the country as the 12th-fastest-growing Christian population in the world, with 1,285,200 believers – although the real total may be much higher.

WCD database co-ordinator Gina Zurlo explained the phenomenon: ‘In some countries, fast growth rates of Christians are due to migration. In other countries, high birth rates may contribute more. But in Nepal, the main factor for growth is conversion from other religions. We estimate that Nepal is now 4.25% Christian’.

Since 2015 there has been a nearly 90% reduction in the number of Christian refugees being resettled to the United States from countries where churches face the greatest persecution. This is according to a new report published by Open Doors USA (a watchdog group that monitors the persecution of Christians) and World Relief (a refugee resettlement agency).

Closed Doors, the title of the 16-page report, is critical of policies that have either drastically reduced refugee resettlement to the USA or made it increasingly difficult for persecuted individuals and families to seek asylum.

US Christian children’s book author, Matthew Paul Turner, came out as gay on social media and announced that he was divorcing his wife.

Turner, the former editor of CCM (a magazine covering contemporary Christian music), and the author of several bestselling children’s books and The Coffeehouse Gospel made the announcement on Facebook and Instagram in late July.

Prominent black Southern Baptist pastor Dwight McKissic and others called for the removal of the names of former slaveholders from buildings at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) on 19 June.

This date, known as Juneteenth, is when many celebrate the anniversary of the day the last group of US slaves were told of their freedom in 1865.

A video of a panel discussion including Walt Heyer, a Christian man who detransitioned back to his male birth sex, was taken off YouTube in June after it was deemed ‘offensive’.

Heyer, the founder of Sex Change Regret, was part of a Heritage Foundation panel last October, where he detailed his experiences with taking hormones and undergoing body-altering surgery to look more like a woman. During the panel discussion Heyer said that in the eight years he lived as a woman, he learned that, while he could change his appearance, sex is an immutable characteristic.

International Christian Concern

A local pastor in Wuhan was taken away by police for interrogation in May while he was leading an online meeting of Christians on evangelism and church planting.

Pastor Luo was taken to a police station and interrogated for more than four hours. Not afraid, Luo told the police that Christians served the city during Wuhan’s most difficult moments, leaving policemen speechless.

In early March in an interview with the BBC, Asia Bibi spoke of her time in prison saying she was told by guards she could be released if she renounced her faith in Christ.

However, Bibi told them: ‘No, I will live my sentence, with my faith’. She subsequently spent a decade in prison over allegations that she insulted Islam and its prophet. Bibi, whose real name is Aasiya Noreen, called her experience a ‘trial sent by God’.

A Michigan-based pro-life group delivered a petition signed by 379,418 people to the state capitol on 23 December, in an effort to ban an abortion procedure known as dismemberment abortion, that’s performed during the second trimester.

‘Michigan Values Life’ submitted the petition which exceeded the 340,047 signatures required by state law.

Suspected Muslim extremists launched an attack on a church in eastern Burkina Faso on 1 December, killing at least 14 people and wounding several others.

After spraying bullets into the congregation during the Sunday service, the assailants fled on motorbikes. A security source said that armed individuals carried out the attack, ‘executing the faithful including the pastor and children’. In a statement, the government also said that Burkina Faso’s armed forces were caring for the wounded and searching the area.

Muslims are increasingly converting to Christianity in the Muslim-dominated country of Bangladesh, despite persecution, a report in July revealed.

Muslims make up nearly 90% of Bangladesh’s population. But human rights organisation Christian Freedom International estimates that as many as 91,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity in the country over the last six years.