Christianity loses out to ‘religious switching’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 16 Apr 2025
People around the world are increasingly abandoning the religious identity they were raised with – and Christianity and Buddhism are enduring the biggest losses, according to new research.
A pattern dubbed religious switching has seen people leave their Christian roots behind, particularly across many Western countries. The new study by Pew Research, which questioned almost 80,000 people across 36 countries from six continents, found that the majority of people who switched moved from the religious upbringing of their childhood to an unreligious position, with Christians suffering the greatest losses in most countries.
Could Sudanese conflict move south?
Luke Randall
Date posted: 14 Apr 2025
Tensions in Sudan are threatening to impact other surrounding nations, and neighbouring South Sudan is reportedly on the brink of its own civil war - potentially leaving Christians facing further persecution.
Following the Sudan Armed Forces’ (SAF) recapture of the nation’s presidential palace in Khartoum, after two years under Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) partners revealed to en that Christians could face further strain should civil war break out in South Sudan.
India: Christian couple granted bail
Luke Randall
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
A Christian couple sentenced to five years behind bars for an attempted conversion have been granted bail and will be released once all required paperwork is completed.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), they were sentenced earlier this year under legislation which prohibits religious conversion achieved through force, misrepresentation, coercion or other fraudulent means. CSW said that the charges should never have been brought against Sheeja and Jose Pappachan and they are urging the authorities to repeal anti-conversion laws immediately.
The lifesaving flights battling sorcery and snakebites
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
Whether it’s snakebite or sorcery, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) flights are making all the difference to the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Growing up in Dodomona, in the Middle Fly District of Western Province, PNG, Titus Yabua witnessed many members of his community dying from treatable illnesses, accidents, snakebites and pig bites.
There’s snow discouragement… ski church growing
Luke Randall
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
A skiing ministry in a village in the Swiss Alps is continuing to grow after almost 40 years, having developed from a small chaplaincy programme into a thriving church.
Verbier, a small village 1,500 metres above sea-level with a population of about 3,000 permanent residents, is a top ski and summer resort which hosts many English-speaking residents and holidaymakers, in which a small-scale winter chaplaincy programme was formed in 1986.
Evangelicals ‘one third of Costa Rica’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 2 Apr 2025
One third of the Costa Rican population identifies as evangelical and the highest percentage of evangelicals is aged between 18 and 24 years old, according to a new survey.
The Perception of the Costa Rican Population on Religious Values and Practices 2024, carried out by the Ecumenical School of Religious Sciences and the Institute of Social Studies in Population of the National University (UNA), revealed that 1.65 million of Costa Rica’s 5.18 million population identify as evangelicals, amounting to 33%, with the highest percentage found in the 18 to 24 age bracket, report Evangelical Focus.
South Korea: Church damaged by bomb
Luke Randall
Date posted: 30 Mar 2025
A church has been damaged after fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs over a South Korean village during military training exercises. The incident also left 15 people injured and houses damaged, Premier Christian News reveals.
The incident is believed to have occurred because a pilot entered incorrect coordinates which caused the jets to drop four bombs each, all of which detonated. The South Korean Air Force has wished those impacted a “speedy recovery”.
Evangelicals and Neo-Calvinists talk
Luke Randall
Date posted: 29 Mar 2025
The first in a series of three conferences exploring the approaches of Evangelicalism and Neo-Calvinism will take place in Sao Paulo this May, at which the historical development and future of both theological approaches will be considered by a panel of experts.
The event, organised by a collaboration of scholars from the University of Edinburgh, Fuller Theological Seminary and the Theological University of Utrecht, takes place at Mackenzie University, Sao Paulo following an invitation from the Mackenzie Chancellery. It will focus on the different approaches of both positions, and the growing influence of Neo-Calvinism around the world, before follow-up events are hosted in Asia and Africa.
Nigeria: Christians killed and kidnapped
Luke Randall
Date posted: 28 Mar 2025
More than ten Christians have been murdered and four others kidnapped by Fulani Herdsmen in Plateau State, Nigeria.
Witnesses revealed that a recent attack in Shendai village in Namu District saw four victims abducted at gunpoint, following five days of attacks in three different villages, Morning Star News reports.
Russia: Preacher charged for opposing the war
Luke Randall
Date posted: 27 Mar 2025
A preacher in Russia has been banned from leaving his home district and using a phone or the internet, and is being charged with “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces and state.
Forum 18 says that Eduard Charov, 53, expects to be imprisoned for speaking out against the state and its invasion of Ukraine.
letter from New Zealand
New Zealand moves toward pre-Christian spirituality
Charley Ballinger
Date posted: 26 Mar 2025
February 6 is a significant day in the New Zealand calendar; a nationwide public holiday that sees demonstrations that sometimes result in violence.
February 6, 1840, was the fateful day when the British Crown and many Maori chiefs (but not all) signed the Treaty of Waitangi. In essence it is New Zealand’s founding document; the chiefs were agreeing to give the British Crown rights to certain lands, but it was by no means an agreement to give up all their lands.
Sudan: ‘Heinous crimes’ committed
Luke Randall
Date posted: 25 Mar 2025
Christians in Sudan face continued targeting and are victims of “heinous crimes” amidst the ongoing civil war in Sudan which shows no signs of easing any time soon.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) workers with contacts on the ground in the country which is being torn apart by civil war, told en that they “reject any suggestion that the conflict shows signs of abating,” and revealed that Christians have been targeted by both warring parties since the conflict began.
Pakistan: young Christian still in jail
Morning Star News (MSN news service)
Date posted: 24 Mar 2025
An 18-year-old Christian is still languishing in jail a month after winning bail in all three blasphemy cases against him - a trial court is delaying his release, his father says
Sargodha Additional Sessions Judge Naveed Khaliq initially gave the family of Akash Karamat, who has been jailed for 18 months in three blasphemy cases, the impression that he would accept their March 5 applications to accept bail bond of 100,000 rupees each ($358 USD) as per a high court’s orders, but kept delaying the written order, claimed Karamat’s father, Karamat Masih.
“The high court had granted bail to my son against three personal sureties amounting to 100,000 Pakistani Rupees each or submission of cash bail bonds of the same amount on Dec. 18, February 13 and February 19 respectively,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “No person in our family and among our relatives owns registered properties as per the court’s requirements, so I had no other option but to raise the bail money from various sources.”
Masih, a tailor who now works as a labourer after his family was forced to leave their hometown due to his son’s arrest on August 27, said that after the initial week’s delay, the judge said he would not accept the cash securities because Akash Karamat’s co-accused, Zimran Asim, had failed to appear in court after obtaining bail.
“He said that Akash would also disappear if there were no guarantors involved in the process,” Masih said. “I personally, as well as our lawyer’s associate, have repeatedly pleaded with the judge to give us his decision in writing so that we can move the high court. We have been going to the trial court every day for the written order but have returned empty-handed.”
On Wednesday (March 19), Masih’s wife accompanied him to the court, and the couple waited for over four hours to plead before the judge, he said.
“Finally, the judge asked us to come forward and categorically told us that he would not give a written decision on our applications,” he said, saying the judge told them, “The high court has given the bail orders, so you should ask it to accept the cash sureties.”
This is not the first time the judge has delayed a decision in his son’s case, he said.
“Earlier when our attorney submitted an application with the judge for declaring Akash a juvenile, he sat on the decision for six months,” Masih said. “Now he has dragged the matter for 15 days, when he could have simply rejected the applications so that we could go to the next forum, i.e. the Lahore High Court.”
Masih said he believed there was no doubt that the judge was under immense pressure from Islamists because of the sensitivity of the blasphemy cases. But he added: "Isn't it his responsibility to decide the matter as per the law even if it is against us?”
Suffering from a kidney ailment that requires surgery, Masih said he has been delaying treatment because no other family members could pursue his son’s release.
“I have even showed the judge my medical reports and told him that despite severe pain, I’ve been coming to the court every day for my son’s release,” he said.
Akash Karamat’s attorney, Asad Jamal, said that the unjustified delay in releasing him warranted action under Article 199 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Article 199 grants high courts the power to issue writs, including those for the enforcement of fundamental rights, if no other adequate remedy exists, and to ensure that individuals in custody are not held unlawfully.
“We will now move the Lahore High Court for its intervention under Section 561-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC),” he told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Section 561-A of the CrPC grants high courts inherent powers to make orders necessary to give effect to any order under the CrPC, prevent abuse of court process, or secure the ends of justice.
The attorney has successfully defended several people charged with false accusations of blasphemy. He is also representing the National Commission for Human Rights in a petition filed by Islamist group Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Forum seeking to prevent any possible adverse action by the government against a “blasphemy business group” on the basis of two separate investigative reports by the NCHR and the Special Branch of the Punjab Police.
He said he hoped that the high court would take up the petition as an urgent matter next week.
Akash Karamat and Asim, 35, were accused of writing blasphemous posters and desecrating the Quran in areas of Sargodha in Punjab Province, allegedly in retaliation for the Aug. 16, 2023, Muslim attacks on multiple churches and homes of Christians in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, after two Christian men were accused of committing blasphemy. He was charged under multiple sections of the blasphemy law, including Section 295-C, which carries a mandatory death penalty and life imprisonment.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
From Antarctica to US prisons, 7 million gather to pray
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 24 Mar 2025
Seven million members of the global church have gathered in person and online to worship, pray, and hear testimonies of what God is doing all around the world.
Gather25 was the first event of its kind, using AI and technology to bring Christians from 225 countries and territories together for a 25-hour gathering of the church.
letter from Australia
Why a Christian news outlet has closed
David Robertson
Date posted: 21 Mar 2025
Last year the Australian newspaper and website, Eternity, closed down. Founded by John Sandeman, who now blogs here, Eternity had provided a newspaper and then a website which was effective and encouraging in promoting Christianity in Australia.
It had a print circulation of 100,000 and over 5 million website views per year. Having been acquired by the Bible Society they decided to close it down last April.
Believers in East Jerusalem, Gaza and West Bank face pressure
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 21 Mar 2025
A planned “land-grab” of historical church assets in East Jerusalem by Israeli authorities as repayment of allegedly unpaid taxes has been described as an attack on Christianity itself.
While the Armenian Patriarch is understood to be the only Christian community targeted so far, there are fears that seizure of property could expand to other Christian churches and communities including evangelicals if it goes ahead. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is challenging the planned foreclosure in court.
Ukraine: Fear, faith... and tensions
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 20 Mar 2025
Ukrainian evangelicals are standing firm in their faith as their country faces a challenging and unpredictable future.
“We are in a very difficult situation, but not without hope,” says Igor Bandura, the Ukrainian Baptist Union’s vice president for international relations. “People in Ukraine are tired. But I believe the majority of people are still standing strong and believe that Ukraine should have a just and lasting peace.
letter from America
‘I can’t avoid writing about Donald Trump...’
David Burrowes
Date posted: 20 Mar 2025
I know it’s tempting, but I can’t avoid writing about Donald Trump. Having been at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., the impact of Donald Trump and how Christians should respond looms large.
So to the US Capitol, where just a week after President Trump’s inauguration the talk of the town was of the first set of executive orders being fired off, calling a national emergency on the southern border to stop illegal migration and USAID freezing all aid programmes.
