World in Brief

A Christian in Algeria was sentenced on 1 August to three years in prison and given a heavy fine for blasphemy against Islam and its prophet for a social media post.

Slimane Bouhafs, 49, was arrested for posting a message on social media about the light of Jesus overcoming the ‘lie’ of Islam and its prophet. He also published photos showing the execution of a civilian by an Islamist terrorist. His family said the trial was a ‘sham’.

Another church leader has been jailed for subversion, it was reported in late August.

Hu Shigen, an elder of an unregistered church in Jinhua, was sentenced to seven and a half years, accused of damaging national security. He is the latest in a series of lawyers and pastors to be jailed following the roundup of 300 Christians and human-rights activists more than a year ago. Christians and lawyers who mounted legal challenges against moves to tear down crosses from church buildings have faced charges tantamount to espionage.

A week of evangelism with an Operation Mobilisation (OM) team from Paris was ‘very encouraging’ for missionaries in France.

A football event saw 25– 40 children attend every day and some good conversations were had with parents and families of the children. It would have been a rare event for them to meet Bible-believing Christians. Pray that the Holy Spirit will work on the seed that was sown in their lives.

Officials, police and journalists raided two Baptist children’s summer camps to check whether children were present with parents’ consent, it was reported in August.

Also, a pastor was fined because a church member’s granddaughter attended a children’s programme. Officials often insist that religious organisations need written permission from both parents for a child to attend a religious gathering.

The US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom raised ongoing issues related to freedom of religion or belief with the Mexican Government on a visit in mid-August.

There have been 29 document freedom violations in Mexico in 2016, including four mass forced displacements in the states of Chiapas, Jalisco and Oaxaca. In each case, members of a religious minority were targeted by local leaders linked to the religious majority. Victims of forced displacement find upon their return home that they still face prohibitions on their freedoms.

Children are slowly starving to death in regions of Nigeria, it was reported in August.

An estimated 244,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition and aid agencies are now warning of an emerging disaster. According to Médecins Sans Frontières, one in five of the children at risk is likely to die in the coming weeks. Farms in the region have been destroyed, farmland lies barren and there is now a shortage of agricultural labourers, as many have fled because of the conflict. Boko Haram have also attacked a UN aid convoy in Borno state.

Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked a cluster of predominantly Christian villages in Kaduna state in early August, killing at least 13 Christians and scattering members of three churches.

In one incident, two Christian women and a man were attacked while they were on their farm. The attackers cut them with machetes. A woman and her daughter-in-law were killed by the Fulani herdsmen and the man injured. He is still in hospital. Three Christian congregations have been displaced as a result of the attacks.

Bridget Agbahime was murdered in a market square in the city of Kano while her pastor husband watched, powerless to intervene as a gang of Muslim youths attacked her in broad daylight in the early summer.

They later claimed she had insulted Muhammad. Eunice Elisha, also a pastor’s wife, was murdered in Abuja a month later as she shared the gospel in her local neighbourhood. The following week a mob of more than 100 attacked a church on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital.

As farmers lamented policies designating land for cattlemen in northern Nigeria, suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed a pastor and four other Christians in Kaduna state on 19 August.

Pastor Luka Ubangari of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at Angwan Anjo village, near Godogodo in the Jema’a Local Government Area, was shot and killed while returning from an evangelistic outreach in Golkofa village. The pastor was ambushed and murdered as he was returning to his village.

A one-man tribunal in Pakistan, set up to investigate the riots in Gojra in August 2009

which killed eight Christians, recommended in August a review of the country’s controversial blasphemy law.

The 325-page report highlights five provisions in the law relating to Islam which should be revisited, both to prevent misuse and to ensure that it aligns with Article 25 of Pakistan’s Constitution, which stipulates the equality of all citizens. Although welcomed by observers, it is unlikely to become law.

An early morning attack on a Christian colony near the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar in early September has claimed the life of a Christian security guard.

The reports say the victim was Samuel Masih, who was guarding a church. One report hails him as a martyr, saying he was killed saving others. Masih is said to have contacted police and then died in a standoff, during which the attackers were all killed by police and Army forces.

On 1 September a reliable source in Russia told of the first prosecution under the new July laws prohibiting evangelism.

In the town of Cherkessk, in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, a man was witnessing to his faith and giving out Bibles in a public place. Someone complained to the police and he was arrested and brought to trial. The man was acting alone and on his own initiative. The judge, however, didn’t know what to make of it all and released him!

Eight children from four families have taken refuge with Christians in eastern Uganda after their parents beat and disowned them for leaving Islam or animism, it was reported in August.

The children were aged between nine and 16 and had angered their parents for putting their faith in Jesus. Some are still recovering and don’t have the money for the medical fees required to treat them.

In another village, a high school student is recovering from a serious head injury inflicted by the Muslim father of a young woman he led to Christ.

Islamists in August killed a Christian in western Uganda and left him hanging from a tree.

A convert from Islam, 32-year-old Enoch Shaban had been heard shouting for help after another man said: ‘We have warned you several times of being a disgrace to our religion, and you have not taken seriously our warnings.’ Two weeks before his death he had several messages on his phone warning him to recant the Christian faith and return to Islam.

Brianna Rollins, who won a gold medal in the Rio Olympic Games in August, says she wants to be remembered for her faith as well as her athleticism.

Rollins took the gold in the women’s 100metre hurdles, with fellow Americans winning silver and bronze. Her Twitter profile states: ‘I want to break world records and win gold medals, but I also want to be known as the athlete who glorified God by reaching my full potential.’

A study published in August has revealed that more and more Americans are leaving church, and one of the reasons is lack of belief in miracles.

Half of Americans who have left church say they no longer believe in God for a number of reasons, some of which include not liking organised religion, ‘common sense’, and believing science trumps miracles. They also cited learning about evolution and seemingly un-Christian behaviour from Christians as reasons for abandoning church.

A group has formed within the United Methodist Church (UMC) due to the UMC’s division over LGBT issues, it was reported in August.

The new group, called the Wesleyan Covenant Association, formed because of the ‘great uncertainty about the future of The United Methodist Church,’ and says it ‘stands together as an alliance to advance vibrant, scriptural Christianity within Methodism.’ They have been accused of trying to form a new denomination, but they allege that this is not their aim.