World in Brief

A Christian charity has offered ‘practical, emotional and spiritual support’ to the thousands of families left homeless by the devastating earthquake in late November.

More than 50 people were killed and a further 13,000 were left homeless, with 26 schools also damaged – affecting 10,500 children. Some being helped noted that their faith in the Lord was not shaken despite the devastation surrounding them now.

A group of atheists who tried to gain tax benefits by calling themselves a church lost a court case in December, when three judges unanimously ruled that atheism is not a religion.

The Church of Atheism of Central Canada previously had been denied charitable tax status as a religion by Canada’s Minister of National Revenue. The Church of Atheism then appealed, claiming a violation of their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A Christian schoolboy, reported to have been 12 years old, was hacked to death by Boko Haram when he resisted the militants’ attempt to abduct him as a ‘child soldier’ on 19 November.

The young boy and his mother had fled their home when the militants swept into the village looting homes. It is thought the boy was killed on the spot when he refused to be carried off, knowing he would be forced to join and fight for the terrorist group.

Retired pioneering pastor, David Mokoni, and a hearing-impaired Christian boy were killed when Boko Haram militants attacked a church in Moskota, Far North Cameroon, on 6 November.

Two other pastors were amongst those who escaped the night-time onslaught, the second attack on the town in a week. Another Christian man is receiving hospital treatment for a gunshot wound to the leg. The militants went on to loot the church, taking food, clothing and the pastor’s robes.

The mother of a pastor is refusing to leave a church planned for demolition, thus stop-ping the government from acting, as she waits for her son’s release from prison.

The church building has not had electricity or water for nine months. After her son was arrested, a sign at the church saying ‘Love God and people’ was erased and replaced with a national flag. The church merged with a house church when it broke away from the government-sanctioned ‘Three-Self ‘church in 2013.

An elder of Early Rain Church in Chengdu was sentenced to four years in prison on 29 November.

Elder Qin Defu was charged with ‘illegal business operations’, which authorities claimed was in relation to 20,000 Christian books used by the church. This contradicted a promise given his family, who were told he would be released if he accepted a state-appointed attorney. The church pastor, Wang Yi, is likely to receive a sentence of at least ten years. 100 other members were arrested with these leaders.

In December, a Coptic Christian woman won a major legal victory against Egypt’s Islamic inheritance law that greatly favours men.

She fought for a year, with the support of her brothers (who would have inherited more under the Islamic law), for the right to an equal share of her father’s inheritance. She based her argument around a Coptic Christian doctrine that calls for an inheritance to be distributed equally.

On 17 November a Christian family, sitting outside the entrance of their house, was attacked by a known Islamic extremist wielding a knife.

The man questioned why they would sit outside (a practice common in the area for all people). He then fetched a knife from his house and began attacking the Christians. The sons were injured, with one requiring surgery and their widowed mother needed 20 stitches in her head.

A pastor was arrested on 10 November in the disputed area of Kashmir, and released after police spent the day threatening and intimidating him.

The station officer told him repeatedly that he was wrong to lead Christian worship, and that cases against him had already been filed. Pastor Kaith has received numerous threats. He was told he had committed a breach of the peace.

In mid-November, a pastor and his family faced police charges for unlawful assembly, lodged just prior to Hindu extremists attacking them in their home with an axe, bamboo rods and wooden sticks, leaving the pastor for dead.

Pastor Paul, 45, fell unconscious from the attack, and members of his family were assaulted one after the other as they came to rescue him. One son required knee replacement surgery and two sustained axe blows to the head.

A court jailed three pastors in absentia for between four and five years in a case described by one human-rights defender as ‘complete drivel’.

New Life Church was told its problems would end if it paid money to officials or if it collaborates with the secret police.

A Mexican pastor was reportedly shot dead while sitting in his truck at an intersection in the Chihuahua state, police have said.

According to authorities, Morales pastored at an evangelical church in Cuidad Cuauhtémoc, which is located in Chihuahua about five hours south of the border town where he was killed. In addition to preaching, the local NBC news affiliate reports that Morales was known on YouTube for his worship singing and records.

On 14 November an 87-year-old Christian was hacked to death by machete and another person was shot by Fulani herdsmen.

They were both members of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ, and were killed as they slept in their rooms. Land disputes are common between the Fulani herdsmen – Muslims – and land workers – Christians – where lack of land to graze herds causes tensions between these two religiously divided groups.

Six girls and two staff members from a Christian-run high school were released after torture and payment of a ransom, according to local reports in November.

They had been captured in October.

A Christian father of four in Uganda was discharged from a hospital on 18 November eight days after Muslim relatives poisoned his food for leaving Islam.

48-year-old Ronald Rajab Nayekuliza had eaten food which had been tainted with pesticide at a memorial for his deceased father. His wife said the members of the church were gripped with fear and failed to attend the next church service. She said they need prayers so that God may guide them, as they are living in a hostile Islamic environment.

Five workers at abortion clinics quit their jobs and more than 700 pregnant mothers changed their minds outside clinics as a result of this Autumn’s ‘40 Days for Life’ campaign.

People taking part prayed, fasted and held peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics. The campaign had volunteers participating in 855 cities and 61 countries around the world.

A five-year-old boy who faced life-threat-ening injuries after being thrown off a Mall of America balcony has returned to school crediting Jesus for his recovery.

Landen is reported to tell people when they get hurt: ‘Don’t worry, I fell off a cliff, but angels caught me and Jesus loves me, so I’m ok and you will be too!’ He had more than 15 medical procedures and surgeries after the attack. The attacker, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison, admitted he had gone to the shopping mall ‘looking for someone to kill’.

Chick-fil-A experienced criticism in November from both left and right com-mentators due to their charitable donations both past and present.

They were attacked in the UK for supporting organisations whose views on relationships are biblically conservative. Then, on the flip side, others found their donations made in previous years to organisations who had supported abortion rights distinctly unpalatable.