World in Brief

A survey has revealed that, while most American evangelicals believe it is their duty to share Biblical teachings, many feel unprepared to do so.

Conducted by the Institute of Faith and Culture, the 2024 Survey on Christian Cultural Engagement found that 92% of evangelicals agree Christians should share truths from God’s word with those who hold different views. But only 35% feel ‘ready for most opportunities’ to discuss the Bible’s stance on cultural and controversial issues. 18% say they are ‘ready for any opportunity’ to share Biblical truths, while 32% said they could only discuss a few topics.

A new survey by the Centre for Public Studies (CEP) shows that 17% of Chileans define themselves as evangelical. It reveals that 76% say they believe and have always believed in God, which is slightly less than the 2018 figure of 80%.

Seventy-four percent of Chileans were raised Catholic, 18% Evangelical, 6% none, 1% Mormon, 1% Jehovah’s Witness, 1% other religion or creed, and 1% don’t know or no answer. None of the respondents identified as Muslim or Jew. A significant 31% consider themselves agnostic or atheist.

A lack of ‘political support’ led the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to vote to return a controversial resolution to decriminalise prostitution back to the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination. The move has been hailed as a ‘milestone victory’ by the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ).

Before the vote, the ECLJ expressed public concern about the report and motion for the resolution on prostitution entitled: ‘Protecting the human rights and improving the lives of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation.’

The Leprosy Mission’s flagship Anandaban hospital, in the southern Lalitpur district of Nepal, has been badly hit after record levels of monsoon rains triggered landslides.

The main hospital building was spared, but surrounding land was severely damaged by a landslide that swept away trees and other buildings, destroying the borewells that provide the hospital’s water supply. As a result, the hospital has only two days of stored water left. Access to the hospital has also been cut off because of damage to roads by the unprecedented rainfall – the worst to hit Nepal in half a century.

Muslim employers of a 17-year-old Christian who works at their gas company in Pakistan have forcibly converted him to Islam and are holding him in illegal custody.

Samsoon Javed, from Bhadru Minara village in Punjab Province, began working at a Liquified Petroleum Gas outlet owned by Usman Manzoor and his brother last year. His family later learned they had taken Samsoon to an Islamic spiritual guide (Pir), where he was pressured to change his Christian faith.

The Christian Alliance of Cuba has met a delegation of the European Union to raise concerns related to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). The combined group presented their key demands to the Cuban government to uphold FoRB, and requested international support for their efforts.

The group stressed the dire conditions inside the prisons and Cuba’s refusal to respect the religious rights of political prisoners under the Nelson Mandela Rules (the United Nations Standard Minimum Rights for the Treatment of Prisoners).

Over 150 Protestant Christians in Hidalgo State, Mexico who were forcibly displaced from their villages have returned home. This follows an agreement brokered by state and municipal government officials between the displaced community and village authorities.

The expulsion of members of the Great Commission Fundamental Baptist Church, was the culmination of a decade of FoRB violations. The incident began when village leaders, all Roman Catholics, cut off the electricity to the homes of the Baptist families, vandalised their church, and blocked access to some of their homes.

Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria have killed five Christians, also kidnapping a pastor and 30 congregation members at church services. The band of armed herdsmen attacked Kurmin-Kare village, a Christian community in Kachia County in southern Kaduna state.

Area resident Solomon Sanga identified two of the dead as Audu Bala and Jonathan Moses, who were, he said, working on their farms when they were waylaid and shot dead. They died instantly.

The Colorado Supreme Court has dismissed, on religious grounds, a lawsuit against Christian baker Jack Phillips for refusing to bake a cake celebrating a gender transition. In a split decision the court ruled that the case, brought by Autumn Scardina, had procedural issues.

Despite acknowledging sufficient evidence for a discrimination case under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, the court determined that Scardina improperly refiled the case in district court. The case stems from Scardina’s 2017 request for a custom cake to celebrate a gender transition, which Phillips declined, citing his Christian beliefs.

Franklin Graham (pictured) has urged Christians worldwide to pray for Samaritan’s Purse volunteers assisting in the clean-up effort after Hurricane Milton. Graham is CEO of the relief charity, which is providing assistance to people who have lost their homes and have no access to water or electricity.

He said: ‘You can’t just hop in your car and start driving the minute the storm passes, because the roads are blocked with power lines and trees and so forth. We’ve used helicopters to go into these remote communities that have been cut off. We take water, we take food, we take medicines and fuel.’

At least eight people were killed in southern Lebanon after a church where civilians were sheltering from missile attacks was struck. The Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Tyre collapsed following an overnight airstrike, according to charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Local church leaders informed it that the church, along with two adjoining halls, was struck. Another missile hit a nearby priest’s residence and a three-storey building that housed parish offices, destroying both structures.

Iain Taylor