by CFI Field Staff on May 10, 2013
Syrian church leaders have called for a day of prayer for peace to be restored to their country, enabling all Syrians to live in harmony within their own country. Some fear that the Iraq scenario (involving increased levels of sectarian attack and corresponding flight of Christians) could be replicated in Syria. Church leaders have called on Christians not to leave, acknowledging that significant emigration had already occurred.
Fears within Christian communities have increased following the kidnapping of two priests (Michel Kayyal of the Armenian Catholic church and Mahar Mahfouz of… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on May 7, 2013
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently stated: “The flight of Christians out of the region [Middle East] is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.” Some experts even believe that in our lifetime: “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.”
CFI President Jim Jacobson, has said, “over 1 million Christians lived in Iraq in 2003, ten years later less than 400,000 can be counted. Christians in the Middle East are under siege.”
Across the Middle East, in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere, attacks on… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on April 12, 2013
From our contact in Syria….
“Greetings,
The Greek orthodox church that was shelled by the Assad regime in Jisr
Al’Shaghour region.
Just today, these villages and several others were shelled again by the (Syrian) regime forces that are isolated in the last town the regime is holding. I haven’t been told how many are dead yet.
Many, many for these people are our brothers and sisters.
Please pray for us…”
Please Join Christian Freedom International in lifting the persecuted Christians of Syria in prayer durning this time of great need.… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on March 12, 2013
“We are in much grief and pain that Christians have no safety or freedom in this Islamic country,” says Pastor Shahzad Babar with Gospel of Christ Ministries in Pakistan, in a letter recently sent to Christian Freedom International.
“On Saturday, March 9 . . . a mob of 4,000 angry Muslims in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore attacked a Christian neighborhood and set fire to homes, after hearing accusations that a Christian man blasphemed against Islam’s prophet,” Pastor Babar’s letter continues. “Police arrested Sawan Masih, a sanitary worker, on… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on March 8, 2013
Warm greetings from Southeast Asia! Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And Saul approved of their killing him… Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” (Acts 8:1-3)
Saul, who later became known as the Apostle Paul, is one of the greatest, miraculous, conversions ever recorded in the Bible.
But, amazing conversions are happening today as scores… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on January 29, 2013
Saeed Abedini, the American pastor who has been incarcerated in Iran for his Christian faith since September 2012, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Abedini, an Iranian native who had been living in the United States since 2005, returned to Iran last fall to visit relatives and to oversee the development of an orphanage project when he was forcibly removed from a public bus and arrested by Iranian officials. The pastor has since been detained in Evin Prison, where he has repeatedly suffered from torture and gross mistreatment… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on January 15, 2013
UPDATE HERE | PLEASE READ
Saeed Abedini, the Iranian-American pastor who has been imprisoned in his native country of Iran since September 2012, may soon be hanged for his Christian beliefs.
In a January 10 letter to his family, Saeed described the abuse and inhumane treatment he has been suffering at the hands of his Iranian captives during his incarceration, and that he was told that he “will hang” for his faith.
Saeed was arrested during a recent trip to Iran, where he had been visiting relatives and continuing work… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on September 14, 2012
CFI’s Egyptian co-worker has reported that danger is on the rise for Coptic Christians in Egypt, in the aftermath of the U.S. embassy attack that took place on September 11.
The attack, which was reportedly in retaliation for an anti-Islamic film created by an Israeli-American filmmaker that blasphemed the prophet Mohammed, was carried out this week in conjunction with a similar attack that occurred at the U.S. embassy in Libya. Four people, including Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American workers, were killed in the bombing attack in Libya.
“This… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on September 13, 2012
Christian Freedom International (CFI), a Michigan-based organization dedicated to assisting persecuted Christians around the world, is expressing concern that Middle Eastern Christians will feel extended repercussions of the recent bombings in Libya and Egypt that killed four American workers, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Chris Stevens.
The bombings came in retaliation for the anti-Islamic film “Innocence of Muslims,” a 14-minute video created by an Israeli-American filmmaker that allegedly blasphemes the prophet Mohammed. While four deaths occurred at the Libyan embassy on Tuesday, no casualties were reported following the attack… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on August 2, 2012
CFI has received word from a source in Bangladesh regarding the recent kidnapping of numerous children from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The youth were taken from their parents with the promise that they would be sent away for missionary studies; however, it was later discovered that they were being held in various madrasas, Islamic religious schools, in Dhaka and Ganzipur. CFI’s source, a Bangladeshi-based human rights organization that has requested to remain unidentified, was able to rehabilitate 11 of the children who managed to escape from their captors.
The organization… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on
New reports from Egypt indicate that the trends of assault and kidnapping against the Christian community are far from subsiding.
On Friday, July 27, Muslim thugs broke into the home of Mounir Eskander in Qalyoub City, wounding him and his three sons in the ensuing attack. All three men are currently hospitalized.
On Saturday, July 28, a Muslim mob abducted 24-year-old Maryam Fareed Saleh and her 3-year-old child, Beshoy, from a province in Upper Egypt. On the same day, 17-year-old Sandy Naeem Nady was kidnapped by several armed men, while… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on July 24, 2012
CFI has received reported of some of the latest persecution, which includes physical assaults, property seizures, and arson, against the Christian community in Egypt.
Last week, a Christian man, Hany Abdo Stephanos, was attacked by armed Muslims in the province of Giza. The men forced Stephanos and his family from their home, then seized their land and looted Stephanos’ store.
In another incident, a Christian lawyer, Magda Najib, was attacked by Muslim extremists, who destroyed her car and set her home on fire before attempting to murder her.
Several Christian… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on July 10, 2012
In 2010, a series of powerful protests spread like wildfire throughout the Middle East, in a movement that soon became known as the Arab Spring Revolution. Tragically, while the Revolution symbolized freedom and new opportunities for some, it also ushered in a new era of strife and religious persecution for others.
CFI has spent the past two years highlighting the growing injustice and discrimination against Christians in many Arab Spring nations — particularly Egypt, where followers of Christ are now routinely subject to intimidation, fear, harassment, and violence. In the… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on June 19, 2012
Martha Bibi and Sajjad Masih, two Pakistani Christians who have been accused of violating the country’s blasphemy laws, are scheduled for final hearings in their cases this month.
Martha Bibi, who was initially arrested on January 22, 2007, was accused by a local Muslim of making derogatory remarks against the Koran and the prophet Mohammed. Martha and her husband, Arshed, had both suffered ongoing harassment and intimidation from their wealthy employer in attempts to convert them to Islam. On March 19, 2010, Arshed was set on fire by Muslim extremists… Read more
by CFI Field Staff on June 13, 2012
It was a day filled with terror and violence for Nigerian Christians on Sunday, June 10, as six people were killed and dozens more injured after gunmen opened fire at a church in northeast Nigeria, while a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a second church in central Nigeria.
The two attacks are just the latest in an alarming trend of growing persecution and violence against Christians in Nigeria, which has come mostly at the hands of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization. The group, whose name means “Western education is… Read more
