Somalia’s underground Christian community is asking fellow believers worldwide to pray for their safety during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

The tiny Christian population is regularly persecuted by Islamic extremists. They are requesting that fellow Christians pray they can live in peace with their Muslim neighbors. Ramadan began Aug. 11 and ends on Sept. 9.

“We are called criminal and apostate. What is our crime? We are Christians! We suffer because of what we believe,” said a Somali Christian, whose name is withheld for security reasons, to Open Doors USA. more >>

Two Lebanese TV stations recently canceled an Iranian-made show about Jesus following protests from the Christian community.

Al-Manar and the National Broadcasting Network (NBN) – stations linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – said Friday they will stop airing the 17-episode program about Jesus called “The Messiah.” The controversial show portrays Jesus through the Muslim perspective that he is a prophet, not the son of God, and that he did not die on the cross.

The program had only started airing last week to mark the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when the stations decided to cancel it due to protest from Christians. The stations explained that they do not want to stir up sectarian tension through the show. more >>

A group of religious and interfaith leaders issued a statement Wednesday, denouncing the "xenophobia and religious bigotry" behind arguments against the proposed mosque near the 9/11 site.

More than 40 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders said they were deeply troubled by some of the opposition and how protesters have demonized all Muslims and exploited fear.

"We have witnessed this sinful corruption of religion across faith traditions throughout history and must condemn it without equivocation whenever or wherever it occurs," the religious leaders wrote in their statement. "However, we fail to honor those murdered on that awful day – including Muslim Americans killed in the Twin Towers and Pentagon – by betraying our nation's historic commitment to religious liberty, fueling ugly stereotypes about Islam and demeaning the vast majority of Muslims committed to peace." more >>

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday denied landmark status to the building near Ground Zero, opening the way for a “mega mosque” to be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The panel voted 9-0 against designating the building as a landmark.

The building at 45-47 Park Place is on the site where the Cordoba Initiative plans to build a 13-story, $100-million Islamic cultural center. Landmark status would have made it difficult for the Muslim group to build the center there. more >>

The nation’s largest evangelical body is urging the Florida church behind “International Burn A Quran Day” to cancel its plans.

Plans to burn Islam’s holy book on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 shows “disrespect” for Muslims and would only “exacerbate tensions” in Christian-Muslim relations worldwide, stated the National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday.

“It sounds like the proposed Quran burning is rooted in revenge,” said NAE President Leith Anderson, in a statement. “Yet the Bible says that Christians should ‘make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else’ (I Thessalonians 5:15).” more >>

Some religious leaders from Arizona and elsewhere are coordinating nationwide protests against the state’s new immigration law, which takes effect Thursday.

Beginning with a prayer vigil at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix early Thursday morning, faith leaders are organizing prayers and rallies into the weekend to denounce SB1070 and call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

“People are living in fear, afraid to go to work and church, or to leave their home at all,” said the Rev. Trina Zelle, director of the Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice and a Presbyterian minister, to reporters on Wednesday. more >>