Persecution

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi warned earlier this week that his country is on the brink of plunging back into a volatile cycle of sectarian violence that could greatly harm the country's diverse population, including the Christian community.

"Al-Maliki is pushing my country to reach a turning point with (a) deeply sectarian dimension," the self-exiled al-Hashimi told CNN Sunday during an exclusive interview in Iraq's semiautonomous northern Kurdish region.

"The future of Iraq is grim," al-Hashimi warned in the interview. more >>

Led by a New Jersey pastor, a group of Indonesian Christian immigrants and their supporters attempted to pressure a U.S. senator in his Newark office Thursday morning into supporting a bill that would help the group fight against deportation orders.

The crowd of about 20 held a brief rally in front of the office of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) after speaking briefly to the politician's staff, who expressed their moral support for the group of undocumented Indonesians, but made no committing promises, the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, the group's leader, told The Christian Post.

The undocumented group – mostly fathers with U.S.-born children – are part of a New Jersey community of Christian Indonesian immigrants who came to the U.S. in the 1990s, escaping religious persecution in their homeland dominated at the time by Islamic extremism. The men in question wish to be granted asylum, arguing that they have been honest members of the community and might face persecution back home as Christians. more >>

Three men convicted of a terrorist attack against an Iraqi church in 2010 were sentenced to death by the nation's highest court.

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council ratified the capital punishment decision for the three men who were found guilty of perpetrating a hostage situation that resulted in over 50 deaths and 60 wounded.

Tina Ramirez, director of International and Government Relations for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Christian Post that she agreed with the decision but that it must become a trend. more >>

A missionary couple who founded a church in Monterrey, Mexico have been found slain in their home and were buried on Thursday as dozens of gatherers paid their respects.

John and Wanda Casias, originally from Texas, were found by their son, Shawn Casias, on Tuesday, who discovered that someone had broken into their home, ransacked their possessions, and left the missionaries strangled. His mother had a gash from a blunt object on her head and an electrical cord around her neck, while his father, discovered a few hours later in a small storage room, had also been strangled with an electrical cord, the Associated Press reported.

Apparently, a number of valuables had also been taken from the home, including a couple of computers, a plasma television, a safe that had been chiseled out of the wall and their Chevrolet Suburban car. more >>

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren has taken to the social media platform Twitter to request prayers for Iranian pastor Behnam Irani, who is currently serving a five year sentence in an Iranian prison for crimes against national security.

"Pray for our dear pastor Behnam Irani who's been severely beaten in prison in Iran for preaching Jesus," Warren tweeted late Wednesday night.

This isn't the first report of Irani suffering beatings in prison. Jason DeMars, Founder of Present Truth Ministries, told The Christian Messenger in Dec. 2011 that "[Irani has] been daily beaten up by criminals there in the prison. The criminals have been asked to do it by the authorities there." more >>

A Bible college in Sudan functioning under Franklin Graham's missionary ministry, Samaritan's Purse, was bombed Wednesday and the ministry alleges the attack was launched by the Sudanese air force.

The Heiban Bible College in the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan was hit by eight bombs in the afternoon local time, on the first day of school, as the campus was full of students, teachers, and teacher's families, the ministry said. No one was injured. Two of the bombs landed in the compound and destroyed two buildings. There were also grass fires inside and outside the campus, workers said. The full extent of damages is yet to be determined.

"We have been working for years in Sudan," Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said in a Wednesday statement. "Today our Bible school in Heiban in the Nuba Mountains was bombed by the Sudanese Air Force. No one was killed or hurt, but buildings were destroyed. Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene." more >>