
Bill criminalizing child marriage in Pakistan rejected as ‘un-Islamic’
Pakistan’s top Islamic body on Tuesday (May 27) rejected a bill that seeks to criminalize child marriages in Islamabad, describing it as “un-Islamic.”
Pakistan’s top Islamic body on Tuesday (May 27) rejected a bill that seeks to criminalize child marriages in Islamabad, describing it as “un-Islamic.”
For decades the global missions community has talked about deeper collaboration with local ministry leaders as partners. But self-perception can misread reality. The post-COVID political shifts in China are a reality check, according to a long-term expatriate living through changes that are shattering the illusion that he knew better than the locals about how to advance the gospel in a foreign context. It is a new era for missions, demanding a new depth of humility.
The rise of Artificial General Intelligence is now unstoppable. It is not an overstatement to say that it is transforming life on earth as humans know it. No sphere of human interaction is immune, least of all the religious sector. Now, more than ever, we need to be spiritually discerning about AI/AGI use in our faith walk. Let us take care not put our trust in something that has neither heart nor soul.
India’s famed Emperor Ashoka was an ancient convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. He demonstrated that a person is NOT forced by others to convert from one religion to another. Today, “religious conversions are forced,” is the flawed premise of all anti-conversion laws of India. Who could have forced mighty Emperor Ashoka to change his religion? The Emperor’s famous religious conversion was his choice.
In a perfect world, where legal systems hold political power to account and protect minorities against human rights abuses we might expect an end to persecution. But we do not live in a perfect world. People with power continue to act with impunity against those who think and live differently to them. Christians have a way to cope with this reality and a real and living hope for a future free of persecution.
Muslims in Pakistan, including a former police officer, on Monday (May 12) tortured a Christian laborer to death over a theft accusation, the victim’s brother said.
A judge in Pakistan on Saturday (May 10) acquitted a Christian of blasphemy and terrorism charges, noting that prosecutors had “miserably failed” to establish its case against him, his attorney said.
A series of whistleblower documents raising serious concerns about the leadership and governance of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has sparked renewed controversy ahead of the organization’s planned General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2025.
Villagers practicing tribal religion who assaulted 11 Christian families and drove 10 of them from their homes in central India last month for practicing their faith have threatened to kill them if they return, sources said.
A review of school textbooks in Pakistan has found that problematic content remains embedded in the curriculum, contributing to the exclusion of religious minorities from the country’s social mainstream and national narrative. A study titled What Are We Teaching at School? by the Lahore-based research and advocacy organization Center for Social Justice (CSJ) reviewed 145 textbooks of compulsory subjects for Grades 1 through 10.
A senior bishop has urged Christians in Pakistan and India to jointly hold a day of fasting and prayer on May 5, as tensions escalate between the nuclear-armed neighbors following a deadly April 22 terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Bishop Nadeem Kamran, head of the Anglican Church of Pakistan’s Diocese of Lahore, said the church is always at the service of humanity and will continue to advocate for peace and reconciliation between the two countries.