Edward Ross

Religious Freedom Correspondent

Articles by Edward Ross

1 Nov, 2024 08:11 EDT

Middle East Religious Freedom

Global tensions heighten persecution of Christians as IDOP prompts prayer on Sunday, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10

By Edward Ross

This year’s International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the persecuted church comes as worldwide tensions have turned up pressure on Christians, challenging the global Body of Christ to keep pace in aid and supplication. As Christians are focused on IDOP prayer for the persecuted on both Sunday (Nov. 3) and Nov. 10, tensions that have spiked in the Middle East since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel have inflamed Islamic extremist sentiment against Christ followers, said an official with
16 Oct, 2024 12:53 EDT

Africa Religious Freedom

Christians caught between warring Islamist factions in Sudan

By Edward Ross

Christians in Sudan are caught between two fighting factions, with each military group accusing them of siding with the other, an advocacy group said.
14 Oct, 2024 12:21 EDT

Asia Religious Freedom

Church leaders in China face criminal charges, harassment

By Edward Ross

Authorities in China on Tuesday (Oct. 8) released on bail a church leader jailed since August 2023 for printing Bibles, while the Christian co-founder of a special children’s school has been arrested on charges of “inciting disturbances” for his human rights activism.
8 Oct, 2024 16:10 EDT

Asia Religious Freedom

China and North Korea partner to persecute Christians, experts say

By Edward Ross

China has subjected hundreds of North Koreans to atrocities since last year by forcibly returning them to a country whose leaders hold that religion, especially Christianity, is the greatest threat to its power, experts said at a recent U.S. hearing.
18 Sep, 2024 13:15 EDT

Asia Religious Freedom

Religious rights gains in Vietnam have deteriorated, report says

By Edward Ross

Two decades after the U.S. government designated Vietnam as Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for tolerating or engaging in religious rights violations, religious freedom has deteriorated despite the designation’s initial successes, a new report states.
12 Sep, 2024 11:15 EDT

Middle East Religious Freedom

Countries with religious rights violations rarely sanctioned

By Edward Ross

In the 25 years since the U.S. State Department has designated countries with the worst records of religious rights violations as “Countries of Particular Concern (CPC),” it has applied sanctions related only to those violations just three times, according to a new report.
6 Sep, 2024 09:42 EDT

Middle East Asia Religious Freedom

Elderly Christian’s conviction in Iran reveals judiciary defects

By Edward Ross

The conviction of an elderly Christian in Iran for attending a house church shows how the Islamist regime politicizes religious activity, according to leaked cases of 327 Christians charged with crimes related to their faith.
5 Sep, 2024 12:10 EDT

Latin America Religious Freedom

Mountain Gateway pastors among 135 prisoners released in Nicaragua

By Edward Ross

The 13 members of Texas-based Mountain Gateway ministry imprisoned in Nicaragua earlier this year were among 135 “unjustly detained political prisoners” released today (Sept. 5) in a deal arranged by the U.S. government, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a press statement.
30 Aug, 2024 14:02 EDT

Middle East Asia

Leaked documents show how Iran targets Christian converts

By Edward Ross

Leaked cases of more than 300 Christians in Iran charged with crimes related to their faith show how the vast majority, converts from Islam, are targeted, a rights watchdog reports.
26 Aug, 2024 15:53 EDT

Latin America Religious Freedom

Christians in Mexico face expulsion after losing property, church building

By Edward Ross

After destroying lands and burning the church building of Protestant Christians in a village in Mexico’s Oaxaca state earlier this month, local tribal leaders notified the government that they will expel them, according to the state secretary of government.
15 Aug, 2024 12:28 EDT

Latin America Religious Freedom

Nicaragua detains more priests, shuts down more ministries

By Edward Ross

Authorities in Nicaragua detained two priests over the weekend of Aug. 10-11 after arresting 11 others a few weeks before, and on Monday (Aug. 12) the government closed a chapter of the Caritas charity, Catholic and evangelical sources reported.
16 Jul, 2024 14:13 EDT

Asia Religious Freedom

Officials in China intensify ‘Sinicization’ of religion

By Edward Ross

Religious leaders in China were instructed to put President Xi Jinping and his doctrines at the center of their teaching and preaching at a recent high-level seminar of top faith representatives and bureaucrats.

Edward Ross

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