Articles by Edward Ross
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With 10 Catholic bishops in China in detention, “disappeared” or forced from their positions, the government-installed bishop of Shanghai at a conference this month spoke only on President Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization” of religion, without mentioning hoped-for pastoral plans. -
Religious persecution high in Burma despite mounting junta losses
Persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Burma (Myanmar) has continued even as the country’s military junta has lost control and territory to armed resistance groups, according to a report last week by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). -
Global tensions heighten persecution of Christians as IDOP prompts prayer on Sunday, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10
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 -
Christians caught between warring Islamist factions in Sudan
Christians in Sudan are caught between two fighting factions, with each military group accusing them of siding with the other, an advocacy group said. -
Church leaders in China face criminal charges, harassment
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. -
China and North Korea partner to persecute Christians, experts say
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. -
Religious rights gains in Vietnam have deteriorated, report says
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. -
Countries with religious rights violations rarely sanctioned
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. -
Elderly Christian’s conviction in Iran reveals judiciary defects
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. -
Mountain Gateway pastors among 135 prisoners released in Nicaragua
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. -
Leaked documents show how Iran targets Christian converts
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. -
Christians in Mexico face expulsion after losing property, church building
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.
