Joseph Francis, Pakistani veteran minority rights advocate, dies at 81
Joseph Francis, a distinguished Pakistani minorities rights defender, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 11, after a prolonged illness. He was 81.
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Religious Freedom
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Opinion
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Remembering the forgetten followers in a forgotten war
Sudan's civil war continues to rage after three years of devastating conflict and Sudan's two million Christians face particular peril. Yet this conflict is largely overlooked compared to other conflict zones. It seems to be a crisis too complex, too distant, and too African to hold the Western gaze. God sees, however, so let us pray for peace in Sudan and protection especially for Jesus' followers among the Sudanese.
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The struggle for freedom persists and there are signs of hope
Hungarians celebrating a change in government last week reminds us that freedom can be recovered through democratic means and that illiberal systems are reversible and autocratic leaders are removable. Yet for followers of Jesus our hope is not in political change. Freedom is an inner reality that we must cultivate.
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Will Nepal’s Christians gain protection under new Gen Z-backed government?
Following the GenZ protests of 2025, the test of a new Nepali government is whether it will resist the growing influence of Hindu nationalism, which has increasingly targeted the country’s small (2%) Christian minority.
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The death of an 84-year-old Catholic priest marked the end of India's secularism
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s culture wars have morphed from rhetoric into policy and an emboldened ecosystem of vigilantes and ideological enforcers has emerged alongside the state, advancing a vision of an uncompromisingly Hindu India. This presents a growing threat to democracy, religious liberty, and especially a minority Christian population.
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Imprisonment of human rights attorneys in Pakistan condemned
By CDI StaffThe imprisonment of prominent Pakistani human rights attorney couple Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha has triggered strong condemnation from the United Nations, international legal bodies and domestic rights groups.
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Laura Fernández pledges a government that respects religious freedom in Costa Rica
After her electoral victory Sunday, Feb. 1, with more than 48% of the vote, Costa Rica’s president-elect, Laura Fernández, held her first news conference, outlining how her administration will relate to the country’s religious sector.
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Pastor, daughter and son-in-law slain in Plateau state, Nigeria
Fulani herdsmen last month killed a pastor, his daughter and her husband, leaving the couple’s 3-month-old baby with a machete wound, in Plateau state, Nigeria.
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China exporting repression of religion worldwide, Brownback says
By Edward RossChina is helping totalitarian regimes to repress religion around the world, even as the U.S. administration has cut or stalled programs vital for religious freedom globally, officials told a hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Two Christian nurses in Pakistan acquitted of blasphemy
A court in Pakistan has acquitted two Catholic nurses who have been in hiding for nearly four years after they were charged with blasphemy in 2021, rights advocates said.
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Refugees face stiff obstacles to religious freedom, IRF Summit told
By Edward RossRecord numbers of people are displaced by conflict and persecution worldwide, and they continue to face extraordinary obstacles to religious freedom as refugees, advocates told the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit this week.
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Bill to curb child marriage passes in Punjab, Pakistan
The Punjab Province Assembly in Pakistan on Monday (April 27) passed a landmark bill aimed at curbing child marriage following a heated debate between government and opposition lawmakers.
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