BABILE, Ethiopia (Open Doors USA) — Four teenage believers, three of them minors, served a one-month jail sentence after being convicted on charges of distributing Christian literature and “inciting religious violence.” The girls were reported to be “in good health” following their release from prison on Dec. 22. Gifti, 14; Mihiret, 14; Eden, 15; and Deborah, 18, served their sentences in a large prison in Gelemiso among adult criminals.

The Christian girls ordeal began when they were arrested ..

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A 16-year-old Christian in Pakistan is languishing in jail under a baseless blasphemy charge after a judge declined to grant him bail this month, his attorney said.

The judge in Punjab Province’s Kasur District on Feb. 7 denied bail to Nabeel Masih, who has been jailed since Sept. 18, 2016 after a Muslim friend accused him of “sharing” and “liking” on Facebook an allegedly blasphemous photo of the Kaaba, the holiest Islamic site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Pol..

PIKESVILLE, Md. — A Maryland mosque held an event on Sunday to honor a Muslim terrorist who shot and killed the former Pakistani governor of Punjab in 2011 over his statements in opposition to the nation’s laws prohibiting blasphemy against Islam.

Gulzar E Madina Mosque in Pikesville hosted an “Urs” observance on Feb. 12, which is an event marking the anniversary of the death of a Muslim entity considered a saint. Mumtaz Qadri was executed last February for murdering the governor.

“Whoever dis..

Photo Credit: Burak Su(World Watch Monitor) — The man charged with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve at Istanbul’s exclusive Reina nightclub attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, has testified before a Turkish court, saying, “My purpose was to kill Christians.”

The Uzbek national was arraigned in court 11 Feb., nearly a month after he was captured by Istanbul police 16 Jan. He told the judge interrogating him at the hearing that he was a member of the so-called Islamic State, which had claimed respo..

A few years ago at a conference, I held a large banner that read: “Azerbaijanis: God’s gateway people to the Muslim world.” One quizzical individual pondered a few minutes before asking me whether this was a real place.

Azerbaijanis get that a lot.

They are one of the few peoples that span numerous countries with different linguistic and cultural contexts. The Republic of Azerbaijan is home to 9 million Azerbaijanis, but its low profile on the world stage leads many to underestimate its signif..

The exhibit hall resembled a department store in December as women circled dozens of tables piled with colorful goods. Only it was summer, and shoppers had the singular goal of purchasing gospel resources—books, Bibles, DVDs, and more.

Women flooded into the Indianapolis Convention Center last June to attend The Gospel Coalition’s third National Women’s Conference (TGCW16). The three-day event became the largest TGC gathering to date with more than 7,300 women from all 50 states and 40 countrie..

(Open Doors USA) — The long drawn-out Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has created an ongoing humanitarian disaster. In the northern state of Yobe, one of the three worst affected states, Christians who have finally returned to their destroyed and severely damaged communities are facing added pressure for their faith.

Reports reached Open Doors that while the government has spent millions on rebuilding other communities and restoring amenities, Kukar Gadu, Yobe’s only Christian communi..