AP

REPORT SHOWS INCREASE IN ANTI-CHRISTIAN INCIDENTS IN INDIA

NEW DELHI –  The systematic and organized persecution of Christians has risen to crisis levels in India. According to the Report by the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC),
Christians suffered higher levels of violence and discrimination in 2024, with 640 incidents compared with 601 cases documented in 2023. Furthermore this  marked nearly a quadrupling of incidents from the 147 incidents recorded in 2014, continuing a decade-long trend of mounting hostility towards Christians who constitute 2.3 percent of India’s population. The EFIRLC emphasized that the 640 verified cases likely represent only a fraction of actual incidents, as many victims fear reporting attacks due to concerns about police inaction, intimidation or retaliation.
The EFIRLC report identified the misuse of anti-conversion laws as one of the primary drivers of persecution. “These laws, legally known as Freedom of Religion laws, have been misused to restrict freedom of religion of the minority Christian community,” a leader from Uttar Pradesh told Morning Star News on condition of anonymity. “There are over 60 Christians who are currently in jail because of the provisions of this law,” said the leader. The Evangelical Fellowship of India is calling upon authorities to protect at-risk Christian communities, hold extremist groups accountable, stop the misuse of anti-conversion laws, strengthen legal safeguards for victims and ensure fair, unbiased legal proceedings for religious minorities.
India’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the right to live without fear of persecution. India is ranked 11th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has steadily worsened over the past decade, especially since  Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. [Sources: Back to Jerusalem and Morning Star News]

FAMINE SPREADING AS REFUGEE CAMPS ATTACKED IN SUDAN
Sudan (Missionary Network News) — Two years of civil war in Sudan have left the nation unraveling. Outright famine has been confirmed in at least 10 areas. Approximately half of Sudan’s population — 25 million people — are in extreme levels of hunger according to the UN World Food Program. The scale is almost more than a person can understand. “Because of the killing that [are] going on, people were not allowed [to] … plant anything. That’s why there is no harvest,” explains Bishop Dr. Yassir Eric, a partner of Horizons International. “The situation is very, very severe, because two rainy seasons pass by, and people are not able to do anything. And now in Darfur, the killing is also going on, and those who manage to plant anything, the rebels [come] and then put everything on fire.”
The Darfur killings Bishop Eric refers to happened last week, when the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group assaulted one famine-struck refugee camp called Zamzam (among other locations in Sudan’s western Darfur region). The attacks displaced an estimated 400,000 people, according to the United Nations. Although this latest episode was done by the RSF, its chief opponent, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has committed horrific acts against civilians as well. “Jesus is our God, and He’s the God of the suffering,” Bishop Eric says. “This is actually the difference between Allah in Islam and God in the Bible. In our suffering, we know He feels with us. We need to see people that are helping there, and to back them up, give them the resources that they need, so that to engage, not only in helping people that famine will go away, but that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Eric says. “I know and I believe that all things [work] for good — even this terrible situation, a beauty could come out of that, if we pray and if we give, and if we go.” Please pray for God’s mercy on the crises in Sudan.

BIBLE-TRAINED PASTORS, VILLAGERS IN MALAWI CONFRONT FALSE TEACHING HEAD-ON
Malawi (MNN) — Deep in the rural areas of Malawi, pastors often have little to no training. Some don’t even own a Bible. For the past two years, Foursquare Mission International (FMI)** has hosted pastor trainings in Malawi — and they’re bearing abundant spiritual fruit. FMI’s Patrick Anthony says, “Out of 86 pastors last year, they were able to teach and share with over 2,400 people. They reported that in this past year, 450 churches had been planted; and they also reported that over 30,000 people placed their faith in Christ!”
The training is also helping pastors and their churches recognize and resist false teaching. “One of the heartening stories that I heard was that there was a self-proclaimed prophet who had walked into one of the villages where three of the pastors from the first conference were from,” says Anthony. “As this prophet came into this area, he was apparently preaching a prosperity gospel. When he came in, the villagers told him, ‘You’re not preaching the right gospel. You’re preaching the prosperity gospel. You need to leave.’” While FMI provides each pastor in  training with a Bible, there is also a great need to provide Bibles to the people also. [**Foursquare Missions International operates in 156 nations and territories, in partnership with 100,000 churches, to expand the gospel’s reach with culturally-appropriate approaches and look out for the safety and success of missionaries in their regions. Headquarters in the USA]

EUROPEANS FURIOUS THAT THE US HAS BLOCKED UN “GENDER IDEOLOGY” DOCUMENT
NEW YORK, April 11 (C-Fam) The US government has blocked the adoption of the final agreement of the just-concluded UN population commission over “gender ideology”. This is seen as a loss for the ‘left’ at the UN, including the European Union. European countries, who had invested most in what was know as the  2030 agenda. This was a fifteen-year agreement of the General Assembly that enshrined a vast set of social, environmental, and climate goals as priorities for all governments, and included abortion rights and gender ideology under the rubric of “sexual and reproductive health”. The 2030 Agenda proposed a universal political agenda with concrete goals and targets to be pursued by all governments. It has been criticized repeatedly as a creeping towards global government.
Spencer Chretien, a Trump administration official at the US State Department, said in his official statement to the UN, that the US government rejected “gender ideology extremism” and had rejoined the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which states that “abortion is not an international right” and that the family is the “natural and fundamental group unit of society”.
A Danish delegate said Denmark would continue to promote “sexual and reproductive health and rights for adolescents”, clarifying further that “this includes access to abortion” as well as “comprehensive sexuality education”. A delegate from France expressly said that sexual and reproductive health language “includes a right to abortion” and that it was foundational for development. He also promised to continue a ‘feminist’ foreign policy.
However, delegates from several traditional countries, thanked the chairman of the UN Commission for withdrawing the draft agreement with the controversial language. They expressed opposition to gender ideology and abortion rights. Burundi lamented that the final draft of the agreement did not mention the family at all. The delegate said this was not acceptable because, “the future of our societies and our ability to develop depends above all on strong families.” [Source: Centre for Family and Human Rights (USA)]

LEBANON’S REFUGEE FLUX PRESENTS GOSPEL OPPORTUNITIES
Lebanon (MNN) — Nearly half a million Syrian refugees have returned home from places like Lebanon, Egypt, and Türkiye after the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. However, Assad’s fall did not cause the massive return movement many in Lebanon hoped for. “We continue to host more than 2.1 million Syrian refugees,” Heart for Lebanon’s (HFN) Camille Melki says, in addition to “more than half a million Palestinian refugees [and] 100,000 or so Iraqi and Kurdish refugees. “Today, the United Nations considers Lebanon the largest per capita host of refugees worldwide; around 40 to 45 percent of our population are refugee from a nearby nation.”
Lebanon’s large refugee population exacerbates the country’s infrastructure and economic issues. “We lost 97% of our purchasing power due to the political bickering, government corruption, and also due to this large influx of refugees living in our country,” Melki says. “No nation can expect almost to double its population overnight and have its infrastructure – roads, electrical grids, sewage, water – be able to receive this large of an increase without creating massive problems.” Yet hope remains. The challenging refugee situation also presents a Gospel opportunity.
“Every given month, HFN (Heart for Lebanon) cares for more than 4,500 families.” Most refugees come to Lebanon from a country where Christianity is little more than a label. Pray for the work of HFN, and that through their ministry, many refugees will come to meet the Jesus of the Bible.

– compiled by Guido Kettniss