World

WASHINGTON (RNS) — U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback opened a summit at the State Department this week by urging leaders from a range of faiths to work together to help the persecuted across the globe.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) – Eritrean Christians and human rights advocates are cheering the release of 35 Christian prisoners as a new peace pact between Eritrea and Ethiopia takes hold this month. But hundreds remain imprisoned in Eritrea under harsh conditions stemming from a war in which members of Christian sects were targeted for mass incarceration.

WHEATON, Ill. — Hundreds of churches in Russia are preparing to end an innovative World Cup 2018 outreach on a high note this week, despite opposition from authorities.

Nationalistic tendencies contributed to a noticeable increase in government restriction on religious freedom in 2016, according to a Pew Research Center report released on June 21.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Egypt's first World Cup in 28 years has captivated the soccer-crazy nation, with intense focus on the squad and the broader game.

Yet it wasn't an entirely unifying experience. For the country's Christians, about 10 percent of the population, the composition of the team and the way the squad was perceived highlighted what they believe is a problem with the sport in Egypt.

A court in the southern city of Karshi, Uzbekistan, has punished four members of a Baptist congregation for meeting for worship without state permission. 

During his trial, the judge admonished: "Do your prayers at home. It is against the law of our state to meet for worship without state registration."

NABI SALEH, West Bank (RNS) — Nabi Saleh is the last place one might expect to find a group of evangelical Christians, a demographic known in Israel–Palestine for its enthusiastic support for Israel. But on this hot spring day, two busloads of evangelicals, mostly American, sit sweating in a semicircle among the scraggly olive trees.

LONDON (RNS)  — The Rev. Alan Everett vividly remembers the early morning hours of June 14, 2017. Flames were engulfing the 24-story apartment building near his church, St. Clement's in Notting Dale, and he did what came naturally: invite in the weary, fearful and displaced.

ESCUINTLA CITY, Guatemala (BP) -- A Baptist youth mission team already in Guatemala when a volcano erupted there June 3 is safe and helping churches house and feed survivors.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — After decades of planning and delays, Israel is opening the doors of a new national natural history museum in the city of Tel Aviv, a facility that aims to increase scientific education despite religious opposition to the theory of evolution.