When religion is business in Japan

What I will describe is a scandal of potentially huge proportions, which the Japanese media is failing to cover, and the news is mostly spreading via Twitter. Police in the port city of Kobe recently detained a pastor on suspicion of using illegal drugs. Yasuhiko...

Indian tribal Christians protest social boycott, violence

Indigenous tribal Christians forced to abandon their homes and villages due to social boycotts and violence have urged authorities to take action against the instigators in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Some 1,000 aggrieved Christians camped outside the...

Francis to Honour Benedict With Papal Burial

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s funeral service will be marked by full papal honours granted at the behest of Pope Francis, senior officials in the Vatican bureaucracy have suggested. “It is clear that the Holy Father will ask that Benedict XVI’s funeral be like that of...

US Commission ‘Outraged’ By Omitted Offenders of Religious Freedom

The United States has expanded its list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. Two new nations—Cuba and Nicaragua—were added  to the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). Two others—Vietnam and the Central African Republic...