Free Republic

Restrictions, harassment, and intimidation towards people who practice their religion increased in every major region of the world in 2012 except the Americas, with Christians the major target, says a new report by the Pew Research Center. “Muslims and Jews experienced six-year highs in the number of countries in which they were harassed by national, provincial or local governments,” the study found, but Christians continue to be the world’s most oppressed religious group, with persecution against them reported in 110 countries. A recent report by the Christian group Open Doors noted that “North Korea remains the world’s most restrictive nation...

Religious freedom experts are decrying a recent announcement by the French government that it will deport and dissolve groups that are labeled extreme and appear to suffer from “religious pathology.” … At a Dec. 11 conference, French interior minister Manuel Valls announced that new government surveillance policies will be aimed at shutting down religious groups including traditionalist Catholics if they show signs of a “religious pathology” that could lead to violence, reported Reuters. The conference was held two days after French president François Hollande announced the creation of a new agency, the “National Observatory of Secularism,” to observe and promote...

Cuba's Minister of Religion claims a Christian pastor in that country was engaged in subversive and dangerous actions. The church leader's alleged crime, apparently, was printing the Gospel of John. Earlier this month, five plain-clothes police officers raided the home of Pastor Eliseo Rodriguez Matos in the Cuban city of Colon. The officers confiscated a printing press and printed Gospels of John, and the Assembly of God church pastor was taken to the local police station for interrogation. Todd Nettleton is with Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry to persecuted Christians worldwide. He says the Minister of Religion had harsh...

School bench message said too religious Wednesday, July 6, 2005 3:06 AM EDTE-mail this story to a friend | Printable version By David Burch Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer MARIETTA - A simple message greets students arriving at Marietta High School - Jesus Loves You! The words are inscribed on a bench located outside of the school's cafeteria and near the spot where school buses drop off and pick up students. Private donations from the school's PTA paid for the bench as part of a larger fund-raising campaign more than four years ago at the school, located on Dallas Highway...

VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST POLICE ATTEMPTED TO MURDER MINISTER NGUYEN HONG QUANG IN SAIGON, VIETNAM. At 18:00PM, December 9, 03, Minister Nguyen Hong Quang, Vice President of Vietnamese Mennonite Church in Saigon, Vietnam and Minister Pham Dinh Nhan, President of Association of Vietnamese Christian Communication visited Mrs. JEAN M. GERAN, member of the United States Consulate-General in Saigon, Vietnam (Department of Labor Relations and Human Rights for foreigners in Asia) to discuss issues of religious freedom in Vietnam. At 21:00PM when Minister Nguyen Hong Quang left Minister Tran Mai's residence at 28 Ho Tung Mau, First District, Saigon, so many Vietnamese plain-clothes...