JERUSALEM (BP)—Crucial humanitarian aid, the phased release of hostages in exchange for prisoners, and an end to Israel’s bombing of Gaza were among the terms of a ceasefire agreement announced Jan. 14 between Israel and Hamas.

Christian Mission to Gaza distributed food to 1,000 people in north Gaza and 800 in south Gaza Jan. 14, the same day the tentative ceasefire agreement was announced.

Survivors in Gaza, including perhaps 620 Christians, are desperate, anxious and hopeful for relief, said Hanna Massad, former pastor of Gaza Baptist Church and leader of Baptist Mission to Gaza, a gospel humanitarian outreach to the area.

“This agreement is very thin, and we hope and pray it will be implemented. Anything could happen, but this is why people are a bit nervous,” Massad told Baptist Press.

“People are really tired and exhausted in Gaza and they’re really desperate for this, and they hope it will continue—the agreement—and be implemented.”

Ric Worshill, executive director of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship, discussed the agreement with skepticism he described as likely common among fellow Southern Baptist Messianic believers.

“It’s only as real as what Hamas does,” Worshill said of the ceasefire. “And it’s really not that good, because there’s like 93 or 94 actual hostages, and only 33 or so are being released? So there’s something wrong here and there’s more to it.

“If they (Hamas) were really going to be honest about what they’re doing, they would just release all the hostages. The sad part about is, for the few they’re going to release, they’re going to get about 100 terrorists back.”

Officials have said perhaps a third of the 100 or so hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be deceased, and Worshill pointed out Jews practice burial within a certain amount of time.

“They’ve held onto the bodies so that they would have leverage,” Worshill said of Hamas’ treatment of the deceased hostages.

“They know that in the Jewish faith, a dead person is supposed to be buried before the next Sabbath. So, they know that’s hurtful to the family.”

Israel continued to shell Gaza after the ceasefire was announced, with the Palestinian Health Ministry announcing about 80 deaths since the announcement, in addition to 46,500 since the war began.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his farewell press conference Jan. 16, expressed confidence in the ceasefire agreement announced through mediators Qatar and the U.S.

Brent Leatherwood, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president, did not comment on the ceasefire agreement, but stated stipulations he would like to see achieved.

“It is an outrage that nearly a year and a half after the October 7th (2023) atrocities, that there are still hostages being held by terrorists,” Leatherwood said in a comment submitted to Baptist Press Jan. 16. “As we’ve maintained throughout this moment, the hostages must be returned. Period.

“At the same time, Israel’s right to exist must not be threatened,” Leatherwood said. “I am praying for these objectives to be agreed to by all parties in the Middle East as quickly as possible.”

Agreement details

As announced in the multiphase ceasefire agreement to start Jan. 19—as reported by the Associated Press—in the first phase of 42 days:

• Hamas would release 33 hostages, including female civilians and soldiers, children and civilians over 50, beginning with three the first week, four hostages the next seven days, and weekly releases thereafter.
• In exchange, Israel would release 30 Palestinian prisoners for each civilian hostage and 50 for each female soldier.
• Fighting would stop, and Israeli forces move out of populated areas in Gaza, retreating to the edges of the Gaza Strip.
• Displaced Palestinians would begin returning home, and more humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter the strip.

Conflict’s effects on Gaza Christians

Gaza Baptist Church, the lone Protestant congregation that served residents of the Gaza Strip, was heavily damaged in the war and used as a military site for Hamas.

Massad pastored the church before founding Christian Mission to Gaza, which continues to provide food and other humanitarian aid to survivors still in Gaza, keeping the name of Gaza Baptist Church in the forefront.

“We look forward and we hope that both sides will implement this ceasefire and hopefully doors will be opened and we’re able to do more concerning relief and start to help more people rebuild their life,” he said, “not only with food and medical relief, but also with other necessities.”

At least 33 Christians have been killed in Gaza in the war, Open Doors U.S. said in supplemental materials released Jan. 15 with its 2025 World Watch List of the 50 worst places for Christians, although Israel and Gaza were not included on the list.

An estimated 800-1,000 Christians were in Gaza when the war began.

“In the time of war, there’s a number of people from the Christian community who have been killed,” Massad said, among them his aunt as well as a longtime member of Gaza Baptist Church, both elderly women.

“Civilians of course have been killed from the Christian community as well.

“We cannot really imagine the pain, the suffering, the fear,” he said. “The community continues to hold to their faith but really are waiting for this moment (of ceasefire).”

On the day the ceasefire was announced, Christian Mission to Gaza was busy serving food to nearly 2,000 survivors in Gaza, including 800 in the south and 1,000 in the north, Massad said.

“Our hearts are torn as we witness the innocent children, women and elderly suffering and being killed in this unimaginable tragedy in Gaza. Under such difficult weather and terrible circumstances, we are left asking what more we can do in the face of this nightmare” he shared in a ministry update.

“Yet, we continue to pray, trusting in the good Lord to bring peace and an end to this suffering.”

Subsequent phases of the ceasefire aimed at securing an end to the war, AP reported Jan. 14, would include the declaration of a “sustainable calm;” the release of the remaining male hostages in exchange for a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian prisoners and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip; the exchange of the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages for the bodies of deceased Palestinian fighters; the implementation of a reconstruction plan in Gaza and the reopening of border crossings in and out of Gaza.

Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, an evangelical Cuban pastor who has been imprisoned since 2021 for participating in peaceful protests, was released in mid-January as part of a mass amnesty, an international human rights organization reported.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported Fajardo was released Jan. 17 from Mar Verde prison. The Cuban government said it planned to release 553 political prisoners following the White House announcement the U.S. Department of State would remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Fajardo’s release came days after the release of Donaida Pérez Paseiro, an Afro-Cuban Yoruba religious leader. Her husband Loreto Hernandez Garcia remains in prison.

Anna Lee Stangl, director of advocacy for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, stated: “CSW welcomes the release of Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and of Donaida Pérez Paseiro, neither of whom should ever have spent a day in detention in the first place. They have endured abusive treatment and been forcibly separated from their spouses and children since July 2021.

“We call on the Cuban government to immediately release Loreto Hernández García, and to ensure that Pastor Rosales Fajardo and all political prisoners and their families enjoy their freedom without any further harassment.”

Accused of attack on Cuban Communist Party HQ

Fajardo, pastor of the nondenominational Monte de Sion Church in Palma Soriano, was arrested after he and some members of his church participated in nationwide protests on July 11, 2021.

A document the Cuban government sent to the United Nations claimed Fajardo was involved in a violent attack on the headquarters of the Cuban Communist Party in Palma Soriano—a charge Fajardo denied.

Video and photographic evidence showed Black Beret paramilitary personnel and police attacking Farjardo and other unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest.

Fajardo was charged with four crimes under the Cuban Criminal Code—criminal incitement, public disorder, disrespect and assault. He initially received an eight-year prison sentence, which later was reduced to seven years.

‘Arbitrary detention’

During his initial detention at the Versalles State Security facility, Farjardo reportedly was beaten by guards, who also urinated on him. He lost a tooth due to physical abuse. The following month, he was moved to Boniato Maximum Security Prison and later to La Coaba prison before his transfer to Mar Verde prison.

“In 2022, in the days leading up to Easter, prison officials subjected him to solitary confinement in a ‘punishment cell’ for his refusal to obey orders to stop sharing his faith inside the prison,” the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance wrote in a statement released last June.

Fajardo appealed his case, but a Cuban court upheld his sentence in June 2022. During the court hearings, only the prosecution was permitted to present evidence.

In February 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined Fajardo’s treatment violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in multiple ways and constituted “arbitrary detention.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: After this article was published, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a statement on Jan. 18 welcoming the release of Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and Donaida Pérez Paseiro, along with Santeria practitioner Lisidiani Rodriguez Isaac. Commissioner Susie Gelman also stated: “USCIRF continues to call for the release of all Cuban religious leaders wrongfully imprisoned for participating in the July 11, 2021 protests, such as Loreto Hernández García, We urge the U.S. Department of State to make clear to the Cuban authorities that those who remain wrongfully imprisoned must be released and to remain vigilant to confront any future harassment, intimidation, or detention by the Cuban government.”

(RNS)—Driven by Islamic extremism, authoritarian regimes and war, high-level persecution and discrimination impacted 380 million Christians around the world in 2024, according to the annual World Watch List report by the evangelical nonprofit Open Doors released Jan. 15.

The World Watch List ranks the 50 countries where Christians experienced the most persecution and discrimination.

The 2025 report draws concerns about escalating violence in sub-Saharan countries, authoritarian regimes targeting Christians, conflicts forcing Christians to flee their homes and churches forced underground.

North Korea topped the list for the 23rd year, followed by Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The report also counted 209,771 Christians displaced because of their faith and 54,780 Christians physically or mentally abused, 10,000 of whom lived in Pakistan. In total, 1 in 7 Christians faced “high-level” persecution.

“While the numbers and rankings only partially tell the story, they do help draw the world’s attention to the 380 million believers who are suffering for their faith. This presents an opportunity for us to communicate the rest of the story,” said Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US.

Since it debuted in 1993, the Open Doors’ World Watch List relies on data provided by on-the-ground local researchers and attributes a persecution score to countries based on the evidence collected.

How the list is determined

Countries in the “extreme” category scored between 81 and 100 points. Scores between 61 and 80 points are associated with a “very high” level of persecution, and scores between 41 and 60 with a “high” level.

The report defines persecution as “any hostile action towards a person or community motivated by their identification with the person of Jesus Christ.”

It takes into consideration insults, abuse and workplace discrimination. It also distinguishes “smashes”—cases of physical violence, bombings, shootings and sexual violence—from “squeezes”—policies and laws forcing Christians into isolation and underground practices.

Several countries have pushed more Christians to worship underground, the report found, including Afghanistan, ranked 10th, and China, ranked 15th. World Watch List researchers found more Christians in China feared online and real-life surveillance than in previous years.

The report also mentions cases of churches facing ideological pressures and new laws enrolling pastors into indoctrination sessions.

In Eritrea, called the North Korea of Africa for its internet and phone surveillance of citizens, Christians were arrested en masse in house-to-house raids. Only certain denominations are allowed, excluding evangelicals and Christians from a Muslim background.

Algeria, ranked 19th, has forced its Protestant churches to close or operate secretly. This caused its score to decrease by 2 points, as it lowered the number of persecuted churches to observe. The report also notes the number of Christians awaiting trials and sentencing for faith-related allegations in Algeria is at an all-time high.

The persecution score of Kyrgyzstan increased by 7 points, pushing its rank on the list to 47th, the most dramatic increase of all countries. The government there has taken an authoritarian turn and used laws against public criticism to target Christian minorities, explained the report.

In Kazakhstan, which is ranked 38th and gained 3 points on its persecution score, churches have been attacked by police and security services, and Christian women have been forced to marry Muslim men.

Like in past years, the report reiterates Islamic terrorism remains the main threat to Christian communities worldwide. In sub-Saharan countries, jihadist militants have benefited from unstable governments to seize control of specific areas.

‘Extremely-high’ sub-Saharan persecution

All 15 countries of the sub-Saharan region were among the top 50 list, and 13 had “extremely high” persecution scores.

With more than 106 million Christians, Nigeria, ranked seventh, remains “among the most urgently dangerous places for Christians on earth,” according to the report, primarily because of violent attacks by Islamic, ethnic Fulani militias in the country’s northern states. The attacks are meant to drive Christian communities off the land they farm.

According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, quoted in the report, 30,880 civilians have been killed in Nigeria from 2020 to 2023, including 22,360 Christians and 8,315 Muslims.

Groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province also remain influential and have tightened their control over certain areas.

The report also flagged the emergence of a new armed jihadist group, Lakurawa, affiliated with the al-Qaida splinter group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which operates on the Nigeria-Niger border.

In Burkina Faso, where armed groups control about 40 percent of the territory, a local Open Doors researcher identified as Pastor Soré described repetitive attacks against farming communities by jihadist groups that led him and his family to flee to a refugee camp.

The Sudanese civil war has dashed hopes for religious freedom and caused the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. Out of a population of 49 million people, more than 7.7 million had fled in mid-2024.

Islamic extremists have taken the opportunity to destroy more than 100 churches and abduct and kill Christians, the report’s researchers found.

Violence in India’s northeastern state of Manipur has caused tens of thousands of Christians to flee their homes. India was ranked 11th for the increasing popularity of Hindu nationalism and laws that discriminate against Christians.

In Yemen, the conflict that has raged between the government and Houthi rebels since 2015 also left Christian communities more vulnerable to attacks.

In Houthi-controlled areas, Christians face numerous persecutions and also are targeted by Yemeni laws outlawing non-Muslim practices.

Since their involvement in the Israel-Gaza war, Houthi rebels have gained more power in Yemen and tightened their restrictions on churches, impeding dozens of assemblies from gathering.

The persecution of the countries ranked closer to 50th echoes much of the same occurring in the first 10.

In Chad, also located in the Sahel region, Christians are caught in the middle of a conflict opposing jihadist groups and military power. They are targeted on allegations of being affiliated with the opposing party. Chad is ranked 49th on this year’s list.

While Gaza and the West Bank were not ranked, the report collected stories from there too.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Christian communities in Gaza are on the brink of extinction, with nearly all their houses destroyed.

Christians in the West Bank, who represent about 1 percent of the population, also have been affected by stricter travel limitations imposed by the Israeli government.

Baptist conventions, councils and associations representing thousands of churches were among the groups who urged Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act decisively to stop violent mobs who have targeted Christians and other religious minorities.

More than 400 individual Christian leaders and 30 church groups sent the appeal the last week in December, calling on the president and prime minister to order the “swift and impartial investigation of incidents against religious minorities.”

“Rising hate speech, especially from elected officials, has emboldened acts of violence against Christians. Mobs disrupt peaceful Christian gatherings and threaten carol singers with impunity,” the letter to the president and prime minister stated.

The message to Murmu and Modi noted the Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India reported more than 720 incidents targeting Christians in 2023 through mid-December, and the United Christian Forum, which operates a toll-free helpline for Christians facing persecution, reported 760 incidents through the end of November.

“Alarmingly, during this Christmas season—a time for peace and joy—at least 14 attacks were carried out against Christian gatherings across India,” the letter stated. “It saddens us deeply that almost all political leaders from the highest in the Union government and the states have chosen not to condemn them.”

The letter noted the misuse of anti-conversion laws by Indian states have led to the unjust arrest and harassment of more than 110 ministers.

Continued violence in Manipur

It also pointed to an ongoing crisis in the northeastern state of Manipur, where more than 250 people have been killed, at least 350 churches have been destroyed, and thousands have been displaced since May 2023.

“The wounds of divided communities run deep,” the letter stated. “Manipur yearns for healing and reconciliation.”

In Assam, the Magical Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Act, 2024, along with the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, have been used to arrest more than a dozen pastors, church workers and other Christians, the letter noted.

The letter also noted while Hindus are permitted to distribute and sell the Bhagavad Gita or other religious literature on street corners and in marketplaces, “Christians are routinely beaten up if they distribute the Bible, or even a small part of it.”

Other systemic issues raised in the letter include “perpetuating historic injustices” through exclusionary policies denying Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians and demanding that Christian tribes be removed from the Scheduled Tribes list, undermining their constitutional protections.

In addition to urging top government officials to investigate incidents targeting religious minorities, the letter also called on the president and prime minister to:

• Issue clear guidelines to state governments about protecting constitutional rights to religious freedom.
• Initiate regular dialogue with representatives from faith communities.
• Protect the constitutional right to freely profess and practice one’s faith.

“We appeal to you, Honourable President and Honourable Prime Minister, to ensure equal rights for all, fostering an environment where every Indian feels safe, respected, and free to practice their faith.”

Broad-based endorsement

Endorsing groups included the Angami Baptist Church Council, the Arunachai Baptist Churches Council, the Chakhesang Baptist Church Council, the Evangelical Baptist Church of Odisha, the Fellowship of Naga Baptist Associations, Madras English Baptist Church, the Manipur Baptist Convention, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, North Bank Baptist Church Association, the Nyishi Baptist Church Council, Rongmei Baptist Church Association, Tangkhui Naga Baptist Convention, Tangsa Baptist Churches Association, the Deccan Association of Telugu Baptist Churches, the Western Odisha Baptist Churches Council and the Western Sumi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu.

Other groups include the Church of the Nazarene, the Council of Evangelical Churches in India, the Evangelical Church of God, the Federation of Catholic Associations of the Archdiocese of Delhi, the National Christian Council, the National Church of India, the Synod of Pentecostal Churches and the United Christian Forum.

Individuals included Zelhou Keyho, general secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, and J Chiranjeevi with the Council of Baptist Churches in India.

Wissam al-Saliby, president of the 21Wilberforce human rights organization, expressed concern about violence in India and affirmed Christians in India for their appeal to the nation’s president and prime minister.

“21Wilberforce is very concerned by the constant communication of incidents of violence we receive from friends and partners in India,” al-Saliby said.

In December, Christians celebrating Christmas in Odisha state were attacked, he noted. Videos posted online showed women who were accused of religious conversion being tied to a tree and beaten.

“I’m grateful that the Christians in India are speaking up and engaging with their government,” al-Saliby said. “21Wilberforce is coming alongside them and supports their efforts to bring about religious freedom for all and a more inclusive and tolerant society.”

The day after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, members of Good News Evangelical Church in Latakia, Syria, broke the padlocks that had barred entry to the church building the last 10 years and erected a new sign, a Baptist leader in neighboring Lebanon said.

Christians and other religious minorities in Syria continue to wonder about their long-term future after the fall of the Assad regime, said Charles Costa, president of the Convention of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Lebanon.

But for now, they have experienced “some sense of relief and freedom,” he wrote in an email responding to questions from the Baptist Standard.

Michel Doclos, a French diplomat and former ambassador to Syria told An-Nahar—an Arabic-language daily newspaper in Beirut—there are some elements that “provide cautious hope because of the apparent openness of the new leader of Syria to all the societal and political elements in the country,” Costa wrote.

“This includes all the religious minorities in Syria,” he stated. “It was evident that leaders from all the religious minorities were concerned initially.”

They quickly arranged a meeting with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Al-Sharaa was a military leader of the opposition forces that led to the fall of the Assad regime and is playing a key role in establishing the transitional government.

“What they heard was encouraging but remains to be seen in the long term, as Duclos thinks the situation is still tenuous, and it is too early to make a final judgment in the matter,” Costa wrote.

“People can be hopeful, but until a clear political system is in place and a constitution is agreed upon, after the national dialogue conference is convened, no one is able to ascertain which way the country is going vis-à-vis religious minorities.”

Impact on Syrian refugees noted

Costa, vice president of the European Baptist Fellowship, serves as Middle East and North Africa coordinator for BMA Global.

He pointed to the impact the end of the Assad regime in Syria will have on more than 14 million Syrian refugeeswho have fled their homeland since 2011, including an estimated 1.5 million in Lebanon.

“Many refugees are excited about the potential return to Syria, but there are challenges,” he wrote. “Do they still have a place to go to? What about jobs and income? Even if safety is not an issue anymore, what about the different militias that are ruling the country without overall control?

“On the Lebanese side of the border, the expectation is that the refugees should return to relieve the stress that has overwhelmed the system in Lebanon. In addition to that, some have settled, intermarried, found jobs, rented houses. … It’s going to be difficult to disentangle the web.”

The uncertain situation also means Lebanese Baptist ministry to displaced Syrians remains in flux, he added.

“No doubt some Syrian church groups have disbanded but some continue. It will be a while before the picture becomes clear,” Costa wrote.

“Spiritual ministry to those who are here will continue, but we would like to shift ministry focus to Syria itself. Supporting church plants and churches in Syria is becoming a paramount goal, as we are not certain how long this openness will remain.”

Baptists in the region are focused primarily on “helping local Baptist churches become active in reaching their communities and training more people to do the work of ministry,” he noted.

“We continue to hope and pray that the changing panorama in Syria will provide more opportunities for the gospel,” Costa concluded. “We know God will make a way for the gospel.”

WASHINGTON (BP)—Religious nationalism, mass displacement, authoritarianism, surveillance technology and other trends combine to persecute 300 million Christians globally, International Christian Concern reported in its 2025 Global Persecution Index.

Examining 20 countries, the latest annual report identifies 20 persecution zones, spotlights underlying factors that make each region increasingly unstable, and details the growing persecution Christians are suffering at the hands of government, terrorist organizations and society.

Christian persecution intensified in 2024 in Nicaragua, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and regions throughout Africa’s Sahel region, ICC said in its report. ICC cited increased government hostility in Nicaragua, Hindu nationalism and anti-conversion laws in India, and terrorism and displacement in Africa.

Studying 20 countries in Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia, ICC highlighted persecution trends while showcasing the enduring church amid persecution, and calling on the global church to intervene on behalf of the persecuted.

“We show where life is challenging for the millions of Christians who face myriad forms of persecution—murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, attacks, discrimination, isolation, ostracization and more,” ICC said of its report.

“We examine corners of our world where believers can’t publicly identify as Christian or openly recite a Bible verse without severe punishment. We offer updates where extremist leaders and hateful groups actively target Christians and force the church underground.”

In Nicaragua, the national government has weaponized the Ministry of Interior to crack down on hundreds of churches, aid groups and other faith-based organizations, ICC said.

The report cited U.S. State Department data showing Nicaragua revoked the operating licenses of at least 315 faith-based nonprofit organizations in 2023, including 233 associated with evangelical groups, 38 linked to the Catholic church and 41 from other faith-based groups.

In India, extremism, blasphemy and anti-conversion laws, political agendas that restrict religious minorities, and baseless arrests and imprisonments are used to discriminate against Christians and other religious minorities.

Hindu nationalists Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are making progress in pushing for India to become an entirely Hindu nation, with the influence reaching to the prime minister. Christians comprised 2.3 percent of the population in India at the time of the 2011 census. Muslims, the largest religious minority, also are persecuted.

In Nigeria, the deadliest country for Christians, ICC cited terrorist groups Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, Fulani Militants and local extremists as those causing the most harm.

Nigeria’s blasphemy and anti-conversion laws, the use of Sharia law in Nigeria’s 12 northern states—although secular courts often overturn rulings—and identity-based politics along ethnic, political and economic lines tend to work against Christians, ICC said.

In the Sahel, civil war pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces against the Rapid Support Forces has sustained discrimination and persecution that began decades ago against the minority Christian population, ICC said.

Additionally, despite Islamic State West Africa Province’s shared ideology with Boko Haram, the two are in a high-stakes territorial war in the Sahel. Churches, religious leaders and communities are often attacked and massacred, often for resources that are limited.

ICC cited the displacement of more than 8 million people from Sudan since the war began in April 2023, as well as the displacement of 3.3 million in 2024 across Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, based on United Nations numbers.

An airstrike on a Baptist church in Sudan less than a week before Christmas killed at least 11 people, including eight children, an organization focused on international religious freedom reported.

The Sudan Armed Forces airstrike hit Al Ezba Baptist Church in Khartoum North on Dec. 20. It damaged the worship facility, the church’s nursery—which was occupied at the time—and several residential buildings, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

Less than a week after the airstrike on the mosque, more than 100 civilians were killed when the Sudan Armed Forces hit a crowded marketplace in Kabkabiya in western Darfur.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported in April more than 150 churches had been damaged since the war in Sudan began in 2023.

“We pray for God to give the two warring parties the wisdom to stop the war. The longer it continues, the more innocent children and civilians will die,” Pastor Philemon Hassan of Al Ezba Baptist Church said.

“In Al Ezba area, people are dying either in this way or for the lack of basic humanitarian needs. Some can’t afford to leave the area, and those who can, are afraid to leave because they could be arrested for falsely being affiliated with the RSF.”

In October, more than 100 members of the Sudanese Church of Christ moved from Al Ezba to Shendi in River Nile State, seeking to escape the violence. In Shendi, 26 men were arrested by the Sudan Armed Forces Military Intelligence Unit and accused of being affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces.

Khataza Gondwe, advocacy director for CSW, expressed condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the Dec. 20 airstrike.

“It is particularly deplorable that most of the fatalities were children who died in a place where they should have been safe. The high number of child casualties illustrates the continuing disregard for civilian lives by both warring parties throughout this conflict,” he said.

“In addition, the persistent targeting of places of worship violates international humanitarian and human rights law egregiously, and may constitute a war crime, especially when these premises are being used to meet the sharp rise in humanitarian needs generated by the ongoing conflict.

“CSW continues to call on both the SAF and the RSF to agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, to ensure the protection of civilians, and to bring an end to the severe human rights and humanitarian crises in the country.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Attacks on houses of worship continued after Christmas.  On Dec. 30, Sudan Rapid Support Forces attacked a Sudanese Church of Christ in Al Hasaheisa, Gezira State, during a prayer service, forcing the 177 Christians who had gathered to leave, CSW reported. At least 14 people were assaulted and insured.

WASINGTON (RNS)—A report by Pew Research Center on international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries where both government restrictions and social hostility most limit the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith.

Governmental attacks and social hostility toward various religions usually “go hand in hand,” said the report, the 15th annual edition of a report that tracks the evolution of governments restrictions on religion.

The report uses two indexes created by the center in 2007, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index, to rank countries’ levels of government restrictions on religion and attitudes of societal groups and organizations toward religion.

The GRI focuses on 20 criteria, including government efforts to ban a faith, limit conversions and preaching, and preferential treatment of one or many religious groups.

The SHI’s 13 criteria take into account mob violence, hostilities in the name of religion and religious bias crimes.

Study examines 198 countries

The study looks at the situation in 198 countries in 2022, the latest year for which data are available from such agencies as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Department of State and the FBI.

The report also contains findings from independent and nongovernmental organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

In total, 24 countries received high or very high GRI scores (4.5 or higher on a scale of 10) and high or very high SHI scores (higher than 3.6 out of 10). Close behind the four countries that scored very high on both scales were India, Israel and Nigeria.

Thirty-two other countries, including Turkistan, Cuba and China, scored high or very high on government restrictions, but low or moderate on social hostility. Most were rated as “undemocratic” and “authoritarian” by The Economist magazine’s Democracy Index.

“Such regimes may tightly control religion as part of broader restrictions on civil liberties,” reads the report. Many Central Asian countries and post-Soviet countries fell into that category, noted Samirah Majumdar, lead researcher of the report, part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project.

Besides ranking countries where religions were under the most pressure, the team that put together the report tried to determine “whether countries with government restrictions tend to be places where they also have social hostilities; Do countries with relatively few government restrictions also tend to be places where they have relatively few social hostilities?” explained Majumdar.

Majumdar said the results were inconclusive.

“We can’t exactly determine a causal link, but there are some patterns we were able to observe in the different groupings,” she said. “A lot of those countries have had sectarian tensions and violence reported over the years. In some cases, government actions can go hand in hand with what is happening socially in those countries.”

Countries with low or moderate scores on both indexes—a GRI no higher than 4.4 out of 10 and an SHI between 0 and 3.5—usually had populations under 60 million inhabitants.

The index factors the same criteria over the years, and the team relies on the same sources, allowing for comparisons from one year to another. From 2021 to 2022, median GRI and SHI scores stayed the same, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the GRI rose from 2.6 to 3.0 out of 10. In Middle Eastern and North African countries, the index went from 5.9 to 6.1.

High levels of government, social hostility in Nigeria

Among the 45 countries that presented high or very high SHI scores, Nigeria was the first of the seven countries with very high levels, a result linked to gang violence against religious groups and violence by militant groups Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa, which rages in the Sahel desert.

Iraq, which ranks among the countries with both high GRI and SHI, also finds itself among the countries with the highest social hostilities, and has seen its social hostility score increase. The report attributed this to violence against religious minorities imprisoned by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces.

It also cited a 2024 Amnesty International report on outbreaks of gender-based violence in Iraqi Kurdistan, with many occurrences of women being killed by male family members, sometimes for converting to another religion.

According to the report, physical harassment against religious groups by government or social groups peaked in 2022. This category covered acts from verbal abuse to displacements, killings or damage to an organization’s property.

The study highlighted 26,000 displaced people from Tibetan communities in China and continued gang violence targeting religious leaders by Haitian gangs.

Overall, the number of countries where physical harassment took place increased to 145 in 2022, against 137 countries in 2021.

Many human rights advocates greeted the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with relief and optimism, but some groups focused on international religious freedom view Syria’s future with more questions than answers.

The overthrow of the Assad government signaled the end to more than 50 years of Baath Party rule in Syria. During Assad’s two dozen years as president, the government had a well-documented history of arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and the use of chemical weapons against his own people.

“After over five decades of brutality and repression, the people of Syria may finally have an opportunity to live free of fear with their rights respected,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

“This historic opportunity must be now seized and decades of grave human rights violations redressed.”

Similarly, Lama Fakih, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, called the regime change in Syria “an unprecedented opportunity to chart a new future built on justice, accountability and respect for human rights.”

Questions about fate of religious minorities

An analysis by International Christian Concern likewise noted Assad and his administration treated the people of Syria brutally and systematically stripped them of basic rights and freedoms.

However, ICC raised questions about how religious minorities will be treated in a government heavily influenced by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist nationalist group.

The United States has recognized Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its predecessor organization, Jabhat al-Nusra as foreign terrorist organizations, and it offered a $10 million bounty for al-Jolani.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham originally was an affiliate of al-Qaida but later severed ties with the group. Al-Jolani spent eight years as an ISIS fighter in Iraq.

Encouraging signs in recent days include orders to protect religious minorities and the willingness of rebel fighters to allow continued Christmas observances.

“The initially positive signs in Aleppo do not, however, suggest that Syria is entering a new period of interfaith tolerance or widespread religious freedom,” the ICC analysis states. “Reports from the capture of Damascus include incidents of rebels inquiring into the religious identity of residents, suggesting that religion may continue to act as a point of tension.”

Al-Jolani has “much deeper roots as a persecutor of religion than a promoter of its free practice,” the ICC report states.

“Should al-Jolani continue to signal support for the rights of Christians and others, that would be a fundamental shift for the better. But that outcome is far from guaranteed, and a reversion to his old ways under ISIS and al-Qaida would be disastrous for these already vulnerable communities that suffered so much under Assad,” the report concludes.

Prayers for ‘stability and security of all Syrians’

Wissam al-Saliby, president of 21Wilberforce, offered prayer “for the stability and security of all Syrians, and for a transition to the rule of law where all citizens are treated equally before the law.”

“We’ve seen in other contexts in the Middle East that political transitions are risky and can lead to violence,” he wrote in an email to the Baptist Standard.

Up to this point, “traditional Christian communities in Syria” have enjoyed the freedom to worship, al-Saliby observed.

“The secular government treated them on equal footing with Muslims. Will this continue under the new rulers of Damascus?” he asked.

“Indicators to watch for include the safety and protection of Christians, the freedom for Christians to practice their rites, the right to a personal status law, and the right to manage their endowments, educational, medical and social institutions.”

During the period of political transition, as the new government takes shape, it also is important to see the degree to which Christians and other religious minorities are included, he added.

Muslim converts to Christianity present “a much more delicate” issue, al-Saliby wrote.

“Many Middle Eastern countries recognize the historic Christian communities but deny non-Christian citizens the right to espouse the Christian faith,” he stated.

“Since the start of the Syrian civil war, tens of thousands of Syrians, in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Syria, have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior in an unpreceded movement of the Spirit. Some church planting in Syria is now led by these Christians. How will the new rulers of Damascus accommodate for this group? Will they have to go underground?”

How will other nations respond?

Another unanswered question is how other nations will respond to the political changes in Syria. To date, Christians in Syria have been outspoken in criticizing American and European sanctions, al-Saliby noted.

“The impact of sanctions contributed to many Christians leaving the country in search of better economic conditions. Now that the regime has changed, will Western governments remove sanctions that have hindered the economy and reconstruction of Syria?” he asked.

Refugees International reports more than 6 million Syrians are refugees and at least 7 million are internally displaced.

“Mass refugee repatriation will be a slow and delicate process, contingent on factors including restoration of legitimate and effective governance, security conditions, an effective recovery and reconstruction effort, resolving complex housing and property rights disputes, and substantial humanitarian investments,” Etant Dupain, spokesperson for Refugees International, wrote in a Dec. 17 email.

“None of this will materialize quickly, and refugee-hosting governments should expect repatriation to proceed gradually as sustainable conditions for safe return begin to emerge within Syria. Moves by some European governments to halt asylum processing for Syrians are ill-advised and should be reversed until political and security conditions stabilize.”

Continuing humanitarian crisis

In the meantime, Dupain added, “Syria remains in the grips of a major humanitarian crisis.”

“All of the humanitarian needs that existed just three weeks ago are still present in post-Assad Syria. What has changed now is that humanitarians have the access to begin addressing these needs, albeit for an unknown window of time,” Dupain wrote.

“In that window, it is critical that the humanitarian response rapidly scales to surge in aid and capitalize on the current window of opportunity.”

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, noted his organization heard “from multiple sources a sense of cautious optimism that real and lasting positive change may be on hand” in Syria.

“There are initial indications that religious freedom for all people will be respected, even as we have also received requests to pray for protection, preservation and provision,” Brown said.

“The BWA joins in prayer for the reunification of families separated as refugees, for the strengthening of religious freedom for all people, and that in this Advent season, that the message the angels proclaimed at Jesus’ birth will once again resound, ‘and on earth peace.’”

PLATEAU, Nigeria (BP)—Christians in Nigeria plan to celebrate Christmas amid fear of a repeat of violence that claimed at least 160 lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt at Christmastime in 2023 and dozens in northern Nigeria during the holidays in 2022, international religious liberty advocates reported.

After unsubstantiated warnings were dismissed and led to bloodshed last year, residents are alarmed by warnings in Plateau and Benue states, Open Doors said Dec. 16.

“This year again, there are stories going around that there will be a repeat of last year,” Open Doors quoted a source in Plateau State, but did not give a name. “People are scared. What happened to Christians was painful. It caused a lot of heartbreak and distrust in our communities.”

Samuel, a Christian from the northern state of Kaduna that borders the Middle Belt, told International Christian Concern he suspects many churches will use security forces during Christmas services. Dozens of Christians were murdered in his hometown at Christmas of 2022.

“Threats are reported to the authorities, but some people don’t trust the security agencies and feel the need to defend themselves instead,” ICC quoted Samuel, using an alias to protect the identity of the Christian enrolled in college in the United Kingdom.

“Some security agents are corrupt and either allow the attacks to happen or even help the attackers. On top of that, many Christians in the North believe that some politicians sponsor these attacks for religious or political reasons.”

In 2023, suspected Fulani militants attacked 26 Christian villages in Plateau state Dec. 23-25, killing at least 160 in a coordinated, military-style assault, it was widely reported, lamented and decried.

Some reports, including one from the Catholic News Agency, put the death toll at 198, based on information from local news sources and human rights activists. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 5,000 Christians were displaced, eight churches were burned and two clerics were among those killed, including a Baptist pastor and nine members of his family, Christianity Today reported.

Christmas has long been dangerous for Christians in Nigeria, despite their sizable share of the population at 46 percent.

On Christmas Day in 2012, Boko Haram bombed churches in five cities in northern Nigeria, killing dozens and injuring others. Boko Haram led the way in trying to establish a caliphate across northern Nigeria, progressing for more than a decade before being pushed back during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

The group remains active in the north with jihadist offshoots, while militant Fulani whom others identified as bandits have surged in the Middle Belt, according to religious liberty advocates.

Nigeria remains the deadliest country for Christians, with more than 50,000 killed between 2009 and 2023. Of the 4,998 Christians killed for their faith in 2023, more than 80 percent of them were in Nigeria, Open Doors reported in its 2024 World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous places for Christians.

Surviving Christians remain resilient and hopeful despite the widespread death and displacement, Open Doors reported, telling of a congregation that returned to the ruins of its bombed church building to worship at Thanksgiving.

In Mangu, the capital city of Nigeria’s Plateau State, 280 worshipers gathered at what remains of their church to worship after a September 2023 attack blamed on Fulani militants killed and displaced many in the community, Open Doors said.

“Satan, you can’t make me compromise my faith,” Open Doors said the worshipers sang in their local Mwaghavul dialect. “One day God will deliver us as he did the Israelites.”

Preaching from John 16:33, the pastor encouraged congregations to “be hopeful, courageous and resilient,” Open Doors said, reminding them, “In this world, they will keep facing persecution and tribulation, but be of good cheer, God has overcome the world.”

Nazareth has few public Christmas decorations this year, marking the second year in a row Jesus’ hometown has been precluded by wartime conditions from traditional celebrations honoring the birthday of its most notable resident of all time.

Jesus’ hometown and the place where his ministry began also is hometown to Yasmeen Mazzawi, a volunteer paramedic with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency services system.

For her, Nazareth is home, yet she feels the sadness of another year with no Christmas trees in the public square. In normal years, Nazareth has three beautiful trees on display, she said.

With the Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement announced Nov. 27, there’s some improvement over last year. A few Christmas trees can be seen peeking out of windows, Mazzawi noted. But the overall tenor is far from celebratory, her damp, crestfallen eyes in a video call communicate.

Baptist influence

Nazareth is in northern Israel about 70 miles south of Lebanon. An Arab Christian, Mazzawi graduated from Nazareth Baptist School.

Her family did not attend a Baptist church. But, she explained, it was next door to her school, and she was there every day for chapel services.

She said her experience at the Baptist school “contributed a lot to my faith and my life day-to-day and also [her commitment to] helping people in need, definitely.”

Mazzawi said it was amazing growing up in Nazareth, walking the streets Jesus walked. She explained her Baptist school was in the town center, “where we know Jesus walked and where he went to the churches we have only 200 meters from my school.”

She explained her family talks at home about how many people in Nazareth go about life there as if it’s “very ordinary,” never considering Jesus physically inhabited their town. But she and her family think about the fact they are walking where Jesus walked all that time.

Since the war began, she noted, she has been working so much with Magen David Adom, she’s rarely able to attend church.

“It’s day-by-day,” she noted. “No expectations. Nothing is guaranteed.”

Over the last six months, communities in northern Israel, including Nazareth, have been the focus of Hezbollah missile attacks.

The ceasefire between Hezbollah and Isreal may have stilled the rockets, but Mazzawi explained explosions and other smaller acts of violence continue.

Mazzawi works full-time as a business analyst with Deloitte in Tel Aviv. But with increased need for emergency responders in northern Isreal, she has been working remotely in Haifa so she can serve. Mazzawi explained she works two 8-hour shifts a week as a paramedic.

She has served with Israel’s emergency services for about 10 years, joining as a “young volunteer” at 15 years old, until she could take paramedic training at age 18. Mazzawi was encouraged to serve by her parents, Fadoul and Suzanne Mazzawi, according to a news release from Magen David Adom.

She worked with the organization after she became an adult to complete her required years of national service. Then she stayed there as a volunteer paramedic, one of 30,000 volunteer paramedics and EMTs of the 33,000 who serve with Magen David Adom, the release notes.

“I grew up in a loving home on values of accepting the other and loving the other,” Mazzawi said in the release.

“We do not judge anyone for their religion, race, color or language. We have only one goal: saving lives. That means accepting people no matter who they are.”

Difficult work

Mazzawi said serving during wartime conditions is hard. Her paramedic work has called her to cities hit with rockets that could be hit with rockets again.

“It is scary to go to these places, but I turn to my faith for strength,” the release noted. “Sometimes the situation is quite chaotic, and I definitely face fears. But I keep focus on how best to serve the injured and frightened around me. Keeping my attention on how to serve helps me through.”

She noted the difficulty of “disconnecting her heart from her mind” to serve in these challenging locations. “I have to be ‘Yasmeen the paramedic.’ And I have to serve, help and give aid to patients. I have to be with the special units, serving with people I don’t know, who aren’t my team.”

Mazzawi described the noise and the fear she particularly faced serving at the northern border, “but the thing that really helped me is that I believe that our heavenly Father is with us.”

She said she drew all the strength from God she needed to provide first aid and “be the light” in the moment for those she helped.

But she acknowledged that when she got home in the evening, the terrible injuries she treated would come back to her.

“When we go to bed at night, we recall everything,” she explained.

She said her paramedic team was “like her family,” and they rely on each other to get through what they’ve seen.

Mazzawi explained she prayed for the ceasefire to result in better days, noting a colleague’s 10-year-old daughter’s experience—two years of COVID restrictions followed by two years of war with only a year of normalcy between.

“They’re not having their childhood,” she lamented. “They can’t go out and see the country. We have so many beautiful places here.”

She’s grateful the constant rocket explosions, for now, are relieved. However, the ability to move about freely is still largely curtailed by smaller-scale terror attacks that continue to be reported.

Isreal is a diverse country, she noted. She serves with Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze and Bahai, religious and secular. And where there is diversity, challenges are inevitable, she said.

But, “I can see, and I feel that people want to live, and people love life. And so, I really pray for better days.”

A year ago, she responded to a call to resuscitate a baby. The Jewish mother allowed her to pray for her and the infant and began to pray too at Mazzawi’s urging. They have remained in contact, and the baby recently celebrated a first birthday.

The mother commented on the light Mazzawi’s calming, peaceful presence provided in dark times. Mazzawi said she shared it was the Father who loves her shining through.

MEXICO CITY (BP)—Ten Catholic priests and a seminarian were murdered during the six-year term of former Mexican President López Obrador that ended Sept. 30, the Catholic Multimedia Center said in its 2024 annual report.

Seven bishops and seven additional priests were attacked during the same period but survived, the center said, chronicling concurrent attacks on churches and holy sites that mark “an escalation of aggressions that demonstrate the progressive desacralization and absence of any respect towards the holy and sacred.”

Another priest has been killed since President Claudia Sheinbaum began her term in October—Marcelo Pérez Pérez of the San Cristóbal de las Casas Diocese.

“His assassination was not circumstantial, nor was it ‘collateral damage,’” the report noted. “And, in a cunning manner, it showed that his pastoral actions and activity in favor of human rights was inconvenient to those who cut short his existence.”

While persecution of Catholics in Mexico is not disputed, report authors Guillermo Gazanini Espinoza, head of multimedia center information, and multimedia center Director Sergio Omar Sotelo Aguilar, describe the persecution as especial to Catholics alone.

“Catholic priests in Mexico continue to be treated as second-class citizens, while other ministers of worship, whether from religious groups or ideological movements, enjoy freedom, without any sanction, to express their civic opinions,” the two wrote in the report’s prologue.

“This is an affront to freedom of conscience and the rights of democratic participation that are permitted by our Constitution.”

Non-Catholics also in danger

Reports by international religious liberty advocates agree Mexico is dangerous for Catholic priests, but also cite persecution of others, including Indigenous groups and any religious leaders who advocate for morality.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its 2023 report on Religious Freedom for Indigenous Communities in Latin America, noted persecution of Indigenous communities in Mexico.

Currently, about 150 Baptists are displaced from their indigenous villages in Hidalgo, Mexico, after leaders in the majority Catholic area reneged on an agreement that would have allowed them to return home. Baptist pastors and others have been severely beaten.

The U.S. State Department, in its 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom, cited the multimedia center’s statistic from an earlier report tallying 800 incidents of extortion and threats against priests in Mexico between October 2022 and October 2023.

The State Department also reported “incidents of violence against religious leaders did not appear to be based solely on religious identity,” referencing Mexico’s National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination.

“Some NGOs said cartels and other criminal groups continued to single out Catholic priests and other religious leaders because of their condemnation of criminal activities and because communities viewed them as moral authority figures,” the State Department reported.

Still, the Catholic Multimedia Center’s report shows widespread persecution of Catholics in Mexico, documenting almost 900 cases of Roman Catholic ministers and church workers being extorted or threatened, and 26 attacks on religious buildings during Obrador’s presidency.

Christian persecution watchdog group Christian Solidarity Worldwide, in announcing the report, called on the Mexican government to protect Catholic priests and other religious leaders from harm.

The Catholic Multimedia Center “has been documenting this trend for almost 35 years, and it is of deep concern that attacks on priests and religious leaders spiked and have remained steadily high over the past three presidential administrations, with no real sign of improvement,” CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said.

“We stand in solidarity with (the center) in calling for the international community, in collaboration with the Mexican government,” she said, “to effectively address the various factors, including impunity, corruption and the proliferation of violent organized criminal groups involved in the international trafficking of human beings, weapons and drugs, that have made Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work as a Catholic priest.”

According to Mexico’s 2020 census, 78 percent of the population is Catholic, 10 percent is Protestant or evangelical Protestant, and 1.5 percent is aligned with other religious groups, including Judaism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Islam.

Just over 8 percent described themselves as nonreligious, and 2.5 percent said they practice an unspecified religion. The U.S. State Department estimated Mexico’s population was 130 million in 2023.