Primera Iglesia Bautista of Managua is among more than 90 religiously oriented civil organizations that had their legal status revoked by the Nicaraguan government last week.

Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior published a list Aug. 29 of 169 nongovernmental organizations—including 92 religiously affiliated organizations—whose legal status was cancelled.

However, the church’s Facebook page included a video of its Sept. 1 worship service, casting some doubt on what the change in legal status means for the church—at least in terms of  religious assemblies, if not its community-oriented ministries.

A representative for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a United Kingdom-based human rights organization, said the Nicaraguan government apparently has allowed many organizations on the published list to remain open while negotiating ways for them regain legal status—likely by submitting to “much more intrusive oversight” of their day-to-day affairs, activities and finances.

The revocation of legal status for 169 NGOs followed on the heels of an earlier government action, cancelling the legal status of 1,500 nonprofit organizations. Since 2018, Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo have revoked the legal status of more than 5,500 organizations, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

The government announced all property—land, buildings and furnishings—associated with the organizations whose legal status was cancelled will be transferred to the government.

Repression expanded to include Protestant groups

Previously, the government cancellations of religious organizations’ legal status focused on the Roman Catholic Church in areas where church leaders spoke out against human rights violations by the government.

The latest round of cancellations expanded to include Protestant and evangelical organizations, along with other nonprofits that have not been as politically vocal.

Organizations that had legal status revoked included the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association, along with “scores of Protestant churches,” Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

Protestant denominations affected included the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua, the Moravian Church of Nicaragua and the Christian Reformed Church of Nicaragua.

Even before the latest governmental actions, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom condemned the Ortega-Murillo administration for “severely deteriorating religious freedom conditions in Nicaragua.”

In a report released June 28, the commission stated: “Nicaragua’s government continues to repress the Catholic Church for its human rights advocacy by arbitrarily arresting, imprisoning and exiling clergy and laypeople and shuttering and seizing the property of Catholic charitable and educational organizations.

“As Ortega and Murillo seek to maintain their hold on power, the authorities have been using similar tactics to oppress Protestant denominations.”

The commission noted the Nicaraguan government has “resisted any international scrutiny of their religious freedom violations including by withdrawing from the Organization of American States (OAS), expelling OAS staff from its territory, and refusing to cooperate with the United Nation Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.”

In its 2024 annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended the U.S. Department of State again designate Nicaragua as a County of Particular Concern for “engaging in systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

Concerns about impact on social fabric

Christian Solidarity Worldwide repeatedly has condemned the Nicaraguan government for its actions—including the most-recent revocation of legal status for nongovernmental organizations.

“Once again, CSW strongly condemns the Nicaraguan government’s arbitrary cancellation of the legal status of another 169 independent civil society organizations. We call on the international community to do the same,” said Anna Lee Stangl, the organization’s head of advocacy.

“The arbitrary cancellation of historic and diverse religious associations is, in many cases, leaving their members with nowhere to gather for religious purposes, but they are not the only people who will be affected.

“We are also highly concerned about the impact on the thousands of children and adults who interacted with the schools, and other institutions—like hospitals—run by these organizations. Many of the affected associations form a key part of the social fabric and culture of their locales.”

For example, Baptists in Nicaragua operate one of the top-ranked hospitals in the country, a seminary and schools that serve thousands of children.

“We continue to stand in solidarity with those who have dedicated their lives to the improvement of their communities only to see it all arbitrarily taken away by a totalitarian government interested only in its own survival,” Stangl said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: After this article originally was published Sept. 4, Christian Solidarity Worldwide provided this additional information from a confidential source: “While the First Baptist Church of Managua has been permitted to remain open and carry on with its activities despite the legal cancellation, its bank accounts were frozen, and they are no longer allowed to receive funds from outside Nicaragua. The source noted that a conservatory belonging to the Baptist Convention was confiscated by the government when they confiscated the Polytechnic University (which was affiliated with the Baptists) a few years ago.”

DHAKA, Bangladesh (RNS)—Amid a spike in violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh, a national council of Buddhists, Hindus and Christians is renewing a campaign for the Muslim-majority South Asian nation to remove Islam as the state religion.

In mid-July, student-led protests demanding reform of the country’s job quota system turned violent, culminating in the collapse of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on Aug. 5.

After Hasina’s resignation, the anger aimed at her government poured onto religious minorities, especially Hindus and members of Hasina’s party, the secular Awami League, which is backed by much of the Hindu community.

The attacks on Hindu houses of worship, homes and businesses, as well as Awami League politicians, have resulted in the deaths of at least 650 people since the violence began, the United Nations Human Rights Commission reported.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a human rights organization, argues enshrining Islam as the state religion has been detrimental to the country’s religious minorities and aspirations of greater democratic rule.

“According to the communalist and fundamentalist forces, Islam does not coexist with other religious faiths and beliefs and also contradicts democracy, in which they have no belief,” said Monindra Kumar Nath, the council’s joint general secretary.

Dream of a discrimination-free state

The council said earlier this month there were 1,045 cases of human rights violations against religious minorities between June and August. Council members, including Nath, have received death threats for their activism.

Nath called the reestablishment of “a discrimination-free state” a dream “dreamt by the recent student movement,” and one the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council will keep fighting for.

The interethnic and interreligious forum was established by Maj. Gen. C.R. Dutta Bir Uttam, a veteran of Bangladesh’s guerrilla war for independence from Pakistan that began in the 1970s and was fought by people of different faiths, including Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.

After the war in 1972, architects of the Bangladeshi Constitution included secularism alongside nationalism, socialism and democracy as the country’s four founding principles.

But a few years later, the first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—known as the “father of the nation” and Hasina’s actual father—was overthrown and a military ruler, Ziaur Rahman, replaced secularism with “absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah.”

His successor Hussain Muhammad Ershad, another military officer, officially made Islam the state religion with a change to the constitution.

Activists since have demanded the removal of the mention of a state religion, but despite Ershad’s fall in 1990, successive governments have kept the status quo—including those led by the Awami League.

In 2011, a constitutional reform restored the original four founding principles, including secularism, but Hasina and others’ conception of secularism included a state Islam that would also guarantee religious freedom.

But religious minority leaders say they face discrimination and many hurdles to practice their faith freely.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Asia team further explained, “the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist and Christian Unity Council has called for the elimination of discrimination on the basis of freedom of religion or belief contained in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.”

The council has urged the Chief Adviser of the interim government Muhammad Yunus that Bangladesh should repeal Article 2A— which defines the state religion as Islam—because it contradicts Article 12 that establishes the principles of secularism by eliminating communalism; the abuse of religion for political gains; discrimination or persecution of a particular religion; and asserts that political status is not favorable to any one religion.

Last September, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council launched a hunger strike to hold Awami League to its election promises.

These included proposing legislation that would allow Hindus to reclaim confiscated property, the creation of a national minority commission, protection for religious minorities and the reinstatement of employment quotas that would distribute government jobs more equally across faiths.

The Bangladesh Youth Unity Council, a student-led organization, wants the international community to remind the interim government about its international obligation to protect its citizens, irrespective of religion and ethnic identity.

“Whoever comes to power should establish a minorities commission and a ministry for religious and ethnic minorities,” said the youth council’s secretary, who requested anonymity out of concern for his safety. “They should give land rights to everyone and there should be a special tribunal to protect religious minorities.”

Communications laws, such as the Digital Security Act, are used to single out members of minority faiths, especially Hindus, for “offending the religious sentiments” of the Muslim majority. Courts have also imposed stricter penalties on religious minorities accused of posting offensive content on Facebook.

The youth secretary added, after Hasina fled earlier this month, the movement to remove Islam as the state religion in Bangladesh is at square one.

“The mob rule on the streets right now have made it clear that they don’t want religious minorities in Bangladesh,” he said. “They want only one single religion, which is Islam.”

The international community, including the United Nations and the U.S. State Department, has called for the protection of minorities in Bangladesh.

“We have made it clear that our goal is to ensure that the recent violence in Bangladesh is de-escalated. We are firmly against any racially driven attacks or incitement to such violence,” said Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in an Aug. 8 statement.

Not a simple fix

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, said removing Islam as a state religion would significantly improve the interim government’s relationship with India, which has called on Bangladesh to protect its religious minorities in hopes of preventing Hindu refugees from coming across the border.

But Kugelman cautioned dropping Islam’s favored status is not a simple fix and he does not foresee it happening.

“Simply removing Islam as a state religion would not mean that influential religious and particularly Islamist actors would go away,” he added. “On the contrary, they would become more emboldened.”

The interim government’s prime minister, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, recently showed support for minorities by visiting Dhakeshwari Temple, a prominent state-owned Hindu site in Dhaka considered the country’s national temple.

Yunus urged Bangladeshis to be patient before assessing his government’s performance, according to local media.

“In our democratic aspirations, we should not be seen as Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, but as human beings,” Yunus said, according to The Daily Star, the largest English daily newspaper in Bangladesh.

“Our rights should be ensured. The root of all problems lies in the decay of institutional arrangements. That is why such issues arise. Institutional arrangements need to be fixed.

But, CSW’s Asia team pointed out, “religious minorities in the country face regular discrimination, harassment and targeted attacks from Islamists groups.

“During the tenure of Sheikh Hasina the widespread impact of these groups were to some extent kept under control. With her exit, there is now certainly a vacuum that could be exploited by such groups to gain more control of the civic space.”

Whether the interim government will prioritize repealing the provision of the constitution yet is unknown, CSW’s representatives noted.

But if a repeal is sought under the current interim government, the options could be to form a constitution assembly, call for elections or hold a referendum on the matter.

CSW’s Asia team stated the interim government’s current plan is “to attend to urgent priorities such as boosting the economy, ensuring law and order is brought under control and addressing the climate and food crises that impact vulnerable groups.

“Dr. Yunus has also promised to safeguard the security of religious minorities and ethnic groups,” the Asia team said.

With additional reporting by Calli Keener of the Baptist Standard.

DHAKA, Bangladesh—When late-August flooding caused widespread damage, crop loss and displacement in southeast Bangladesh and in the neighboring Indian state of Tripura, Texans on Mission responded with funding for the Baptist aid organization in the area.

 “We have an ongoing disaster relief training relationship with Baptist Aid,” a division of the Bangladesh Baptist convention, said Rupert Robbins, Texans on Mission associate director of disaster relief.

“We have the privilege of training Baptist leaders and volunteers in how to respond to disasters, and now they are putting that training to work and showing the love of Jesus to the people in need.

“Thanks to our wonderful donors, we also have been able to send funds to meet the tremendous needs being faced by churches in the region.”

Milton Munshi, director of Baptist Aid-Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship, said 12 districts are affected by the flood, and it probably will expand to others.

“A persistent monsoon low-pressure system over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal … is causing increased rainfall in both India and Bangladesh,” Munshi said in a report. Also, upstream flood gates have been opened, worsening the situation in southeast Bangladesh.

More than 2 million children in eastern Bangladesh are “at risk as floods sweep through homes, schools and villages,” UNICEF reported Friday. “In all, these floods, the worst in eastern Bangladesh in 34 years, have affected 5.6 million people.”

Fifty-two deaths have been reported.

More than 50 churches affected

Munshi said churches are in communities still under or surrounded by flood water. Farmers have lost their crops, and there are no regular job opportunities in flooded areas. People also need safe drinking water.

In the eight affected districts, 51 of 68 churches have been affected, Munshi said.

Baptist Aid-Baptist Church Fellowship called an emergency executive board meeting Aug. 24 and decided to pursue a two-stage disaster response, he reported.

First, emergency food and cash support for survival needs will be provided to vulnerable church members and their neighbors.

Second, the post-flood response will seek to regenerate and restore the mainly agricultural livelihood destroyed by flooding.

Robbins said it’s important that Texans on Mission already has an established relationship with Christians in Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country.

“These are brothers and sisters in Christ, and our hearts go out to the church as they minister in the name of Jesus during this time of widespread suffering,” Robbins said.

“It’s also inspiring to see how they are planning and working to respond effectively to this disaster and to honor our Lord. The love of God and neighbor is at the core of Texans on Mission, which knows no bounds.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A new Pew Research Center study revealed people around the globe favor leaders who stand up for their constituents with religious beliefs, even if the beliefs are not their own.

This survey was conducted between January and May of this year and reflects the data from nationally representative surveys of more than 53,000 respondents in 35 countries.

Residents of Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines stood out as those who most desire national leaders who stand up for people with religious beliefs. Indonesia had the highest percentage of adults (90 percent) who say it is very/somewhat important.

Indonesians and Filipinos also placed at the top of countries where respondents wanted their leader to have strong religious beliefs of their own, along with Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Indonesians and Bangladeshis were the most likely to say they want their leaders to share their beliefs. Both countries are majority Muslim.

Swedish adults were the least likely to say it’s vital to have a prime minister with strong religious beliefs, with just 6 percent sharing that view.

In every country, the religiously unaffiliated were the least likely to say that leaders should stand up for people with religious beliefs.

Young and old generally agree

While that may be expected, the survey presented a wrinkle: Though there is often an age gap when it comes to religiosity, younger and older adults largely agreed in Pew’s survey that their president or prime minister should stand up for religious citizens and have a faith of their own.

The exception, said Jonathan Evans, senior researcher at Pew Research Center, is Latin America, where adults under 39 “are consistently less likely to say that each of these traits is important.”

Evans said Pew found the United States stood out among wealthier nations in the findings: 64 percent of U.S. respondents said it is important to have a leader who stands up for religious beliefs, a larger percentage than other industrialized nations. Only 42 percent of respondents in Germany and 25 percent of respondents in France agree.

In the United States, two-thirds of respondents say it is important to have a leader at the national level who stands up for people with religious beliefs. Less than half of respondents believed it is essential for their leader to have strong religious beliefs or have religious beliefs that are the same as their own.

This finding has implications as the U.S. election approaches. Vice President Kamala Harris identifies as a Christian and grew up with a Hindu mother, while her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Timothy Walz, is a Lutheran who grew up in a Catholic home.

Former President Donald Trump identifies as a Christian and has drawn support from evangelical Christian voters. His vice presidential pick, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, is an adult convert to Catholicism.

NASHVILLE (BP)—A new Taliban law restricting the rights of women even further has led to calls for prayer from Arabic church leaders as well as Afghans who have fled in recent years.

“These women are victims,” said Raid Al Safadi, pastor of Arabic Baptist Church of San Antonio. “Islamic law and Sharia law deal with them as slaves, something that is owned and not as a human being.”

The “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” was adopted recently in Afghanistan. Among other things, it mandates women wear clothing that covers their entire bodies, including their faces. It also bans their voices being heard in public and adds more restrictions to moving about without being accompanied by a male relative.

“This makes me very sad,” Al Safadi said. “They have no rights, no freedom to express themselves or have a personality. They are not allowed the choice of how to live.”

Twenty years after its removal by U.S. troops, the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as America’s military withdrew. That soon brought a return to the previous draconian laws as part of Taliban rule with the few Christians remaining forced to operate under extreme secrecy.

“It is a mess, and a lot of Afghanis came to America. One of our guys, though, told me through tears how much he praised God. His family was here, and there is a chance for his daughters to go to school in America,” Al Safadi said.

‘The Taliban has taken everything’

Another Afghan refugee who asked to remain anonymous told BP the news left him feeling “completely hopeless.”

“The Taliban has taken everything,” he said. “They cannot see people happy. I am very sad and worry about my own family. I am praying to God to show me a way to protect them from Satan.

“As a Christian, prayer is everything for me to share my sadness, and happiness, with God. Prayer has its own power and mine is that God establishes his kingdom in Afghanistan for his people.”

The new law also requires men to grow beards, bans drivers from playing music and restricts media from publishing images of people.

Al Safadi, who is from Jordan, tells of his own experiences in returning to remote villages that have a Christian presence because individuals have seen healings and been visited by Jesus in their dreams.

“It opens people’s eyes to something bigger than Islam,” he said. “I received many calls from those wanting to know more about Jesus.

“We can reach Afghanistan by reaching Afghani people in America. They are a big field and ready. Share the gospel with them to help them understand Christianity. When they become Christians, it becomes a great opportunity to become a ministry in Afghanistan for the future.”

There is a reason for the Taliban to want to limit exposure to technology. Al Safadi told how sites like YouTube can be crucial not only for Afghans to learn English, but also to be exposed to and learn about Christ.

“We need to work to empower and make disciples of Afghani people in America so we can send them all over the world,” he said. “They are in America, but their dream is to return to Afghanistan. When they become disciples, they can do something.”

OAXACO, Mexico (BP)—The last Protestants in an indigenous Mexican community dominated by Roman Catholics were forced from their homes Aug. 6 and their lone church set ablaze, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported Aug. 22.

Members of the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church and their supporters were expected to protest in the main square of Mexico City and in the city of Oaxaca, CSW said.

Demonstrators called out serious religious freedom violations in the community of San Isidro Arenal in San Juan Lalana Municipality, Oaxaca State.

In Oaxaca, members of the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church have been subjected to discrimination, violence and arbitrary detention since November 2023.

They also face imminent forced displacement from their homes due to their religious beliefs, CSW said. Previous protests were held in Oaxaca Aug. 19.

“We stand with those who are raising their voices today across Mexico in support of freedom of religion or belief for all,” CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl stated.

“It is imperative that the governments of the San Juan Lalana Municipality and Oaxaca State, and at the federal level, take urgent action to uphold the Mexican Constitution and ensure that freedom of religion or belief is a right enjoyed by all, regardless of where they live or their ethno-linguistic identity.”

Oaxaca is just 2 miles from Hidalgo, where Baptist worshipers in several indigenous villages have endured similar persecution, driven from their homes and churches unless they observe Catholic customs and rites, or convert to Catholicism.

Persecution escalated recently

In Oaxaca, persecution escalated Aug. 6 when a large mob of 300 men dispossessed the last remaining religious minority families their lands and livestock, destroyed their crops and burned their church, CSW said.

On Aug. 16, when pastors Moisés Sarmiento Alavés and Esdrás Ojeda Jiménez and two other men went to the community to attend a legal proceeding announced by the Oaxaca State Prosecutor’s Office, the proceedings never occurred and the men were attacked by a mob.

“They were stripped, beaten, arbitrarily detained for over six hours, and forced to sign a document which they did not have the opportunity to read,” CSW reported. “The four men were ultimately freed by the police later that same day.”

Porfirio Flores, an attorney and representative of the Fellowship of Pastors, told CSW that “greater attention must be paid to the issue of religious freedom in Oaxaca. A fundamental change is needed regarding the problems arising from civil and religious charges within internal normative systems, while respecting the secular state.”

The persecution of Protestants in indigenous Catholic communities stems from a 1993 community accord mandating Roman Catholicism as the only religion permitted in San Isidro Arenal, a system allowed under the Law on Uses and Customs. However, religious freedom is guaranteed in Mexico’s constitution.

“The volatile situation in San Isidro Arenal is yet another example of how the government’s failure to intervene at the early stages of cases of religious intolerance and its neglect of education around freedom of religion or belief has led local authorities to believe that they can enforce religious adherence and practice and commit criminal acts against those who believe differently with impunity,” Stangl said.

“Concrete steps must be taken now to protect the members of the religious minority in San Isidro Arenal, and those who are responsible for crimes committed against them must be held to account for their actions.”

(RNS)—On Aug. 20, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a long-anticipated bill that will ban the activities of churches deemed to be affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church or supporting the Russian invasion.

The legislation, expected to be signed into law soon by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explicitly bans religious institutions subordinate to leaders based in Russia.

Even some supporters of Ukraine see it as an overstep in the name of national security, a violation of religious freedom and a potential risk to continued foreign military aid.

The clear target of the law is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with its historical ties to Moscow.

The church declared itself independent of the Moscow Patriarchate three months after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, but many still suspect at least some of the church leadership has loyalties to Russia.

“The government in Kyiv wants to see the conduits of Russian influence in Ukrainian society totally minimized,” said Andreja Bogdanovski, an author, scholar and analyst of Orthodox Christianity.

Ahead of the vote, Zelenskyy said the law would “guarantee that there will be no manipulation of the Ukrainian Church from Moscow.”

“This draft law must work and must add to Ukraine the unity of the cathedral, our real spiritual unity,” he added.

Recent Ukrainian Church history

Historically, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been the largest faith group in Ukraine. However, the country’s Orthodox Christians found themselves split in 2019 when a newer religious body—the Orthodox Church of Ukraine—was recognized as canonical and fully independent of Moscow under the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The OCU, which now represents the majority of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, formed in part from parishes resisting Russian control during Ukraine’s independence movements at the beginning and end of the 20th century.

In the wake of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of separatist militias in the Donbas region, the OCU was bolstered by Ukrainian clergymen who felt that Ukrainian Orthodox Christians needed a religious body divorced from Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill.

Kirill long has been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has justified Russia’s aggression in spiritual terms.

The law, once signed, would equip the Ukrainian government to set up a commission to investigate religious institutions across the country. The commission then would have nine months to provide a list of those deemed subordinate to Russian institutions.

Ukraine’s largest organization of religious bodies, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which represents Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, endorsed the draft law in an Aug. 17 statement, praising the effort “to make it impossible for such organizations to operate in our country.”

Those that sever their ties to Russia during that period will be allowed to continue to function.

What constitutes a tie and an appropriate level of separation have not yet been specified. These details are what in part delayed the legislation’s approval for more than a year and a half after Zelenskyy first endorsed its draft.

Iryna Herashchenko, the first deputy chairwoman of the Ukrainian Parliament, hailed the bill’s passing as a “historic vote.”

Parliament “has passed a bill banning the aggressor country’s branch in Ukraine. 265 MPs voted FOR! This is a matter of national security, not religion,” she announced on X.

Voices of dissent

Despite the broad support inside Ukraine, the bill has been criticized by some Orthodox leaders, including those from populaces that support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Bulgaria’s newly elected Patriarch Daniil sent a letter of support to Metropolitan Onufriy, the primate of the UOC. The Bulgarian church does not recognize the OCU as canonical, but the church and government have expressed support for Ukraine in the war.

“You have resisted and continue, with God’s help, to resist all attempts to create disunity, preserving the unity, integrity, and canonicity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Patriarch Daniill wrote.

Onufriy also received letters of support from the heads of the Antiochian and Georgian Orthodox churches. Both jurisdictions have issued statements shy of condemning Patriarch Kirill’s role in Russian aggression.

But the bill also has been blasted on religious freedom grounds by many observers and is expected to be challenged as Ukraine moves closer to joining the European Union.

“It’s very hard diplomatically to reconcile this law with Ukraine’s European ambitions,” said Samuel Noble, a scholar of Orthodox Christianity at Aga Khan University in London.

“This is the kind of thing that will wind up being brought to Strasbourg, that is, the European Court of Human Rights.”

“It’s not normally the kind of thing that one does in a country aspiring to join the European Union. On the other hand, Ukraine is not in a normal situation,” he added.

Smilen Markov, a Bulgarian scholar of Orthodox Christianity, put it more bluntly: “The Ukrainian state is violating religious freedom. It declares a religious community pro-Russian, which is legally problematic, divisive and ruinous.”

Regina Elsner, the chair of Eastern churches and ecumenism at the University of Muenster’s Ecumenical Institute, posted on Twitter that the legislation’s approval is “deeply disturbing.”

“This law opens a door to serious violations of religious freedom and new fragmentation within Ukraine,” she said. “The amendments of the last months did not improve anything. Hate and violence against UOC believers get public approval. Sad.”

Since the outbreak of full-scale war, Ukraine has jailed more than 100 UOC priests over charges of espionage and anti-Ukrainian speech, including posting opinions on social media and speaking from the pulpit.

The Russian Orthodox Church in particular has sought to use such religious freedom concerns to garner sympathy for the UOC and cast doubt on Western aid to Ukraine, which has been crucial for the Ukrainian defense.

“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being subjected to reprisals for its refusal to join the organization of schismatics and self-ordained peoples, created as a political project aimed at destroying the common spiritual heritage of Russian and Ukrainian peoples,” said Vladimir Lagoida, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, on Telegram.

“There is no doubt that the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will sooner or later receive a fair assessment, just as the godless regimes of the past received it, destroying the human right to faith and to belong to their Church.”

The UOC has ceased to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in prayers and has said it is not bound by the decisions of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“In Orthodox Church logic, that’s effectively a declaration of independence,” Noble said. “Even from the Russians’ perspective, officially on paper, the UOC is autonomous in all things, except for Onufriy’s seat on the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, which he has more or less disowned.”

Still, many Ukrainians remain deeply suspicious of the UOC. In 2021, 18 percent of religious Ukrainians identified as members of the UOC, but months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, that dropped to just 4 percent, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

The same poll found OCU membership increased from 34 percent to 54 percent. In addition, hundreds of Orthodox congregations have switched allegiance from the UOC to the OCU, according to church records, but few monks, traditionally seen as sources of authority in the church, have followed.

“Of course, it is true that the hierarchy of the UOC is partly pro-Russian,” Markov noted. “The allegations about ties with Moscow are often factually correct.

“However, these perpetrations are personal, and they should be proved case by case,” he added. “They cannot be blamed on a religious community of millions of Ukrainians.”

WASHINGTON (BP)—When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the invasion was to “denazify” Ukraine.

Putin asserted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, is a Nazi hellbent on committing genocide against Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

In Iran, the government regularly disseminates misinformation on state-linked media channels about religious minorities, including statements that Christian converts from Islam are part of a “Zionist” network that poses a national security risk.

China uses several tactics to “manipulate global opinion about its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity targeting predominately Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in the Xinjiang region.”

They include favorable fake grassroots campaigns on social media and fabricated positive news stories, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Misinformation hinders religious freedom

Such government-fostered misinformation and disinformation are hindering religious liberty in several places globally, the commission stated in an August factsheet, and spreading societal religious persecution including violence.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom defined misinformation as a claim that is false or inaccurate, and disinformation as a false or inaccurate claim that the government deliberately disseminates.

“Increasingly, governments are promoting both misinformation and disinformation through campaigns targeting religious communities and by denying the existence of official policies targeting such groups,” the commission stated Aug. 8 in releasing the report, “Misinformation and Disinformation: Implications for Freedom of Religion or Belief.”

“Governments are increasingly using such tactics to threaten, harass, intimidate, and attack individuals and communities on the basis of their religious beliefs. The U.S. government, collaborating with like-minded governments, should continue to develop strategies to counter governments using misinformation and disinformation to encourage or justify restrictions on FoRB (freedom of religion or belief).”

Propaganda campaigns amplify intolerance

Government actions in India and Pakistan also are highlighted in the report, including accusations in Pakistan that religious minorities will deteriorate law and order.

In India, the government-established National Council of Education Research and Training published new textbooks in 2023 that removed references to Muslims, including the 2002 riots in Gujarat that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of the religious group.

In addition to targeting Zelensky, Putin has accused the West of putting an “ethnic Jew” in charge to cover up Ukraine’s “anti-human nature,” the commission stated, and has further justified its accusations by saying, “wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews.”

Russia has further characterized its war as the “desatanization” of Ukraine and its “nontraditional” religious groups, characterizing the evangelistic Protestant Word of Life Church and the Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue on par with the Church of Satan. The U.S. State Department issued a report in February 2023 on Russia’s misinformation related to the war.

Such government narratives “can amplify intolerance from individuals who may believe the content of these campaigns and harass, intimidate, or threaten the targeted religious groups,” the commission said, and “signals to targeted religious communities that governments will not ensure their freedom of religion or belief and may actively seek to restrict it.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom pointed to the U.S. State Department’s Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation, released in January, as a positive counter strategy and encouraged the department to continue to develop such strategies to combat the rise of government propaganda that restricts religious freedom.

Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom already have endorsed the State Department’s framework, and it is also the basis of Memoranda of Understanding with several countries, the commission said, including Bulgaria, Japan, Albania, Latvia, Moldova, Korea and Poland.

“In its ongoing promotion of this framework,” the commission stated said, “it is critical that the U.S. government and its multilateral partners also emphasize the profound harms that government misinformation and disinformation have on the ability of targeted religious groups to exercise their right to FoRB (freedom of religion or belief).”

A global human rights organization called on the United States to enforce sanctions against Azerbaijan for torturing prisoners of war and targeting Armenian Christians.

Meanwhile, the president of another human rights group blasted the International Olympic Commission for giving tacit support to Azerbaijani perpetrators of “ethnic cleansing.”

International Christian Concern, an ecumenical Christian group focused on the persecution of religious minorities, filed formal sanctions requests against Azerbaijan with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Filed under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, ICC asked the government agencies to ban Azerbaijani travel to the United States and freeze assets of high-level officials.

ICC cited the torture and other mistreatment of Armenian prisoners of war and accused the Azerbaijani government officials of stirring up hatred against Armenian Christians.

“The reported cruelty committed against the POWs was consistent and atrocious,” said ICC’s lead investigator for what the organization termed “a comprehensive, months-long investigation” into Azerbaijan’s treatment of Armenian POWS from 2020 to 2021. The investigation included reviewing hundreds of pages of sworn testimony by victims.

“While we recognize the complexities and longstanding hostility between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the blatant attacks and targeting of POWs and Christians were undeniable,” the lead investigator said.

International Olympic Committee criticized

Azerbaijan and Armenia have battled for decades over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, also known as Artsakh. Azerbaijani military forces—aided by foreign mercenaries—attacked Armenian forces stationed in the region in September 2020.

Even after agreeing to a Russian-brokered peace treaty, Azerbaijan blocked humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh for nine months before eventually seizing control last September. More than 100,000 Armenians were displaced.

After the close of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Christian Solidarity International President John Eibner criticized the International Olympic Committee for “providing political support to the perpetrators” of “ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

CSI noted the IOC banned Russian and Belarusian national teams from participating in the Paris Games because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it took no action against Azerbaijan for its actions in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In June, CSI had launched its “#BanAzerbaijan” campaign in response to the military campaign against Nagorno-Karabakh’s ancient Armenian Christian population. CSI maintained the campaign was ordered by Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan and of the nation’s Olympic committee.

After a French television announcer referred to “the fall of Nogorno-Karabakh” during the entry of the Armenian athletes, CSI said David MacLeod, director of national Olympic Committee relations for the IOC, wrote an Aug. 2 letter of apology to Azerbaijan’s ministry of sport and its Olympic committee.

MacLeod reportedly assured Azerbaijan “clear indications have been delivered to avoid any future references using similar terms.”

“It is clear from this message that the IOC is using its influence to cover up the Aliyev regime’s atrocity crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is a shameful indication of the IOC’s true priorities,” Eibner said.

“CSI will continue to campaign for accountability for the architects of the Karabakh Genocide, for the right of Karabakh Armenians to return to their homeland and live there in freedom, and for the freedom of Armenian hostages.”

Azerbaijan named among worst offenders

In its annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Azerbaijan to its list of 17 “worst of the worst” violators of freedom of religion or belief. The report cited a nongovernmental organization that documented 183 individuals who were “wrongly imprisoned in connection with their religious beliefs, activities or activism.”

“In addition, authorities are regularly accused of torturing or threatening sexual violence to illicit false confessions from detainees, with those perpetrating such violence facing no accountability,” Commissioner Stephen Schneck said.

The commission recommended the U.S. Department of State designate Azerbaijan as a Country of Particular Concern—a category reserved for a nation in which the government has engaged in or tolerated systemic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

Last year, the State Department added Azerbaijan to its Special Watch List for the first time—a second-tier designation for nations that engage in or tolerate religious freedom violations but not in a “systemic, ongoing or egregious” manner.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS)—In a crackdown, Rwanda has shut down more than 5,600 places of worship over failure to meet the conditions required for operation.

Churches, mosques, caves and tents affected by the shutdown were found to have fallen short of the standard requirements set by 2018 laws, according to officials conducting the two-week process that started July 29.

The law requires clerics to have theology degrees and faith organizations to register with the government and have clear statements indicating their doctrine.

The statements should be deposited with the Rwanda Governance Board, the government agency that registers houses of worship and other civil society organizations. Houses of worship also must pass safety and hygiene codes.

“I think what was introduced—not today but five years ago—is good for the church. The government gave us five years to comply and kept giving us reminders. That ended last year in September,” Anglican Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda told Religion News.

“I think this was enough time to comply. We need to look at this from a positive side.”

The Rwanda Governance Board introduced the rules and standards to tame what officials viewed as an unregulated proliferation of churches.

Mbanda said the rules were good for the improvement of congregations and the people’s worship environment.

“We are talking about aeration, sound control … toilets for men and women,” Mbanda said. “I think there is nothing out of the ordinary about these.”

Justifying the crack-drown

Most affected by the shutdowns were small Pentecostal churches and some mosques, reportedly operating on riverbanks and in caves. Many of these had no address, and according to some claims, were prone to indoctrinating their followers and exploiting congregants.

“I think most people agree with this. There has to be training of clergy, order and sanity in the churches’ operation, so that religion serves its purpose,” Innocent Halerimana Maganya, a Congolese Catholic priest at Tangaza University in Nairobi, told RNS.

“In the current state of affairs, it is the poor who are suffering exploitation.”

Rwanda—an East African country with 12 million people—is largely Christian. According to the 2022 census, about 48 percent of its citizens are Protestants. But, the Roman Catholic Church forms the largest single denomination, with 40 percent of the population identifying as such.

The country, approximately the size of Maryland, had 15,000 churches in 2019, according to official figures. Only 700 were legally registered at the time.

After the 1994 genocide, which killed an estimated 800,000 people—mostly members of the Tutsi ethnic group and some moderate Hutus—the country’s churches widely were accused of complicity in the violence.

Some of the churches were sites of massacre where fleeing civilians had sought refuge. Priests and pastors faced accusations of killing or aiding the murders.

Later, some of the clerics faced charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the city of Arusha, in neighboring Tanzania.

Paul Kagame, now Rwanda’s president, and then the general hailed for stopping the killings, has frequently raised concerns over the proliferation of churches.

In August last year, Kagame threatened to arrest Catholic pilgrims visiting sites in the country, accusing them of worshipping poverty. He voiced a concern that many young people were spending more time praying at prayer sites than working to end their impoverishment.

“No one must worship poverty. Do not ever do that again. … If I ever hear about this again, that people traveled to go and worship poverty, I will bring trucks and round them up and imprison them, and only release them when the poverty mentality has left them,” Kagame, a Catholic, was quoted in the press as saying recently.

Some critics fear the government is infringing on people’s freedom of worship, but clerics and officials say it is about the safety and protection of worshippers.

“Rwanda has freedom of worship,” said Mbanda.

“I think we are starting churches where they should not be. Sometimes we are having church structures that a god cannot live in, let alone a person.”

The archbishop also highlighted the rise of unlicensed preachers, cautioning that some were taking their followers to dangerous caves, rivers and forests for prayers and retreats.

At the same time, Rwanda’s approach to regulating religious groups is influencing action across the East African region.

In Kenya, a task force was formed to investigate the recent Shakahola starvation massacre in the coastal region.

The task force has recommended the formation of a Religious Affairs Commission, renewed registration of all religious organizations, and the establishment of educational standards for religious leaders, among other actions.

Working to advance international religious freedom and combat persecution not only reflects American values, but also advances the nation’s interests, international human rights lawyer H. Knox Thames said.

When people are “free to pursue truth as their conscience leads,” societies are more stable and less subject to violent extremism, said Thames, who served two decades in the U.S. government as a State Department envoy for religious minorities.

Thames is the author of Ending Persecution: Charting the Path to Global Religious Freedom, due for release in September by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Given sinful human nature and the realities of “a fallen world,” Thames—a senior fellow at Pepperdine University and senior visiting expert at the United States Institute of Peace—acknowledged religious persecution is “a challenge that will never go away.”

However, he added, ending persecution “is achievable at the individual level” and in specific circumstances.

Practice ‘consequential diplomacy’

As a career diplomat, Thames believes the United States should practice “consequential diplomacy”—making sure oppressors know they will suffer penalties if they persist in religious repression and persecution, while at the same time remaining engaged in sustained dialogue with them.

However, because of competing interests such as national security, international trade and complicated multinational relationships, human rights in general and religious freedom in particular “often slide down the priority list,” he observed.

That lack of consistency and clarity damages the United States’ credibility when it seeks to shame adversaries for offenses but fails to hold allies accountable to the same standards.

“If we say human rights matter, they need to matter,” he said. “Friends don’t let friends commit human rights abuses.”

Thames identified “illiberal democracies”—such as India—as one of the “most pernicious sources of persecution,” because majority rule can become tyranny unless the rights of minorities are protected.

In fact, if a politician runs on a platform promoting intolerance of minority groups, he can argue oppressive actions simply reflect the will of his constituents, he noted.

Bringing about change in an illiberal democracy is difficult, because it involves changing the culture, he observed.

“Ironically, it’s easier in some respects to deal with a dictator, where you can focus on changing the mind of one guy—and it’s almost always a guy,” he said.

Thames pointed to Hungary as an example of “unadulterated Christian nationalism,” where national leaders have intertwined the Christian religion with their political agenda and used religion to advance their own goals.

He offered hope American Christians will view Hungary as “a cautionary tale” about equating Christian identity with a narrow political ideology.

Principles for progress

Thames presented a blueprint for progress in international religious freedom based on four principles:

• Consistency. Rather than favoring any religion over another, advocates must protect the religious freedom of all faiths and the rights of those who profess no faith. Furthermore, issues of religious persecution and repression must be raised with “friends and foes alike,” he said.
• Coalitions. The United States has a unique responsibility because of its size and influence, but it cannot and should not “go it alone” in advocating for international religious freedom. Furthermore, the coalitions should transcend conservative and liberal divisions. “International religious freedom cannot be viewed as an issue of the right or the left. It must be protected from the poison of partisanship,” he said. “It’s too important. Millions of lives are on the line.”
• Callouts. Annual reports on international religious freedom that spotlight chief offenders and point to specific problems have value. “I’ve seen examples of situations where shining sunlight on oppression was the first step to seeing conditions change,” he said.
• Consequences. Offenders need to know they will be held accountable. Sanctions that target abusers can be effective, but only if they are applied consistently. Too often, important trade partners or energy-supplying nations have been cited for abuses but granted sanction waivers. “Waivers are the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card,” he said. “Without real consequences, callouts are a sellout. They are a half punch—a swing and a miss.”

Thames finds hope in what he sees as “a growing movement that supports religious freedom for all,” but he said the movement needs to expand and grow stronger.

At the same time, he noted the generation of elected officials in the U.S. Congress who passed the International Religious Freedom Act mostly have retired or not been reelected.

The United States needs to “value its values” enough to elect leaders who see the benefits of infusing human rights into foreign policy and who recognize the importance of standing for the religious freedom of all people, he asserted.

American Christians and others concerned about international freedom of religion and belief must not allow politicians to politicize persecution, Thames insisted. They should not permit debates about domestic religious liberty issues to taint a unified approach to international human rights and freedom of conscience.

“A bad day in America for religious freedom is better than a good day for religious freedom in a lot of places around the world,” he said.

The leader of a Protestant church in China’s Gyizhou Province received a five-year prison sentence July 24 for charges of fraud and inciting subversion.

Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai (Love) Reformed Church was detained more than three years ago, after he went to a police station to inquire about 10 members of his congregation.

The Christians had been rounded up in a police raid at a site where they were holding a Bible study retreat.

Zhang Chunlei formally was arrested May 1, 2021, on suspicion of fraud. Later, authorities added an additional charge of “inciting subversion of state power.”

“The charge of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ is a catch-all crime that the Chinese government uses to suppress dissidents, implement religious persecution, and arbitrarily apply to anyone,” according to China Aid, a human rights organization based in Midland.

Zhang has been detained since his arrest and was denied release on medical grounds after his family learned he had been diagnosed with a liver ailment. Last August, he was hospitalized due to gall bladder inflammation.

He was sentenced to three and a half years on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” and two years on the fraud charge.

Factoring in time already served, the two sentences were combined into a single five-year prison sentence, scheduled to end March 16, 2026.

In addition, the court ordered him to pay 14,400 yuan (about $2,000 U.S.) related to the fraud charge, plus an additional fine of 5,000 yuan ($700 U.S.).

The court also ordered the confiscation of “criminal tools” including two phones, four external hard drives, seven USB drives, two card readers, two memory cards, church study notebooks and church financial statements.

Zhang will appeal the sentence.

Members of his church gathered at the court on the day of Zhang’s sentencing, but public security officials barred their entry. Only his wife, Yang Aiquing, was allowed to enter the courtroom.

“The charges against Elder Zhang Chunlei are completely unfounded. He should not have spent the past three years in detention on them, and he certainly should not have been sentenced to any more time in prison,” said Mervyn Thomas, founding president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

“We call for his immediate and unconditional release and for reparations to be made to Elder Zhang and his family for the years of injustice they have been subjected to already.”