In spite of the challenges some humanitarian aid groups have encountered, Christian Mission to Gaza recently has provided food and clean drinking water to more than 4,000 people in the war-torn country, the former pastor of Gaza Baptist Church reported.

They include residents of Jabalia, 2.5 miles north of Gaza City, which has been under prolonged siege, Hanna Massad, founding director of Christian Mission to Gaza, stated in a Nov. 1 email to supporters of his ministry.

“These efforts are carried out under the care of Gaza Baptist Church, which continues to be a beacon of hope,” Massad wrote.

The Israeli Defense Forces announced Nov. 2 the ongoing military operation in the Jabalia area resulted in the deaths of 900 terror operatives in the past month. The following day, UNICEF reported Israeli bombs killed more than 50 children in the refugee camp adjacent to Jabalia in the previous 48 hours.

‘God’s provision shines through’

In the email report, Massad said a child who received rice told him he and his family had been eating nothing but canned food for a month.

“Our stomachs are ruined from it,” he said.

Massad wrote about an encounter with an elderly woman who asked if the rice the ministry was distributing was for everyone in the camp. When he told her it was, she asked who was providing it. He explained it was offered through Gaza Baptist Church.

“May God bless them, provide for them, and grant success in all their work,” the woman reportedly told Massad.

She explained she had been a resident of Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza, the site of a fierce battle one year ago.

“I left behind 20 dunams [5 acres] of land where we planted strawberries every year,” she continued. “Two of my buildings were destroyed in the bombings. My children were murdered, and my husband had a stroke. I am now caring for him, and the situation is truly tragic and extremely difficult.”

Massad said she added, “Glory be to the changer of conditions, and praise be to God for everything.”

Christian Mission to Gaza has provided financial support to 278 families who have been sheltering in churches in the region, Massad stated.

“Amid challenging circumstances, God’s provision shines through, and it is with grateful hearts that we thank each of you,” he wrote to supporters of his ministry.

Dallas Baptist University’s Institute for Global Engagement hosted a global gathering to pray for all persecuted religious minorities, Oct. 24-25.

DBU offered the event in cooperation with Pepperdine University’s Program on Global Faith & Inclusive Societies, Christians Against all Persecution and Templeton Religious Trust.

Featured speakers who addressed the importance of working for religious freedom for all included Elijah Brown, general secretary and chief executive officer of the Baptist World Alliance; Knox Thames, author, lawyer and Capitol Hill advocate for global religious freedom; and Sam Brownback, former ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

‘Speak freedom with courage’

“Will the international community raise their voice for the victim?” Brown said a Baptist New Testament professor in Myanmar asked through tears, when she escaped soldiers who were going door-to-door in search of her for denouncing the military.

Religious freedom is under threat globally. People of all faiths are facing growing harassment. In Myanmar, both the growing Baptist population and Rohingya Muslims have experienced grave persecution and violence, but “we can make a difference when we speak freedom with courage,” Brown asserted.

Preaching from John 11, Brown pointed out insights into standing with the oppressed that can be gained through Jesus’ interactions with the apostles.

This story of the apostles’ apprehension about Jesus returning to Judea to raise Lazarus, under threat of stoning, shows Jesus calls his followers to go with him into the context of suffering, even when there is real risk.

The text also shows Christians are to mobilize others in standing with the oppressed. It was Thomas in John 11:16, not Jesus, who convinced the other disciples to follow Jesus toward risk.

For Christians privileged to live in places with a great deal of religious freedom, mobilizing can look like praying for the persecuted or contacting representatives, urging them to make religious freedom a priority.

Brown cited statistics showing 10 constituents emphasizing a concern is enough for a representative to view that issue as a priority.

Finally, Jesus calls us to self-sacrifice. Christians are to live, not with closed hands or open hands, but with crucified hands, Brown asserted. Approximately 20 people are killed for their faith every day.

But, Brown said, every person can take steps to aid the cause of religious freedom for all. Step one is to become more aware, such as by signing up for a monthly email update from 21Wilberforce, a human rights organization focused on international religious freedom.

Additionally, every person can pray courageously, speak out for persecuted people and give generously to support religious freedom.

Called to ‘love our neighbors’

Thames explained 2 out of 3 people live in places where religious freedom is very limited. “There’s this community of suffering, and Christians are a part of it,” he said.

 Thames agreed with Brown that Christians’ first response to religious freedom violations ought to be becoming more informed about religious freedom concerns.

He acknowledged the natural tendency to think of oneself first. But Scripture—John 3:16, the 400-plus times justice is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and Micah 6:8—demonstrate the mandate to “love our neighbors, frankly, is more than a challenge; it’s a calling,” Thames said.

The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are not either/or, Thames reminded the audience. Rather, “we’re more effective at each when we do both.”

But, “in the religious freedom space, I think we’ve got work to do,” in serving the least of these, Thames said.

He urged Christians to be mindful of religious persecution of all faiths, not just Christians. Failure to work for religious freedom for all tarnishes the gospel message and undercuts Great Commission efforts, Thames pointed out.

Future of the religious freedom movement

Brownback spoke about the future of the religious freedom movement. When the first Religious Freedom Act was passed under Bill Clinton, Brownback said there was “a real question whether or not he was even going to sign the bill.”

Religious people tend to be troublesome, difficult to negotiate with, and have base principles “you just can’t move them off of” he said. So, it took some nudging from Madeline Albright for the State Department to include religious freedom as a focus.

The plan was to have an emphasis inside the State Department, but also a pure entity outside the state department—United States Commission on International Religious Freedom—that would be more difficult to manipulate for political purposes.

These offices were minimally effective, in Brownback’s opinion, until the Trump administration, when Thames, Brownback and other religious freedom advocates in the State Department took advantage of an opportunity to host the “biggest religious freedom summits the State Department had ever held.”

“Those were a huge success,” Brownback said. “And, to me, that kind of launched the whole movement.” More religious freedom ambassadors were being appointed, though the U.S. State Department still had “more religious freedom staff than the whole rest of the world combined.”

But the movement picked up steam, and the organization of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance saw more countries become interested, Brownback explained.

Parliamentarians have become a “great way” for countries to become involved because parliamentarians can be involved as individuals, not as representative of the entire country they serve.

At first it was only the religious groups who were involved in the religious freedom movement, Brownback said. But now, democracy groups have started to realize religious groups are likely one of the best ways to get into places and work toward other democratization efforts.

The democracy groups realize, “If we can get religious freedom, we’ve got a chance at being able to build some of the rest of this stuff. And often times in these countries, the only people left that would stand up to a government are the religious people. Everybody else has left or been driven out or killed or put in prison.”

So the groups left, who can’t get out, are minority Baha’i, Muslims or Christians. These people of faith will stand up to fight back against the persecution and are good to have on the side of democracy, Brownback said.

The United States’ role in the religious freedom movement is, “we should be an organizer; we should be a facilitator; we should be putting information out; we should be an agitator pushing all these things forward; and our fingerprints shouldn’t be on everything, but we should be engaged in all of it one way or another,” Brownback said.

However, he noted, much of the time it would be better if U.S. involvement was more behind the scenes than visible.

“This is the only human rights movement (from the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights) in the world right now that’s got any juice,” Brownback noted. “Eighty percent of the world’s population is religious. Everybody’s persecuted somewhere, not everywhere, but somewhere.”

And with the global rise of authoritarianism, it has become a governmental strategy to either control/exploit religious people for the authoritarian’s purposes or to eradicate religious people altogether, he continued.

Most people aren’t activists, Brownback pointed out. It’s “pretty normal” for a movement to be limited to about 20 percent of a population. With technology available right now, it’s possible for authoritarians to identify and work to silence that 20 percent who would oppose them.

“The ability to control what people get information-wise is growing rapidly,” he noted. And the ability to deceive through technology is already becoming so difficult to detect, “if you don’t know where you sit now, you’re going to be deceived” with this technology in the hands of malevolent actors, Brownback asserted.

He repeated the urgency of getting behind “religious freedom for everybody, everywhere, all the time,” when it’s the human rights movement “that’s got juice.”

Participants at the gathering also heard from several organizations engaged in global religious freedom initiatives, persecuted Christians and from Baha’i, Yezidi, Uyghur and Latter-day Saints practitioners about persecution faced by each of their faith communities. Then, they were led in praying for all the persecuted.

In a culture where women often are marginalized and women’s sports are not recognized, a Baylor University group found ways to empower women by using sports to teach leadership skills.

Pakistani women from varied faith traditions discovered their leadership potential through a series of sports-related activities, interactive workshops and virtual learning communities facilitated by Baylor faculty, graduate students and alumni.

Under the guidance of William Sterrett, department chair and professor of educational leadership at Baylor, and Mar Magnusen, associate professor of educational leadership, the Texans worked with schools in Pakistan to strengthen women’s leadership and coaching skills in an interfaith context.

“The Lord opened doors for us,” Sterrett said.

The U.S. State Department provided a grant for the IDEA-SPORT program—Innovating and Designing Engaging Applications in Sports Promoting Outreach, Responsibility and Teamwork—to Baylor, the University of North Carolina Wilmington and several universities in Pakistan.

The grant not only made possible a series of virtual learning experiences via Zoom, but also enabled a group from Baylor to spend time in Pakistan leading in-person workshops for women in leadership skills such as problem-solving, conflict resolution and teamwork.

Panel discusses positive impact

Participants discussed their experiences in an Oct. 29 panel discussion presented by the Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society at Baylor.

In addition to Sterrett and Magnusen, other panelists were Hina Abel, Dissertation Fellow in Higher Education Studies and Leadership; Meredith Frey, a Master of Arts in School Leadership Fellow; and Brooke Ramsey, a Baylor graduate and head of the Grammar School at Valor Preparatory Academy in Waco.

Originally, the goal was to make a positive impact on the lives of 1,000 female students at 10 participating schools and four universities in eastern Pakistan, Sterrett explained.

The team ended up making a significant impact on more than 4,800 female students, and more than 7,000 total students—male and female—benefitted from the equipment the group delivered to schools and the learning activities they led, Sterrett reported.

Empowering women by teaching leadership skills through sports is particularly important in Pakistan, where women’s options are limited, said Abel, who grew up in Pakistan and lived in Lahore until 2019.

“Whether a woman is single or married, whether she is educated or not educated, a woman from Pakistan remains dependent upon the men in her household,” she said.

‘Women are severely marginalized’

While women make up 48 percent of the population in Pakistan, less than one-fourth of the women are in the labor force, and only 2.9 percent of women are employed in senior or mid-level management positions, Abel reported.

“Women are severely marginalized by all means in Pakistan,” she said.

When women in Pakistan become involved in sports, they are entering a traditionally male field, she added.

“Women’s sports in Pakistan are not recognized, and they are not acknowledged,” she said. Women’s sports are not televised, they do not attract spectators, and they lack the sponsors needed to secure equipment and build training facilities, she observed.

Living as a Christian in Pakistan presents its own set of challenges, said Abel, whose husband is a Presbyterian minister. Christians represent only about 1.3 percent of the total population in Pakistan, she said.

“Christians—and particularly Christian women—need to be thought of not just as marginalized, but as the underdog among underdogs,” Abel said. “There is severe suppression on so many fronts.”

Making a ‘human connection’

The trip to Pakistan marked a homecoming not only for Abel, but also for another member of the Baylor team. Ramsey and her husband Charles, associate chaplain at Baylor, lived several years in Lahore. Ramsey noted she and Abel first became friends when they lived in Pakistan.

She particularly treasured the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with non-Christian students during the recent trip to Pakistan, she said.

“Interfaith dialogue is possible because we’re all made in the image of God,” Ramsey said. “You find that image of God in every human person on the globe, and it’s that image of God that enables us to develop friendships and to focus on our common humanity.”

Alongside providing instruction in leadership skills, the experience in Pakistan offered informal times of relationship building with students, Ramsey noted.

By “playing, laughing and feasting together,” the students and the Baylor team made a “human connection,” she said.

The Texans learned the rules of cricket and taught the Pakistanis how to play baseball. The visitors and students enjoyed competing in soccer, badminton and table tennis, and they shared meals together.

Together, they experienced and sought to reflect “the hospitality of God,” she observed.

“It’s the call of God on all of our lives, I believe,” Ramsey said.

PLATEAU, Nigeria (BP)—Pastor Eli Abdullah Tinau lives in the charred room that remains of his home after an attack by militant Fulani Muslims, an increasingly violent group accused of killing thousands of Christians in middle and northeastern Nigeria.

But Tinau, a Fulani Christian who converted from Islam, is committed to sharing the gospel with Fulani Muslims as a missionary and pastor of Evangelical Church Winning All in Nkiendoro, about 60 miles from Jos in the Bassa Local Government Area, International Christian Concern reported.

“I expect persecution because I am no longer of this world,” ICC quoted Tinau days before Christians worldwide mark the Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Nov. 3. “I hold firm to my faith in Christ.”

Militant Fulani have killed more Christians in Nigeria in the past four years than Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province combined, according to a report from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, a research, training and advocacy program promoting religious freedom on the continent.

ORFA terms the Fulani terrorist group the Fulani Ethnic Militia, which includes a mix of armed Fulani herdsmen, Fulani bandits and others.

‘Millions of people are left undefended’

For years, Christians in Nigeria have complained of attacks by militant Fulani without adequate response nor protection from Nigeria’s government.

“Millions of people are left undefended,” ORFA Senior Analyst Frans Vierhout said upon the release of the data in August. “For years, we’ve heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attack vulnerable communities. Now the data tells its own story.”

The Fulani Ethnic Militia killed at least 42 percent of all civilians killed in community attacks, while Boko Haram and others combined killed 10 percent, contends the report “Countering the Myth of Religious Indifference in Nigerian Terror,” which spans October 2019 through September 2023.

Among 55,000 killed by terrorists in Nigeria in the study period, ORFA counted 30,880 civilian deaths, including 16,769 Christians, 6,235 Muslims, 154 African Traditional Religionists and 7,722 whose religion was not known.

In its 2024 World Watch List, persecution watchdog Open Doors lists Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians to live.

In September and October alone, Fulani militants are blamed for the deaths of at least 36 Christians in Nigeria’s middle belt, Church in Chains reported Oct. 17.

And on Oct. 26, the Fulani Ethnic Militia attacked a Benue community during ongoing peace talks, killing two, injuring one and torching several homes that had withstood previous attacks, Truth Nigeria reported Oct. 28.

The Fulani Ethnic Militia attack, the fifth on the community since June, occurred in the middle of the afternoon during a Peace and Security Meeting convened by a delegation of Fulani and representatives of Agatu Local Government Area, as well as representatives of the Igala and Ibira ethnic groups from Kogi and Nasarawa State, Truth Nigeria reported.

Many times in Nkiendoro, Tinau has come close to being a victim of Fulani militants, ICC reported. Terrorists have confiscated his livestock, robbing his family of their livelihood as he and his wife continue their education—he in seminary and she at the National Teachers Institute. The couple can afford to send only one of their daughters to school.

Tinau has seen fruit in his ministry, bringing two Fulani to Christ, ICC said.

“I will never go back to Islam,” Tinau said. “Christ has not compromised. I will not compromise. I will continue to preach and bring additional souls to Christ.”

As the young Sudanese child of a Christian mother and Muslim father, Mariam Ibraheem never planned to end up in the United States one day, but God had other plans, she said.

Ibraheem addressed a Dallas Baptist University gathering to pray for all persecuted religious minorities, Oct. 24.

In 2014, Ibraheem’s imprisonment and impending death sentence drew international attention and prayer, before Christian Solidarity Worldwide and other religious freedom advocates aided in her release and eventual resettlement to the United States.

Ibraheem was born in a refugee camp in Sudan. Her father died at the camp, before she and her mother left to settle in a small town.

She described her childhood as happy, despite the difficulties. Her mother was warm and generous and well-loved in the community, even though she was a Christian, Ibraheem explained.

Though she was reared in her mother’s Ethiopian Orthodox faith, her father’s Muslim surname created problems for her down the line.

The small town they’d settled in was under Islamic sharia law. She didn’t mind honoring social customs to cover her hair and wear a long dress. But she said what the school taught about Islam didn’t sit well with her, when she looked at the kindness of her Christian mother. During Muslim prayer times tensions increased.

They decided it would be better for her to attend a Catholic school. So, Ibraheem moved to complete her studies.

A Catholic priest became her legal guardian, a requirement in order for a young woman to secure a dormitory.

The nuns at the Catholic school made an impression on her, Ibraheem said, because they were there not for their own benefit, but to serve the Lord. She said she wouldn’t describe herself as converting to Catholicism, but rather as “growing in that space where she was.”

It was a formative time in her faith. The Roman Catholic Church was open to anyone who had need, not just Catholics. Ibraheem noticed this openness.

She went on to one of the top universities in Africa to study medicine, graduating in 2010, but she never became a doctor. Doing so would have required her to become Muslim, as Christians faced discrimination and weren’t allowed to practice medicine.

Her mom died while she was away at school, but Ibraheem went back to the small town where her mother had lived. Women generally were not allowed to own a business. But townspeople helped her acquire land and set up a farm and a business at the market, she said, because they had respect for her mother.

The day her life turned upside down

She was content in that life, until her husband, an American citizen, returned to Sudan for a visit. While he was there, Ibraheem was summoned one day to the police station.

She thought maybe something had happened to one of the workers at her farm. Instead, it was her half-brothers, who she didn’t know, there to challenge her life choices. They claimed she was Muslim and charged her with committing adultery.

Ibraheem explained because her father was a Muslim, she was considered Muslim, and it was illegal for Muslims to marry Christians. Because she was considered illegally married, her son was considered illegitimate and under threat of being taken from her to be placed in an orphanage or with Muslim family members.

She tried to explain to the judge she was never Muslim, but the judge would not listen.

She had been advised to say “yes” to everything the judge said, but she couldn’t.

He told her she faced execution for being a Christian, when in the eyes of the law, she was Muslim, she explained. But the judge said he wanted to save her life.

She responded: “I’m already saved in Christ. He saved my life.”

In response to her perceived insolence, the judge ordered her to jail on adultery charges, Christmas Eve 2015. It was her son Martin’s first Christmas, and she had been looking forward to celebrating together as a family.

To prevent the government or her half-brothers from taking custody of her son—because it was illegal for a Christian to be his father—the toddler, Martin, went with Ibraheem to prison, but he would only be allowed to stay there until he turned 2 years old.

Ibraheem also discovered she was pregnant again during the prison intake process.

She described games she played with Martin in prison to disguise the shackles on her legs, because seeing her in chains upset him. She said she still has marks where the shackles cut into her ankles when pregnancy made her ankle swell.

She also explained people frequently were sent to her in jail to try to convince her to denounce her faith. They would threaten her with taking Martin away and putting him in an orphanage. She constantly was told all she had to do to go back home with her son was renounce her faith in Jesus.

Other inmates knew of her Christian faith due to local media coverage. They threatened to kill her and Martin. Ibraheem said she barely slept in prison, out of vigilance for their safety.

The priest who was her guardian encouraged her to remember she was none of the terrible things they were saying about her. She wasn’t there because she was an infidel or a bad person, he assured her. “You’re there because you love Christ.”

“I knew there was a purpose for what I had to go through,” Ibraheem said. She described feeling a peace no matter how things might turn out.

Death Sentence

Her refusal to recant resulted in another charge, apostasy, which carried a death sentence.

Finally, she was given three days, she said. “This is your last chance,” she said they warned her. “After that, you have to face your sentence.”

She was near the time for her baby to be born, and the sentence was 100 lashes and death by hanging.

“I needed a miracle,” she said. “I was praying for a miracle.”

She was at peace with whatever happened. But she knew Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and Jesus was in the tomb for three days, so she prayed God might grant her a similar miracle, Ibraheem explained.

At court she was held in a cage, while Martin sat with her lawyers. Ibraheem recalled a crowded room and the fear on her lawyers’ faces.

But when the judge told her to stand, “I was looking into his eyes. I wasn’t scared,” she said.

“The room was very comfortable,” Ibraheem noted. And she didn’t know why, but “he was sweating. He was scared.”

When the judge read her sentence, he said because Islam is a religion of mercy and she was pregnant, her sentence would be suspended to give her two years once the baby was born.

“I got my miracle,” Ibraheem observed.

She returned to prison, where her daughter Maya was born. She received no medical care. No one believed she was in labor, so Ibraheem delivered the baby in shackles—alone except for Martin who was beside her when his sister was born.

When she was imprisoned, Ibraheem did not know about the prayers for her taking place around the world, though at times, she said, she’d felt their power.

Advocates helped gain Ibraheem’s release and her eventual resettlement to the United States, where she now lives with her family. She speaks publicly about her experience, continuing to advocate against religious persecution.

Dallas Baptist University’s Institute for Global Engagement hosted the two-day Praying for ALL the Persecuted event.

UPDATED Oct. 31, 2024, to note the host and event name.

Religious freedom conditions worsened considerably in India this year—particularly in the months prior to and immediately following a national election.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom offered that assessment in an October update on India that provided an overview of religious freedom violations occurring in 2024.

“In addition to the enforcement of discriminatory state-level legislation and propagation of hateful rhetoric, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government made a concerted effort to implement election promises that negatively and disproportionately impacted religious minorities and their ability to practice their faith,” the commission report states.

From January to March, 161 reported incidents of violence against Christians in India occurred. They ranged from violent attacks on churches and prayer meetings to physical assault, harassment and false allegations of forced conversions.

“In March, a group of U.N. experts raised alarm about the level of violence and hate crimes against religious minorities in the leadup to the national elections, including vigilante violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, demolition of property and harassment,” the commission report states.

Anti-conversion laws target minorities

Local authorities in 12 of India’s 28 states use anti-conversion laws—often punishable by significant fines and prison terms— to target religious minorities, the commission report notes.

“Since the beginning of the year, authorities have arrested dozens of Christians on allegations of conducting or participating in forced conversions,” the update states.

In June, police in Uttar Pradesh detained 13 Christians, including four pastors. The following month, seven Christians were accused of violating the state’s anti-conversion law in two separate incidents.

Top government officials have fomented violence against religious minorities, the report notes.

“In the leadup to the June 2024 elections, political officials increasingly wielded hate speech and discriminatory rhetoric against Muslims and other religious minorities,” the commission update states.

Prime Minister Modi referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and repeatedly asserted the opposition party would “wipe out” the Hindu faith in India and make Hindus “second-class citizens in their own country.”

Modi and the BJP continued to support a Uniform Civil Code to overrule existing personal laws integrated with religious beliefs, including matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession.

In February, the legislative assembly of Uttarakhand passed a state-level Uniform Civil Code, “widely considered to represent a template for other states to adopt,” the commission update states.

‘Cow vigilantism’ occurred

Twenty states in India enforce laws that prohibit the slaughter of cows and calves, considered sacred by Hindus.

“Vigilante groups and self-proclaimed ‘cow protectors’ frequently exploit such laws to target religious minorities, including Muslims, Christians and Dalits,” the update states.

About a dozen attacks involving “cow vigilantism” occurred following India’s elections in June. In August, a vigilante group beat to death a Muslim migrant worker after falsely accusing him of eating beef and violently attacked a 72-year-old Muslim man because they thought he was carrying beef in a bag.

That same month, “cow protectors” shot and killed a 19-year-old Hindu student because they mistakenly thought he was a Muslim smuggling cows.

Government-sanctioned destruction of non-Hindu places of worship also continued in 2024, the commission update notes.

“Since the beginning of 2024, Indian authorities have facilitated the expropriation of places of worship, including the construction of Hindu temples on the sites of mosques,” the update states.

In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled a campaign pledge by leading in the construction of the Hindu Ram Temple in Ayondhya. The temple was built on top of the ruins of the Babri Masjid mosque, which a Hindu mob demolished in 1992.

In February, the Delhi Development Authority demolished the 600-year-old Akhoondji Mosque, and it announced plans to demolish 20 religious buildings—including 16 Muslim shrines—in Sanjay Van. That same month, police and government officials demolished a mosque and Muslim seminary in Uttarakhand.

Citizenship laws exclude Muslim refugees

In May, the government published rules for implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which critics assert “violates the Indian constitution’s principles prohibiting religious discrimination and its guarantees of equal protection under the law.”

The amended citizenship rules established a religious criterion for non-Muslim immigrants fleeing neighboring Muslim-majority countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Only individuals who lived or worked in India prior to Dec. 31, 2024, can apply.

“The law excludes Muslim refugees, including Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Ahmadyya Muslims from Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Tamil Hindus from Sri Lanka,” the update states.

The update also expresses concern about India’s National Register of Citizens, first piloted in Assam in 2018. It requires residents to prove they or their ancestors entered Assam prior to March 24, 1971, or face expulsion from the register.

Human rights advocates assert the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship (Amendment) Act “would allow the Indian government to expel those it deemed noncitizens, posing particular risk to the country’s Muslim population,” the commission update states.

Antiterrorism laws exploited

Indian authorities also “continued to exploit antiterror and financing laws … to crack down on civil society organizations, religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom,” the commission update notes.

This year, several religious minorities and human rights activists faced detention without trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which allows the government to designate individuals as “terrorists” without due process.

The commission update concludes religious freedom conditions in India have continued “to follow a deteriorating and concerning trajectory” in 2024.

“The Indian government continues to repress and restrict religious communities through the enforcement of discriminatory legislation like anti-conversion laws, cow slaughter laws and antiterrorism laws,” the update states.

“In doing so, authorities have arbitrarily detained individuals highlighting violations of religious freedom, including religious leaders, journalists and human rights activists, without due process—in some cases for years.

“Indian officials have repeatedly employed hateful and derogatory rhetoric and misinformation to perpetuate false narratives about religious minorities, inciting widespread violence, lynchings, and demolition of places of worship.”

Election impact remains to be seen

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its most recent annual report recommended the U.S. Department of State designate India as a Country of Particular Concern for systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

The commission issued its update on India at a time when elections were taking place in India’s northern Jammu and Kahmir areas. Modi had tripped Jammu and Kahmir of statehood and reorganized the area as two union territories under the control of the central government.

International Christian Concern—a human rights organization focused on the persecution of Christians—noted the election handed the BJP “a surprising defeat” and placed the local legislature under the control of a coalition of the National Conference Party and National Congress Party.

“Still, the BJP-led national government will maintain much control over the area through its centrally appointed governor,” ICC stated.

In an Oct. 11 email to supporters, ICC observed Modi’s influence “was tempered by a surprisingly tepid performance in national elections earlier this year,” but the threat of discriminatory policies remains “as Modi settles into his third term as prime minister.”

“How effectively an electorally reduced Modi will be able to continue his nationalist persecution of Christians remains to be seen, but conditions remain grim for religious minority communities across India,” ICC stated.

Lebanon is facing a mass displacement crisis amid escalating violence, despite for years having “served as a place of sanctuary for refugees fleeing violence, including 1.5 million people from war-torn Syria,” the Baptist World Alliance reports on its website.

Prayer and assistance are vital to shore up spirits and provide for the physical needs of Christians and the Lebanese civilians from other religious backgrounds they are serving, BWA contends.

One of BWA’s partners in the region, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, rebranded last year to Thimar-LSESD. “Thimar” is the Arabic word for “fruits.”

In addition to food boxes at the ready for the displaced in Beirut, Thimar-LSESD has provided humanitarian aid in Lebanon for the past year. Their school is serving as a shelter, where mattresses have been collected for those forced to flee their homes.

As the humanitarian situation continues to degrade with increasing violence, urgent help is needed for Baptist World Aid to partner with fellow Christians in Lebanon, who are serving in this time of great need.

Following bombings in southern Lebanon and Beirut, the United Nations estimated more than 1 million Lebanese had been forced to flee their homes.

As of Sept. 30, more than 100,000 migrants fleeing the violence and threat of a potential land invasion have reached Syria, and the outflow continues, the UN report states.

Since that report, additional bombings in Northern Lebanon and again in the south continue to push the numbers of displaced people even higher.

Choosing joy

A few weeks ago, BWA Women Executive Director, J. Merritt Johnston was in Lebanon, serving among faithful Baptist women and men. They met together with Baptists from several countries in the region to worship.

Johnston spoke about the faithfulness of Baptist women in the region in a video. Though these women were facing difficult circumstances, violence and tremendous loss, their time together was peppered with laughter.

Despite all the challenges surrounding them, the women were choosing joy, Johnston noted.

The women stated the best thing about living in Lebanon was family—biological and the family of God—the community they are experiencing there.

Together, the women “are experiencing what it means, even in times of great trial, to count it all joy,” Johnston explained.

Conversely, the women consistently described “the unknown” as the most difficult thing about living there.

 “Having to live day-by-day not knowing what will come tomorrow,” is hard, yet they are choosing to live by faith, not by fear, Johnston said.

“And what a lesson that is for all of us,” she asserted. If they can choose to live in joy and peace amid the violence in the region, so can others wherever they might be, she said.

Johnston asked Baptists worldwide to join in praying for the sisters and brothers in this region. She asked for prayer that the Lord would bring “just peace” to the region and that God would strengthen the faithful who are serving the Lord there every day.

Today, Lebanese hospitals overflow with wounded. And Lebanese schools have been turned into shelters for those who have fled north hoping to find safety, as the threat of full-scale war looms, BWA reports.

In the past month, more than 1,000 people—men, women and children—are reported to have died in the wake of bombings across southern Lebanon, bringing the total killed in Lebanon to at least 2,000 since Oct. 8, 2023, NBC News reports.

The New York Times reported “an intense barrage on southern Lebanon and a retaliatory attack targeting Hamas in southern Gaza,” on the anniversary of Hezbollah’s surprise cross-border attacks on Israel Oct. 7, 2023.

Several news outlets are reporting Israeli warnings for Lebanese civilians to clear out of a wide portion of the southern border region may indicate a ground invasion could be coming soon.

Even before the current conflict, humanitarian needs overwhelmed Lebanon. More than half of the country live in poverty. Many lack education, health care access and other basic services.

BWA reports more than 1 million people in Lebanon “face high levels of food insecurity.” Its Lebanese partner organization Thimar-LSESD receives funds from Texas Baptist Hunger Offering each year.

Saturday, Oct. 12, is BWA Women’s 2024 World Day of Prayer and  Global Worship Celebration. For one hour, Baptist women around the globe will join together, through YouTube, at 11 a.m., Central Standard Time in North America.

Participants will pray for Lebanon and the Middle East and for other regions in need of God’s peace and presence. Additional prayers are suggested here.

GAZA (BP)—Gaza Baptist Church is heavily damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Its 50 or so members have all fled to safer ground. But the Baptist witness has not left.

“Donated by Gaza Baptist Church,” reads signs at distribution points where Christian Mission to Gaza serves 1,000 hot meals at a time to Muslim families in South Gaza.

An estimated 650 Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians remain in Gaza, down from about 800 when the Israel-Hamas War began.

Nearly a year into the war, Hannah Massad, a former Gaza Baptist Church pastor who now leads Christian Mission to Gaza, believes Christians in Gaza and those displaced will never fully recover, yet may cling to the hope found in Christ.

“Probably they will never be healed 100 percent. What’s happened will stay with them the rest of their lives and it will affect them the rest of their lives, in every level, mentally, spiritually, emotionally,” he said. “And some of them have been injured physically.

“But when we hear, and when we listen, and when we talk, people are tired, they’re exhausted, they’re scared, they’re afraid, they’re terrified, they’re anxious. They’ve just been through too much. The people say, ‘When, when this will be over?’ But we cannot live without hope.”

Israeli Baptists continue to serve

Even as Israel is pulled further into battle with Hezbollah and Iran, Israeli Baptists continue to serve God as a Christian minority in the Jewish state.

Christians comprise about 1.9 percent of Israel’s population, or 188,000 people in the country of 9 million, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics and the U.S. State Department.

Najed Azzam, a board member of the Nazareth Baptist School founded by Southern Baptist missionaries in the 1930s, told Baptist Press he clings to his Christian identity as a witness for Jesus.

Nazareth has been threatened by the violence in recent weeks, as fighting has intensified with Hezbollah and Israel has suffered Iranian missile strikes. The Baptist school has held classes remotely the past two weeks, Azzam said, and is the only school in Nazareth currently equipped with a bomb shelter large enough to hold all of its 1,000 students, as Israeli law now requires.

Further north near the Lebanon border, Israelis were forced to evacuate early in the war during fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Identity in Christ

Azzam attends the Evangelical Baptist Church, a member of the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel, composed of 18 churches and 3,000 members.

“For the most part of it, the church is strong, the Baptist church, even the others,” he said. “Since the war started, there were prayer meetings, even combined prayer meetings between the Christian Arab believers and the Messianic Jewish believers. There were a few meetings where they prayed for peace and for God’s direction.”

Azzam faces unique challenges as an Arab Christian born in Nazareth after 1948 to a Christian family of Palestinian descent. He is an Israeli citizen in a time of war which has at its center land rights based on Jewish ancestry and biblical proclamation.

“All these identities affect the way I view everything, including the way I interpret and read the Bible. But none of those I chose. I haven’t chosen any of these identities. But there’s one identity I chose, and this is my identity in Christ and my citizenship in heaven,” Azzam told Baptist Press.

“Choosing that identity and understanding it, then from that point of view, I see all the other identities as an assignment.”

His assignment, as he sees it, is to be a witness for Christ wherever Christ has placed him, especially during the war.

“So, for me, attachment to the land is not that important, because my citizenship in the end is in heaven,” he said. “To fight for and die for the land, with that perspective, becomes not that important, right?”

Death toll continues to increase

While military conflicts between Israel and Palestine can be traced back decades, the Israel-Hamas War began when Hamas launched a series of surprise attacks on southern Israel Oct. 7-8, 2023, killing at least 1,139 people, injuring at least 8,730 and taking more than 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages remain captive, and Israel believes 64 are still alive, CBS News reported Oct. 3.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, at least 41,788 people have died in Gaza in the war, including nearly 16,500 children, and more than 96,794 have been injured, but the ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Another 723 have been killed in the occupied West Bank, and more than 5,750 have been injured. More than 1.8 million Gazans have been displaced.

Israel intensified its attacks on southern Lebanon and its capital of Beirut, Gaza and the occupied West Bank Oct. 4, Al Jazeera reported in its live updates on the war, and has promised retaliation against Iran for its Oct. 1 barrage of 200 missile strikes on Israel.

Since October 2023, Israeli strikes have killed 1,974 and injured 9,384 in Lebanon, while damaging dozens of health facilities, Lebanese Minister of Health Firas Al-Abiad said Oct. 3.

Offering humanitarian aid

Send Relief, the Southern Baptist compassion arm that provided humanitarian relief in Gaza, already is providing relief in Lebanon, Send Relief announced Oct. 2. Partnering with Lebanese Baptists, Send Relief is providing shelter, food, mattresses, blankets, medicine and other items.

“With Send Relief’s support, we are able to stand by our neighbors in their time of need, showing them the practical love of Christ and offering hope,” Send Relief quoted Lebanese Baptist leader Nabil Costa in a post on X.

Massad continues to hold weekly worship and prayer services online with displaced members and supporters of Gaza Baptist Church, and spoke to Baptist Press from Jordan last week as he ministered to Iraqi Christians and refugees.

Christian Mission to Gaza provides financial support to families sheltered at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox and the Holy Family Roman Catholic churches, as well as clothing and food.

After the war, contractors will assess the damage to Gaza Baptist Church to determine whether the five-story structure can be repaired or will need to be rebuilt.

“It’s very sad, and it grieves our heart to see the damage,” Massad said of the church building. “The damage is severe, and unfortunately the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) used our church building for several weeks as a military base, and they had their hateful writings inside the building.”

But as long as the war endures—and beyond—Massad plans to continue in ministry.

“God put us here in the Middle East, and we don’t want to miss his purpose,” Massad said. “We want to reflect his love. We want to carry his presence wherever we go.

“And the Lord will be with the oppressed. He will be with the one who is in pain. He will be with the hard-pressed. He will be with the civilians who lost loved ones. So, we just pray God helps us to be his feet and his hands wherever we are.”

In the past decade, Save Ukraine has rescued and returned to Ukraine more than 500 children who had been deported forcibly to Russia and Russian-controlled territories.

But those rescue missions only scratch the surface of the Kyiv-based nonprofit organization’s work, which also includes evacuating more than 110,000 vulnerable people from combat zones and safely relocating them.

In addition, CEO Mykola Kuleba has led Save Ukraine to develop more than 20 Education and Empowerment Centers in Ukraine—often based in churches—that provide access to “catch-up” classes for children and youth whose education has been interrupted.

Save Ukraine also sponsors six Hope and Healing Centers that offer temporary shelter, trauma-informed counseling, parenting programs and rehabilitation services for children and families.

The organization’s hotline responds to more than 300 requests for assistance daily.

More than 200 professionals and volunteers work with Save Ukraine to provide psychological support, legal aid, social work and humanitarian assistance to children and families who have been traumatized by war.

In the future, the organization envisions opening Children’s Justice Centers in Ukraine where traumatized victims of sexual abuse can receive treatment and therapy.

‘Children suffering every day’

“God loves all children, and there are Ukrainian children suffering every day,” Kuleba said.

He and some of his colleagues visited Dallas to confer with Buckner International about the Buckner Family Hope Center model, which emphasizes engaging, equipping and elevating families, along with Buckner’s other programs.

“We want to learn more about evidence-based best practices for strengthening families,” said Heather Dyer of Save Ukraine U.S.

The Ukrainian government’s Children of War portal documents more than 19,500 children have been deported forcibly to Russia or Russian-controlled territories without the consent of their parents or guardians.

Save Ukraine works with relatives of deported children, investigators and others to rescue children who have been abducted and relocated to Russian-controlled areas.

Russian officials mischaracterize Save Ukraine as a “terrorist group” that “kidnaps children from Russian areas and sends them to Ukraine,” said Kuleba, the 2023 recipient of the Magnitsky Award for Human Rights Activism.

 “It’s all Putin propaganda,” he said.

Kuleba understandably is reluctant to discuss specific strategies his nonprofit organization uses to find and rescue the Ukrainian children who were abducted. However, he compared it to the “underground railroad” in the United States that helped enslaved people relocate to free states.

Rescue, relocation and reintegration

“We focus on rescue, relocation and reintegration,” he said.

The process of reintegrating children back into their families and communities requires therapy and counseling, he noted. Rescued children consistently have described their experiences in Russian boarding schools, orphanages or “summer camps” as daily regimens of indoctrination.

“The Russian goal is to eradicate their Ukrainian identity,” Kuleba said. “Children are told they must speak only Russian, and they are punished if they are caught speaking Ukrainian.”

Children are taught a distorted Russian-centered view of history and are compelled to sing the Russian national anthem, he said.

Russian military personnel allow children as young as kindergarten age to handle their weapons, and students are given military-style uniforms, he added.

“The goal is to make future Russian soldiers,” Kuleba said. “It is abusive. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity.”

Called to care for children

Nearly 80 percent of the children Save Ukraine has rescued are returned to their parents or guardians. The remaining 113 orphaned children have been placed in homes of Ukrainian families—“not orphanages,” Kuleba emphasized.

“The Bible tells us pure religion is to care for orphans,” he said, referencing James 1:27.

More than 20 years ago, Kuleba felt called to launch a ministry to care for children who were living on the streets in Ukraine. Eventually, he developed a network of centers to help place orphaned children with relatives or foster families. He was head of children’s services in Kyiv from 2006 to 2014.

In 2014, Kuleba was appointed commissioner of the president of Ukraine for children’s rights, where he helped develop programs and policies to prevent and combat the trafficking of children. He served in the commissioner’s role until 2021.

Also in 2014, after the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbas, he founded Save Ukraine—primarily to evacuate children and families from the front lines of conflict.

“We went to the combat zones to help evacuate people,” he said.

That work—including providing follow-up trauma counseling and other mental health services—escalated after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

“At times, we were rescuing up to 1,000 people a day,” Kuleba said.

Seeking to involve local churches

Churches in Ukraine have been at the forefront of providing support for internally displaced people since the 2022 invasion, he noted.

Based on what they learn from Buckner and other agencies in the United States, he envisions Save Ukraine developing a model for strengthening families that can be replicated by congregations throughout Ukraine.

“It’s not strictly a church-based program, but we want to develop a model and provide training so that it can be easily adapted by any local church,” Kuleba said.

He hopes Christians in the United States understand the suffering of people in Ukraine.

“Families are depressed, exhausted and traumatized. But we are still standing,” Kuleba said. “We need you to pray with us and pray for us. We need you to stand with us.”

While some in the United States debate policy and partisan politics, Dyer said she hopes American Christians will focus instead on the needs of children and families in Ukraine.

“It’s not about politics. It’s about people,” said Dyer, who adopted a daughter from Ukraine several years ago.

“It’s about God’s children. I think we’ve lost sight of that.”

Nations identified as some of the worst persecutors of Christians also have some of the most corrupt governments, a new study by International Christian Concern asserts.

Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nigeria and North Korea are just a few of the nations that demonstrate a clear correlation between the persecution of religious minorities—particularly Christians—and internal corruption, “Corruption and Christian Persecution” by ICC Fellow Lisa Navarrette maintains.

Navarrette’s report compares those nations ICC has identified as the worst countries for Christian persecution since 2021 and the Corruption Perceptions Index scores assigned to those countries by Transparency International.

The index ranks 180 countries and territories based on their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 as highly corrupt and 100 as extremely clean.

ICC examines corruption and persecution in 14 countries:

• Afghanistan—“Corruption is pervasive across various sectors of Afghan society, including government, law enforcement, judiciary and business,” the report states. In 2022, Afghanistan posted a score of 24 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. At the same time, the report notes: “Social marginalization, discrimination and the constant threat of violence mark Christian persecution in Afghanistan, rendering the country one of the most dangerous for Christians globally.”
• Algeria—“Corruption is so widespread in Algeria that citizens call it the ‘national sport,’” Navarrette writes. The nation’s Corruption Perceptions Index scores fluctuated from 30 to 34 during the period from 2021 to 2023, “indicating varying levels of corruption perception,” the report states. In the predominantly Muslim nation, Christians—particularly converts from Islam—face varied forms of persecution including social ostracism and threats of violence. “While the Algerian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice, Christians encounter discrimination, harassment and restrictions on their religious activities,” the report notes.
• Azerbaijan—During the three-year period Navarrette examines, Azerbaijan posted an average score of 23 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. “Corruption is prevalent in both the public and private sectors, including bribery, embezzlement, nepotism and favoritism,” the report states. Christians often face discrimination, harassment and sometimes violence. “The government imposes strict regulations on religious activities, requiring religious groups to register with the state and limiting their ability to proselytize or engage in public gatherings,” the report states.
• China—In spite of anti-corruption campaigns and institutional reforms, China’s rapid growth economically and its extensive bureaucracy “have created fertile grounds for corrupt practices, including bribery, embezzlement, kickbacks and nepotism,” the report states. At the same time, Christians in China face surveillance and harassment, and many experience detention, torture and even face death. “Christians in China have reported church demolitions, kidnappings, arbitrary detention and long-term incarceration without a conviction,” the report states.
• Egypt—While the government and nongovernmental organizations have worked on anti-corruption and transparency initiatives in Egypt over the past decade, corruption remains “a major issue” that “affects all aspects of businesses and government,” the report asserts. “Bribery, nepotism and embezzlement are commonplace,” the report states. Coptic Christians, who have a long history in Egypt, constitute a sizeable minority in the country, but they face “discrimination, violence and legal restrictions,” the report states.
• Eritrea—“An authoritarian government regime governs this country, and reports criticize it for its lack of transparency, arbitrary governance and widespread human rights abuses,” the report states, pointing to its Corruption Perceptions Index score of 22. The Eritrean government tightly regulates religious institutions and targets Christians who practice their faith in unregistered churches, the report notes. “The Eritrean government’s repression of religious freedom has led to a climate of fear and intimidation for Christians in the country,” the report states.
• India—While India has passed laws and established anti-corruption agencies, “corruption remains widespread due to factors such as bureaucracy, weak law enforcement and a lack of accountability,” the report asserts. At the same time, the ruling Hindu Nationalist Party has created a climate that has produced “heightened levels of violent persecution directed toward the Christian community,” the report notes.
• Indonesia—Although the nation has established anti-corruption agencies and passed legal reforms, corruption remains “rampant in Indonesia and affects all sectors, including government, law enforcement, judiciary and business,” the report states. Christianity is a recognized religion in the country, but Christian communities in Muslim-majority areas “often face discrimination, social marginalization and acts of violence perpetrated by extremist groups,” the report asserts.
• Iran—“Weak governance structures, lack of transparency, political patronage, and the influence of powerful interest groups, organized crime and terrorist networks often facilitate corruption” in Iran, the report asserts. At the same time, Iranian Christians “experience significant persecution due to the government’s strict interpretation and enforcement of Islamic law,” the report states. “Christians face discrimination, harassment and persecution, including arrest, imprisonment and even execution on charges such as apostasy, evangelism and blasphemy.”
• Myanmar—Armed conflict, militarization and political instability have fostered practices such as extortion, bribery and embezzlement in Myanmar, where Christians face discrimination and government-sanctioned persecution, the report notes. “The predominantly Buddhist government and military subject Christians to systemic persecution, including violence, displacement and denial of citizenship rights,” the report states.
• Nigeria—“Corruption is rampant in Nigeria and often includes bribery, embezzlement, electoral fraud and kickbacks,” the report states. Nigeria consistently ranked among the lowest countries during the period from 2021 to 2023 with a Corruption Perceptions Index score of 24. Social inequality and lack of accountability foster criminal networks and terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, the report asserts. “These groups target Christians often through violent attacks, abductions, kidnapping for ransom, forced marriages, forced conversions and destruction of property,” the report states.

• North Korea—“Corruption often takes the form of bribery, embezzlement, nepotism and cronyism, with elites and members of the ruling party benefitting disproportionately from access to resources and privileges,” the report states. Since Christianity is considered “a tool of Western imperialism” and a threat to the ruling regime, “Christian persecution in North Korea is severe and systematic,” the report asserts. Christians in North Korea are subject to arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution for practicing their faith or possessing religious materials, the report notes.
• Pakistan—In addition to embezzlement, bribery, nepotism and cronyism, corruption in Pakistan also manifests itself in electoral fraud, the report asserts. “It hampers efforts to provide public services, ensure justice, and promote transparency and accountability,” the report states. Pakistani authorities often use blasphemy laws to target Christians, “resulting in arrest, imprisonment, and mob violence,” the report notes. “Violent attacks on churches and communities are commonplace.”
• Turkey—“Corruption in Turkey has been a long-standing issue that is rampant in all sectors of society, including politics, business and law enforcement,” the report states. It is made worse by “lack of transparency in government processes and weak accountability mechanisms,” the report continues. The Christian minority in Turkey encounters “societal discrimination, limited religious freedom, and violence or harassment,” the report asserts.

“Lowering corruption rates can play a pivotal role in reducing Christian persecution rates by fostering a more just and accountable society,” Navarrette concludes.

“When corruption is minimized, the rule of law is strengthened, ensuring governments properly investigate cases of persecution against Christians and hold perpetrators accountable.

“Additionally, with improved governance comes greater protection for religious minorities’ rights, including freedom of religion and expression.”

The U.S. Department of State designated six of the 14 nations the report examines—Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan—as Countries of Particular Concern. The designation is limited to countries where the government engages in or tolerates “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”

The State Department named two other countries the report examines—Algeria and Azerbaijan—to its second-tier Special Watch List.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended 10 of the 14 countries—Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea and Pakistan—as Countries of Particular Concern. It recommended the remaining four—Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey—to its Special Watch List.

More than 30 Baptist families who were forced from their homes in Mexico’s Hidalgo State in April have been allowed to return home, a human rights organization focused on international freedom of religion reported.

State and municipal authorities brokered an agreement between village officials and displaced members of Great Commission Fundamental Baptist Church, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

About 150 Baptists were forced to leave their homes in the villages of Coamila and Rancho—indigenous Nahuati-speaking communities—on April 26.

Village leaders reportedly cut off electricity, vandalized and blocked access to some homes and the church building, and posted guards at entry points to the village.

The displaced families—including more than 70 infants and children—sought refuge in Huejutla de Reyes, where evangelicals provided them food and water.

The municipal government of Huejutla de los Reyes worked with Hidalgo State Secretary Guillermo Olivares and Religious Affairs Director Margarita Cabrera Román to secure an agreement that ensured the religious freedom rights of the displaced Baptists would be observed, CSW reported.

Coamila and Rancho have a history of violating the religious freedom of minority faith groups dating back at least to 2015.

The villages are governed under Mexico’s Law of Uses and Customs, which recognizes the right of indigenous communities to maintain their cultural and traditional local governance.

The law stipulates local authorities must govern in line with rights guaranteed in the Mexican constitution and international conventions, but authorities previously did little to protect minority rights in those areas. However, a new municipal administration took office in September, CSW noted.

According to the terms of the brokered agreement, utilities were reconnected to the homes of the previously displaced people, and members of the church agreed to contribute financially to a community fund, which they had been blocked from paying since 2015.

“The agreement brokered by the Hidalgo State and Huejutla Municipal governments, and agreed to by the Coamila and Rancho Nuevo authorities and the displaced religious minority community, serves as an example of what can be achieved, in terms of protecting freedom of religion or belief and upholding Mexican law, when there is political will and an investment of time and other resources on the part of the government,” said Anna Lee Stangl, head of advocacy for CSW.

“The process of return and reintegration will take time, and we will be watching to ensure that the local authorities follow through with their promise to respect freedom of religion or belief.

“We are encouraged by the government’s prioritization of this case, and hope it represents the turning of a new page not just in the history of Huejutla de Reyes and these two communities, but in Mexico as a whole.”

Baptist ministries in Lebanon that receive Texas Baptist Hunger Offering funds are offering aid to displaced civilians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah.

“For several years now, citizens of Lebanon have endured one crisis after the next, but this past week has been particularly challenging,” a Sept. 23 email newsletter from the Thimar-LSESD ministries stated.

The Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development rebranded last year as Thimar-LSESD, selecting the name because “Thimar” is the Arabic word for “fruits.”

“A series of attacks have now left thousands injured, hundreds dead, and a troubled nation on the edge of total collapse. As fighting continues with Hezbollah launching projectiles into Israel, we wait to see what the coming hours will bring.”

In fact, the day the email was distributed was the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly 20 years, as Israeli strikes killed about 500 people.

Prior to the military strikes, Israel issued warnings, urging civilians to evacuate residential areas where it asserted Hezbollah is storing weapons and munition.

“As the messages arrived, parents rushed to pick up their children from school just as classes for the new school year got underway,” the email newsletter stated.

School prepares to house displaced people

Beirut Baptist School—located in a largely non-Christian area—“began preparing its campus to host people displaced by fighting, just as it did during the last full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006,” the email reported.

While requesting prayer from supporters of its ministry, Thimar-LSESD reported it is prepared to respond to needs.

“At our offices on the outskirts of Beirut, we have food boxes ready to distribute to people displaced by fighting,” the email newsletter stated.

“Meanwhile, our aid and development ministry, Middle East Revive and Thrive, has been providing humanitarian support to people affected by the conflict for nearly a year. In addition, we have set up a Lebanon Emergency Fund to meet additional needs as they arise.”

The Texas Baptist Hunger Offering provides funds that help enable Thimar-LSESD to provide food assistance to at-risk families, along with feminine hygiene products and heating fuel for the winter. The offering also enables Middle East Revive and Thrive to supply hygiene kits that churches distribute to refugees and other displaced people.