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Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / Archives for Christian Churches

Christian Churches

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Sinicization Turns Churches into CCP Clubs

The so-called “four requirements” campaign demands religious venues in China to perform nationalist rituals, preach socialist morality under the watch of state inspectors.

Lin Yijiang

Newest

The three pastors who started the “Tonchev” case at the European Court of Human Rights: from the left, Zhivko Tonchev, of the Unified Bulgarian Good News Church; Stefan Krastev, of the Evangelical Pentecostal Church Philadelphia; and Radoslav Kiryakov, of the First Congregational Evangelical Church. From Facebook.

12/30/2022 Massimo Introvigne

European Court of Human Rights: Governments Should Not Call Minority Religions “Cults”

The Court ruled in favor of three Bulgarian Evangelical churches, and said its case law has “evolved” since it refused to censor two French report on “cults” in 2001.

The notice by the Changchun City Civil Affairs Bureau against Changchun Sunshine Reformed Church. From Weibo.

09/20/2022 Tao Niu

Changchun Sunshine Reformed Church Banned in Jilin

The raid of August 21 has been followed by a formal notice that Pastor Guo Muyun’s house church is “illegal” and should be liquidated.

Father Benedict Kiely. Courtesy of Father Benedict Kiely.

09/08/2022 Marco Respinti

London Has Now the First Shrine for Persecuted Christians in Europe

An initiative of Father Benedict Kiely, it reminds the world that Christians are the most persecuted minority internationally.

The author Marco Respinti in front of the Museum.

07/30/2022 Marco Respinti

A Bitter Winter Reporter Visits the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.

An outstanding testimony to the most printed, translated, and read book of all human history also demonstrates the vital need for religious liberty.

Marijana Petir

07/25/2022 Marco Respinti

Supporting Persecuted Christians in Nigeria: An Interview with Croatian MP Marijana Petir

The massacre of Nigerian Christians is at risk of escalating to genocide. A Croatian politician explains how we may help.

Ashfaq Masih. From Twitter.

07/11/2022 Daniela Bovolenta

Ashfaq Masih: Another Christian Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy in Pakistan

Claiming during a commercial dispute that he “follows only Jesus” and does not give discounts to members of Sufi ascetic orders was enough for getting a capital sentence.

A protest against blasphemy laws and the persecution of Christians in Pakistan.

04/29/2022 Massimo Introvigne

European Court of Human Rights: “Christians Converts Are Persecuted in Pakistan”

A refugee who converted from Islam to the Salvation Army cannot be sent back from Switzerland to Pakistan, the Court said.
By Massimo Introvigne
Image 1: A protest against blasphemy laws and the persecution of Christians in Pakistan. Credits.
On April 26, 2022, in the case “M.A.M. v. Switzerland,” the European Court of Human Rights has established the principle that those who convert from Islam to Christianity are at serious risk of persecution in Pakistan and are in principle entitled to asylum.
The decision is significant because it concerns a case of so-called conversion “sur place,” i.e., that occurred after asylum seekers left their country of origin. M.A.M. left Pakistan because he felt at risk due to a vendetta involving his family and a family of neighbors, which the Swiss authorities and the European Court agree would not justify asylum.
However, after he arrived in Switzerland, M.A.M., a Muslim, converted to Christianity and joined the Salvation Army. The Swiss authorities and courts agreed that his conversion was sincere and that he is an active member of the Salvation Army in Switzerland.
M.A.M. then based his asylum request on the fact that converts from Islam to Christianity may be easily accused of blasphemy and arrested for a crime that is punished by the death penalty under Pakistani law. Even when they are not arrested and sentenced, converts may be killed by their relatives, who then are declared not guilty by courts or receive very mild sentences. In the case of M.A.M., the fact that his brother was an imam made the risk even higher.
The Swiss authorities and judges, up to a decision of the Federal Administrative Court of June 2, 2020, rejected the asylum request. They examined several COI (Country of Origin Information) documents about Pakistan, and concluded that Christianity is not banned in the country and there is no general persecution of Christians there. As for blasphemy, they interpreted Pakistani law in the sense that the crime is committed only by those who publicly insult or disparage Islam, which was not the case of M.A.M.
M.A.M. was supported by ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom), the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), and Ordo Iuris – Institute for Legal Culture in his recourse to the European Court of Human Rights. The latter examined COI and documents dealing with blasphemy laws and the situation of converts from Islam to Christianity in Pakistan, including the European Parliament resolution of 29 April 2021 on blasphemy laws in Pakistan and the U.K. “Country Policy and Information Note—Pakistan: Christians and Christian Converts” of February 2021. These documents were published after the Swiss Federal Administrative Court 2020 decision, but describe a situation that existed well before.
The European Court concluded that the Swiss authorities and courts had focused their attention on the situation of Christians in Pakistan in general, but failed to examine the specific situation of Christian converts from Islam. They are indeed at risk of being either executed on the basis of the blasphemy laws, as charges of offending Islam are often trumped-up, or killed by their relatives.
For these reasons the European Court, which has not the power to grant asylum, blocked the deportation of M.A.M. back to Pakistan and asked Switzerland to reconsider his asylum request taking into accounts the principles established in the European decision.
The decision hits both Pakistan and the restrictive asylum policies prevailing in Switzerland. Already on July 27, 2021, the United Nations Committee Against Torture had ruled against Switzerland after it had denied asylum to a member of The Church of Almighty God who had escaped from China, stating that Christians in general are at risk of persecution and torture in China unless they belong to the government-controlled Three Self Church and Patriotic Catholic Church.

Räsänen surrounded by reporters. Source: Alliance Defending Freedom International.

04/04/2022 Massimo Introvigne

MP Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola: What Their Legal Victory Really Means

A Finnish court found them not guilty of homophobic hate speech. It does not mean that religious liberty justifies everything. But it means that not every religious-based criticism of certain lifestyles is hate speech.

TV News show christian churches vandalized

01/21/2022 PierLuigi Zoccatelli

Christian Churches Vandalized Again Across United States

The incidents are just too numerous to explain all of them away with mental health issues of the perpetrators

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MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

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MARCO RESPINTI

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