Churches under pressure worldwide

Hundreds of churches around the world are under huge pressure, facing violent attacks by armed mobs or forced closure by the authorities. But this is chronically underreported. So one of the major challenges we face is to raise public awareness of this problem – you can help by donating a tweet a day to spread the word about churches under pressure.

CHURCH THREATENED WITH ATTACK “LIKE A TSUNAMI”

In March this year, a Sri Lankan church was forced to close after it was threatened with an attack “like a tsunami”. The pastor was warned that his church would be attacked by Buddhist extremists, and police would be unable to protect them. Displaying immense courage, however, he and his family stood their ground.

This time, there was no attack. But soon afterwards a police officer told the church that “Christians should stop meeting together in any way.”

COURAGE IN THE FACE OF VIOLENCE AND FORCED CLOSURE

The pressure on churches is building in many parts of Sri Lanka – but this happens all over the world.

Just a few days ago, four Mexican Christians were imprisoned and tortured following a government order to destroy their church. In Indonesia, Reverend Palti’s church regularly has to cancel services because of the threat of attack by Muslim extremists. A Cuban church is under pressure from government officials who want to confiscate their property. Last month, four people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a wedding at a church in Egypt.

The church leaders we meet are incredibly brave. But it’s unacceptable that this goes on and no one speaks out about it.

HOW YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT CHURCHES UNDER PRESSURE

Donating tweets is a simple way to share information about a cause you care about. It just means that CSW will send one message a day from your Twitter account about churches under pressure, and other cases we work on. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Donate a tweet a day to raise awareness of this issue.

We can’t stay silent. Will you help us to speak up for justice?

WHAT IS OPERATION 18?

CSW’s Operation 18 campaign is fighting to get Article 18 upheld around the world – so that everyone can exercise their right to choose their religion freely, to refuse to be forcibly converted to another religion, and to peacefully enthuse others about their religion. To achieve this, we need politicians around the world to integrate the UN’s recommendations on freedom of religion into their own laws.