Samuel Smith and World Watch Monitor
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NAE’s first minority president to focus on reconciliation amid evangelical identity crisis
The National Association of Evangelicals inaugurated Virginia pastor Walter Kim as its first-ever minority president last week as he hopes to foster “reconciliation” and “spiritual renewal” for the 45,000-church network amid what he believes is an “identity crisis” in a politically divisive culture.
350 Nigerian Christians killed in first 2 months of 2020: NGO report
A Nigerian civil society organization claims that no fewer than 350 Christians have been killed across the West African country since the start of 2020 and estimates that about 11,500 Christians have been killed since 2015.
5 things to know about Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is one of three candidates left vying for the Democratic nomination for president after five candidates dropped out of the race last week. Here's a list of five things to know about the self-described Democratic Socialist.
How are communism and Islamism similar? Muslim reformer explains
Speaking on a panel discussion at the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference, Muslim reformer Asra Nomani offered her thoughts on the similarities between “communism” and “Islamism” as both ideologies try to squash religious freedom.
Iran extends Christian convert's sentence 2 years for 'evangelical Zionist Christianity'
A 65-year-old Iranian Christian convert who was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting Islamic sacred beliefs” in January has been sentenced to two more years in prison while nine other converts lost appeals of their five-year sentences.
'Silent heroes': Interactive TV show gives Christians in Iran platform to share testimonies
An interactive satellite television program is giving a platform to Iran’s “secret” Christians to share their stories of hope with the outside world as the underground church in the Islamic Republic continues to grow.
Wife of abducted Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh honored as 'Woman of Courage' by State Dept.
The wife of a Malaysian pastor who was abducted in 2017 is among 12 women honored Wednesday with the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Award.
High school football coach fired for praying after games loses again in federal court
After the U.S. Supreme Court sent his case back to a lower court last year, a federal judge ruled this week that a school district in Washington state was within its right to prohibit high school football coach Joe Kennedy from kneeling in prayer on the 50-yard-line after games.
Muslims' fear of losing citizenship in India is 'genuine,' lawyer tells USCIRF
Over a week after President Donald Trump praised India Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to promoting religious freedom, experts issued dire warnings to the United States’ top religious freedom body about the future for Muslims in the Hindu-majority country.
Evangelicals view Supreme Court most favorably amid big term for religious freedom cases: poll
With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear a handful of religious freedom-related cases in 2020, a new report from Pew Research suggests that Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated Americans to hold a positive view of the nation’s high court.