A court in Suizhou, Hubei Province, in central China, issued verdicts on May 22 against 31 members of a house church fellowship in one of the largest coordinated prosecutions of Christians in recent years.
China Detains Influential House Church Pastor
Since Thursday, police have detained nearly 30 pastors and staff members of Zion Church, an influential Chinese house church network, in what many fear is the beginning of a new wave of persecution against Christians in China.
Pope Leo talks Trump, sex abuse scandals, LGBTQ+ welcome and China in his first interview
Pope Leo XIV said in his first interview as history’s first American pope that he has no intention of getting involved in U.S. politics but will raise his voice on issues of concern to the Catholic Church, including on immigration.
US Visa Uncertainty Upends Plans of Chinese Christian Families
Zhu Desheng and Wang Pei, who live in a third-tier city in southern China, sacrificed a lot to ensure their son, Peter, received a Christian education.
God ‘Laughs at Restrictions,’ Says Missionary in China
American missionary Caleb Rowen has witnessed firsthand China’s tightening restrictions on religious faith and practice.
China Bans Missionary Work Without State Approval in New Restrictions
The Chinese Communist Party enacted new restrictions on foreign missionaries there May 1, preventing them from preaching, evangelizing and establishing various religious organizations among other activities without official government approval.
Authoritarian rule is ‘common denominator’ in religious persecution, USCIRF says
Authoritarian rule is the “common denominator” in the worsening of religious persecution around the world, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its 2025 annual report. Last year, totalitarian regimes widened the direct oppression of minority faiths in…
Remembering China’s Buddhist Empress Who Paved The Way For Future Female Rulers
In sixth-century China, a woman known to history as Empress Dowager Ling ruled over an empire called the Northern Wei. Historians do not know her birth name or in what year she was born, but they do know that she…
Wrathful deities are invoked in a Tibetan Buddhist dance in a monastery in north India
Wearing colorful robes and fearsome masks, the monks high stepped and spun around around the sandstone courtyard to the sound of drums, cymbals and long horns. Behind them towered the wrathful Buddhist diety Mahakala with his crown of skulls, carrying…
China halts international adoptions, surprising agencies and waiting families
China has halted its decades-long practice of allowing citizens of other countries to adopt Chinese children, surprising agencies that have worked with the communist country for decades and disappointing many families whose costly, years-long efforts suddenly have come to an…
A newspaper, a religion and a dance troupe producing misinformation
Billboards have sprung up across the nation with a simple message in bright colors: “#1 Trusted News: TheEpochTimes.com.” The text is accompanied by a photo of an unidentified everyman. Problem is, there’s not a shred of data to back up…
New report highlights most dangerous countries for Christians and churches
The world is becoming increasingly perilous for Christians and churches as violence against members of the faith continues to surge, Open Doors International reported in its new World Watch List. Based on information gathered from October 2022 to September 2023,…