Middle East

By George Whitten, BosNewsLife Jerusalem Bureau Chief reporting from Israel JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- Religious Jews from across Israel calling themselves 'Anti-Missionaries' were to meet Tuesday, September 14, in Jerusalem to discuss the "growing problem" of Christian missionaries and Messianic churches in the Jewish state.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by Joseph DeCaro KHAFJI, SAUDI ARABIA (BosNewsLife)– Concerns remained Thursday, September 11, over the whereabouts of dozens of Christians detained in Saudi Arabia for worshiping in an underground house church, Christians said.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- With several of its members in jail this Easter, Iran's largest evangelical house church movement has denied Iranian media claims that they are "Non-Trinitarian Christians" who follow "an American cult leader".

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- Israeli authorities continue to investigate an arson attack on a Jerusalem church building that church h officials say has long been a focal point for anti-Christian sentiment in a Jewish ultra-Orthodox-leaning neighborhood.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service BRUSSELS/CAIRO (BosNewsLife)-- An influential Christian legislator wants the European Union to pressure Egypt to change its "anti-Israel course" after the country's president attended an anti-Semitic prayer service.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- An Iranian court forced a Christian convert with a Muslim background to sign a confession that she is "mentally unstable" and placed her under three months of house arrest in the city of Mashhad, 850 kilometers (530 miles) east of the capital Tehran, trial observers said.

By Eric Leijenaar, BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent reporting from the Netherlands AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (BosNewsLife)-- Translators of U.S.-based Wycliffe Associates have launched two Bible translation projects in countries where evangelism, or even reading a Bible, is forbidden.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian authorities seized thousands of Bibles in north-west Iran and destroyed a church in the Islamic country's south-east as part of a wider crackdown on Christianity, Iranian Christians said in messages monitored by BosNewsLife Tuesday, August 16.  

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Activists and Christians are concerned over the whereabouts of three detained Christian artists, including an actor who played the role of Jesus in an Iranian language film on the life of Jesus Christ. Shahram Ghaedi, who starred in the Iranian "Jesus" film, and artists Heshmat Shafiei and Emad Haqi were reportedly detained September 27 in the city of Fooladshahr, in Isfahan province.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BosNewsLife)-- Pope Francis has visited Iraq to reassure the nation’s dwindling Christian community of his...