Iranian Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces the death penalty for charges stemming from his devotion to his faith. Today on the Word on Fire blog, we have collected links to news articles and blogs about this tragic story.
Gone are the days of Christians being persecuted for their faith?
Hardly.
Iranian Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces the death penalty in his home country, and while the government is now saying his crimes were security-related, the initial charge against him was for apostasy.
The charge, which accused Nadarkhani of turning his back on Islam, and subsequent death sentence, surfaced in 2010 and became front page news again last week when his captors gave him a chance to racant his faith and Nadarkhani refused.
Even with the different charges now levied against him, Nadarkhani still faces the death penalty. The most recent charge is for rape.
Christians are far from being exempt from religious persecution—as the destruction of three Catholic churches in Indonesia earlier this year attest—despite numbering over 2 billion worldwide.
To read more about Nadarkhani’s plight, see the following links.
To read more about the Catholic churches destroyed in Indonesia earlier this year, see the following links.
Please pray for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and the persecuted Christians in the Middle East.