Category: Religious Freedom

Here is an overview of some of the religious freedom developments and news in the United States and abroad in 2025: White House started the Religious Liberty Commission, Lawmakers condemned persecution of Christians, Court blocked law that would require priests to violate the seal of confession, etc.

In past Decembers, pastor Paul Maina’s congregation at Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) Njilang in Chibok, Borno state, Nigeria, spent the week before Christmas celebrating. They often went house to house, singing in the local Cibak language, dancing, bearing gifts, and sharing meals. Maina prepared a midnight Christmas Eve service at church. Non-Christian neighbors joined in the festivities.

Another horrific tragedy has struck the nation, just months after the murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. A gunman opened fire inside Brown University’s Barus & Holley building in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday afternoon, killing two and wounding at least nine others. Officials initially announced that a suspect was taken into custody late Saturday, but released the individual on Sunday morning. At present, a manhunt is underway for the shooter.

Canada’s Criminal Code, which bans what the government deems “hatred against any identifiable group,” contains a so-called religious exemption that protects Canadians who “in good faith” cite religious texts or beliefs. But the left-wing Liberal and Bloc Québécois parties are currently negotiating new legislation, Bill C-9, with an amendment that would remove this exemption.

Several players from the leading Champions and Premier League team openly share their Christian faith in public. “I love it, I think it’s phenomenal”, says Arsenal head coach, Mikel Arteta.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a UK-based human rights organization, has welcomed the release of 100 schoolchildren, who were among 303 children abducted on Nov. 21 from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri community in Nigeria’s Niger State served by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.

The assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk had a significant impact on the nation, fostering discussions on the link between dehumanizing rhetoric and political violence, prompting the White House to investigate left-wing domestic terrorist groups, and inspiring a Christian revival among broad swaths of the population. Now, a new study is examining that revival, its extent, and its impact.

Critics of the ever-churning “culture wars” will often suggest the clashes either matter very little or are little matters that won’t make a big difference in the overall scheme of everyday life. They’re wrong. There’s a saying that politics are downstream from culture, which is true – but so are many other things.

Christians have faced persecution in Nigeria for more than two decades, but violence against followers of Jesus grew far worse with the rise of Boko Haram in 2009, according to Global Christian Relief. In recent years, Fulani militants, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, also began carrying out acts of violence against Christian communities in Nigeria.

Canadian Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis blasted a federal government plan to criminalize parts of the Bible as an attack on “Christians,” warning it sets a “dangerous precedent” for Canadian society.