Category: Religious Freedom

For the second year in a row, Illinois has ranked as the best state for religious liberty because it has the most safeguards in place, while a majority of other states continue to lack adequate protections for people of faith. The Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy at First Liberty Institute released its third annual Religious Liberty in the States report last week. The report ranks all 50 states based on the presence or absence of religious liberty safeguards. For the second year in a row, Illinois was ranked the best state for religious liberty, while West Virginia was ranked the worst.

Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese and Bangladeshis are some of the population groups being reached by the Rhema evangelical church in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. This community began in 2010 with a group of just four people attending and holding one service a month. Since then, they have experienced a steady growth.

While religion – the sum of relations binding us to God – is necessary in itself, it also provides benefits for individuals, families and states, setting their conceptual basis and safeguarding their proper functioning.

Terrorist attacks have forced a denomination to close 70 churches in central Nigeria’s Plateau state, while in the country’s northwest, Christians are celebrating the release of a kidnapped priest. The Rev. Amos Mohzo, president of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that attacks by Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists have forced 70 congregations in Plateau state’s Mangu and Bokkos counties to stop services in the past two years.