The Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation calls on the government to defend the right to life and the sovereignty of the state.

Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko of New Life Church will be detained for at least 10 days, as trial begins against congregation for spreading “extremist material”.

We live in a peculiar culture – utterly different to the classical world of ancient times, different to undemocratic nations, different to theocracies as well. Why?

The church’s worship was previously disrupted in May, when at least 40 Muslims stopped the midday service at the café.

Dzmitry Dashkevich was re-arrested as he was ready to leave prison. He has not been able to meet his youngest child, born while he was awaiting trial.

An interview with Luis Rodríguez Pérez, who follows the fate of political prisoners in Cuba, two years after the pro-democracy protests. “A vast majority of Cubans have been in the opposition since they have the faculty to reason”.

The few religious references of the four main parties standing for election on 23 July show distinct differences in their approach to religion.

Evicted from its church building in February 2021, banned from meeting for worship in the church car park, Minsk's New Life Pentecostal Church has now seen its building bulldozed.

Wissam al-Saliby of the World Evangelical Alliance met Victor Madrigal-Borloz and calls for dialogue after a controversial report on religious freedom and LGBT rights.

A Bible-believing Christian, David Mackereth was dismissed by the government. He hopes his legal battle will “encourage medics to speak out more on these issues”.

The EU law passed in Brussels could “transform the lives of millions of exploited workers”, says the European Freedom Network.

Speakers agreed that instead of regulating the practice of surrogacy in the European Union, efforts should be made to highlight that surrogacy means, in essence, the commodification of children.

The European Freedom Network (EFN) asks parliamentarians in Brussels to pass legislation that forces companies to identify and address human exploitation.

The government prevents Belarusians from complaining about the violations of their rights to the UN Human Rights Committee.

The Spanish Constitutional Court recognises the “woman's right to self-determination” regarding abortion. Evangelicals “regret and denounce the lack of protection of human life”.

For a week, Christian politicians and social actors from 37 countries met in Geneva. A final document delivered to the UN says “discrimination and persecution on the basis of faith” is “absent” from the Development Goals.

The response to the earthquakes and the restriction of human rights such as religious freedom may play against the powerful president.

In Finland, the Christian Democrats are key to the negotiations for a new government. Päivi Räsänen (“thankful and happy” about her re-election) tells Evangelical Focus about the current socio-political moment.

In the Central European country, bans on worship lasted longer than elsewhere. Jan Figel’ brings a challenge to the European Court of Human Rights.

Well-known actress Ana Obregón resorts to surrogacy at 68 and sparks an intense political and media debate.

Xi Jinping is introducing “more intrusive Party control of the two main components of the country’s nervous system: money and the Internet”, says expert Massimo Introvigne.

“We are not against sanctions but for human rights”, says the World Evangelical Alliance representative at the UN Human Rights Council.

Three Christian voices comment on the UN Climate Conference in the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2023. “It is vital that we end the fossil fuel industry’s influence over climate policy”.

A survey by Forum 18 shows that “violations of the human rights have increased since fraudulent presidential elections and the regime's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine”.

A large majority refuses the initiative of the AfD party saying it would criminalise Muslims and is based on “wrong” data.