Christmas isn't over yet, and neither is holiday persecution

Even as Christians in free countries gathered together for worship or family celebrations this Christmas, fellow believers in India, China, and Iran faced arrest and detention. In Egypt, the government is stepping up security to protect Coptic Christians who will celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, in keeping with the Orthodox Church’s liturgical calendar.

Asia News reported that Indian Christians in both Orissa and Madhya Pradesh spent Christmas in jail, after Hindu fundamentalists disrupted separate Protestant and pentecostal gatherings and accused Christians of forced conversions. Police arrested three pastors and six others after interrupting a prayer service in the village of Balisuda. Officials also arrested Christians after a Hindu extremist mob stormed the Friends Missionary Prayer Band building in Deogarh on Christmas Day, Asia News reported.

Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told Asia News it was “a serious violation of religious freedom.”

Christians faced increased persecution in India in 2014, and knew celebrating Christmas could make them targets, according to persecution monitoring groups.

In China, police interrupted a gathering of Christians in Sichuan province on Dec. 24, detaining three people for five, 10, and 12 days each, according to China Aid. The police also confiscated musical instruments but said they would be returned.

“The police said our gathering was illegal,” Ma Yuying, one of the detainees told China Aid. “At the time [of the raid], there were eight of us. The church members were outside and I was preparing a meal for them. That place is not our gathering place, and we were preparing to celebrate Christmas on the next day. There was no [illegal] activity in the home.”

The Chinese government’s cross removal campaign also continued during the Christmas season, causing injury to some Christians in Dingqiao who attempted to stop the demolition of their church’s cross, according to Asia News.

The Christmas season also brought increased government pressure and scrutiny of Christians in Iran. The day after Christmas, Iranian authorities raided the Tehran home of Pastor Victor Bet-Tamarz, an Assyrian Christian, Mohabat News reported.

Officials seized Bibles, phones, and identification documents, and searched, detained, and interrogated everyone in attendance, according to Mohabat News. After the questioning, they arrested Bet-Tamarz and took him to Evin prison, along with another man.

Mohabat News reported Bet-Tamarz was officially recognized as a pastor by the Iranian government and had worked in the Iranian Pentecostal church for many years. But in 2009, the government shut down Farsi-language services at his church. After he refused to agree to the government’s demands to ban non-Assyrians from his church, the government forced him out of official ministry.

In Egypt, Coptic Christians will mark the birth of Jesus on Jan. 7, and security forces are preparing for possible attacks, according to Agenzia Fides. In the past, extremists have staged attacks near churches, so Christians will mingle with police patrols on their way to worship Wednesday.