Crisis in Communion
Sydney supports San Joaquin

Sydney's Standing Committee gave its support to the US Diocese of San Joaquin after it voted to align itself with the Province of the Southern Cone of South America in December. "We offer our congratulations for your courageous stand for the authority of the Scripture and the faith once delivered to the saints," the committee's statement to the Bishop of San Joaquin, the Rt Rev John-David Schofield said.

Persecution Watch
Indian converts attacked in Orissa

Conservative estimates by India's National Human Rights Commission indicate 90 churches were burnt and 600 houses were torched in the Indian state of Orissa in December.

As thousands of Christians have been displaced with others still missing Voice of Martyrs Canada estimates as many as nine Christians could have been killed.

Muslims attack Christian shops in Egypt

Angry Muslims attacked and destroyed shops owned by Coptic Christians in mid-December in a town in southern Egypt that has been witnessing sectarian tensions, a police official told Associated Press.

The attackers hurled stones and set fire to several shops, smashed windows of a church and damaged two cars. Police detained 15 people suspected of taking part in the attacks in Isna, located about 350 miles south of Cairo.