Wolrd Religion

Nearly two weeks of testimony ended Thursday in the trial of Jeffrey and Marci Beagley, who are charged with criminally negligent homicide for failing to provide medical care to their 16-year-old son. Neil Beagley died in June 2008 of complications from a congenital urinary blockage that had never been treated.

The family belongs to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies on faith healing rather than medical care.

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Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass.

Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murdered 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali at about noon on Jan. 1, Amina Ibrahim Hassan said.

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A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday (Jan. 25) for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan.

In an uncommon challenge in the predominantly Muslim nation, the Christian parents of Shazia Bashir Masih protested police unresponsiveness to the alleged violence against their daughter by Muslim attorney Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem and his family and his attempt to buy their silence after her death. The house servant died on Friday (Jan. 22) after working eight months in Naeem's house.

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A court hearing was underway Friday, January 29, in Pakistan against the main suspect in the murder of a 12-year-old Christian domestic servant, her family's representatives said.

Shazia Masih was allegedly mentally and physically abused in the of Muslim lawyer Chaudhry Mohammad Naeem, in the city of Lahore, where she had worked for the last eight months to support her poor parents.

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At least 14 Christians have been detained in Iranian prisons for weeks without legal counsel in the past few months as last year's crackdown has continued, sources said.

In the southwestern city of Shiraz, seven Christians were being detained as of Jan. 11, another source said, and most of them may face charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam.

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