Baptist leaders from about 40 nations voted to affirm women in ministry and to condemn religious-based intolerance during the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance. (Curated from EthicsDaily.com)

People who endured religious persecution spoke at a State Department summit, telling first-person stories of violence against houses of worship—and the resilience of survivors.

As he prepared for the State Department’s second summit on global religious liberty, Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, defended the event against critics who say that the first summit failed to accomplish more than creating new statements about helping religious minorities.

One is a former FBI intelligence analyst supervisor, the other a longtime missionary. In their respective ways, they are intent on raising awareness of Christians facing persecution across the world.

Two new reports conclude that China is engaging in organ harvesting and a child separation campaign against the country’s Uighur Muslim minority.

Nationwide civilian protests for democracy resumed June 30 in Sudan, where democratic rule could decrease Christian persecution under Sharia law.

The United States is among 33 top countries fighting human trafficking but falls short in prosecuting traffickers, aiding victims and tackling forced labor in particular, the U.S. State Department said in its latest report.

The parent company of the two largest Bible publishers in the United States has warned the Trump administration that proposed tariffs on China would amount to a “Bible tax.”

In Congo, church leaders are stepping up their fight to halt the advance of the 40-month-old Ebola epidemic, even as the Islamic State group increasingly makes its presence felt in the troubled region.

Escalating violence that has killed thousands of Christians in Central Nigeria must be addressed by the international Christian community and by a Nigerian government that has harassed victims, a global religious liberty coalition noted.

A group of chemistry, biology and biomedical science students at Howard Payne helped an orphanage in Zambia improve its science curriculum.

Asia Bibi has joined her husband and children in Canada, months after her acquittal of false blasphemy charges and her release from Pakistan’s death row.