News and Views 7th May 2026 

The Middle East

• Amidst many hardships, the Church in Iran is thriving. The war in Iran has brought enormous challenges to all Iranians. “Life is hard,” said one leader in Iran’s house church movement. “But we are continuing. And the Lord is showing His glory.” With government authorities focused on military operations and internal stability, believers have found increased opportunities to meet, evangelise, and distribute Scripture. Voice of the Martyrs (VoM) has distributed several thousand Bibles since the conflict began earlier this year, despite it being against the law to do so. Many have turned to Christ as a result. After the January crackdown, Christians have also been going into hospitals to pray with the wounded and working hard to care for their grieving neighbours with comfort and love – also sharing food packages and other supplies. 
• A spiritual turning point for Iran. One underground fellowship, forced to flee its city due to nearby attacks, chose to remain together rather than scatter. It became a church camp revival, seasoned with worship, teaching, and deep spiritual strengthening among the group. As another group of 9 Christians continued to meet amid the chaos and violence, friends and family members noticed the peace they had and wanted to know more – consequently, the group has since more than doubled in size. VoM said no Christian connected with the charity has asked to flee the country. Instead, many view this moment as divinely appointed. “We want to be here… to see the harvest”, said one. “This is a spiritual turning point for Iran.” On being asked why they were willing to suffer for the gospel, one couple said: “Because we have tasted and we have seen.” “The church in Iran is alive”, said another.

Persecution of Christians

• Islamic State massacres Christians in Congo. A new report from Amnesty International provides shocking revelations regarding a string of attacks by Islamic State linked terrorist group the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Democratic Republic of Congo last year, one of which saw the slaughter of at least 60 individuals in front of their families. Indeed, the ADF has killed, kidnapped and tortured across swathes of eastern DRC – the great majority of victims being Christians, although it also kills local Muslims who disagree with their interpretation of Islam. Amnesty said the attacks amounted to crimes against humanity, but that these have been overlooked. Tragically, as with the murder of Christians by Islamists elsewhere in Africa, this tragedy has attracted next to no attention in the Western press.

• Uganda: Suspected Muslim extremists brutally beat and fatally stabbed an evangelist in central Uganda, shortly after he preached at a Gospel event.
• India: Two Christian evangelists in central India were brutally beaten by 40 extremists and charged with carrying out religious conversions.
• Nigeria: In almost daily attacks on Christians, Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a village in the north east of the country that killed at least 29, including Christians.
• Egypt: A court has rejected a petition seeking to establish Easter as an official national holiday, instead imposing penalties on Christians who wish to observe their faith’s holiest day.
• Pakistan: A 14-year-old Christian girl has died in hospital in Karachi after she was abducted from her home and was sexually assaulted.
• Indonesia: Authorities in Java have evicted worshippers following protests by residents against their church presence.
• Russia: A prominent Christian preacher and activist known for his anti-war views has died in Russian custody, raising fresh concerns.

Antisemitism

• Avoiding the ‘root cause’ of antisemitism in Britain. While politicians appear to have finally agreed to the country needing to get to the ‘root cause’ of antisemitism in Britain – few have been prepared to state what that involves. Most media outlets have also been silent on the matter. At least one or two right-leaning newspapers are openly declaring that banning pro-Palestinian marches will by no means, in themselves, eradicate the scourge of antisemitism from the UK, even noting that ‘The silence on how to deal with antisemitism is deafening’.
• Getting to grips with the matter. GB News went a bit further, observing that antisemitic attitudes are notably more prevalent among British Muslims compared to the general public, with "elevated levels of anti-Jewish hostility" and "conspiratorial beliefs" within British Muslim communities. Meanwhile, it took Spiked to note that most antisemitism in the UK “is coming from Islamists, especially when it takes the form of terrorist violence targeted against Jews”, while Jewish News reported transparently on ‘The Muslim antisemitism debate Britain keeps avoiding.’ The Spectator, similarly, was not afraid to headline that ‘Britain is facing an Islamist insurgency.’
• Islam and antisemitism. Writing for The Frank Report, Frank Haviland was perhaps more outspoken still, boldly declaring that “the cause of the Jew-hatred we are witnessing day in, day out on the streets of Britain is a direct consequence of Islamic extremism, and by extension of Islam and its adherents in this country.” But as Haviland explains, no politician wants to recognise the problem for what it is because that carries a significant political cost. “Labour needs those Muslim votes in its urban heartlands. Khan’s mayoralty depends on them. And the entire multiculturalism project cannot easily admit that large-scale immigration from cultures where anti-Semitism is religious and cultural mainstream (and where Christians are regarded as infidels) has imported the problem.” 
• Yet, while Islam is a root cause of antisemitism, it is clearly not the only cause – just as it wasn’t in Nazi Germany (though it played its part). This is obvious, for example, from the fact that the Green Party is currently investigating more than 30 council candidates for alleged anti-Semitism. Read also here.

Sexuality

• Sam Allberry forced to quit over same-sex relationship. Sam Allberry was for many years a high-profile evangelical leader who publicly professed celibacy while acknowledging same-sex attraction. He was one of the best-known evangelical voices addressing the difficult issues of sexuality, singleness, and Christian discipleship – writing a best-selling evangelical book on the topic of same-sex attraction. Allberry last week resigned from his church office due to confessing an inappropriate relationship with an ‘adult male’ in 2024. Almost instantly, Allberry was ‘cancelled’ by the evangelical Church. He was an ‘editor’ at The Gospel Coalition, which has since removed all his articles. He wrote extensively for Desiring God, and a number of books for The Good Book Company. They're no longer selling them.
• Resignation leads to deeper theological debate. While he is being almost universally mocked by many believers for his hypocrisy and condemned by others for being a vile sodomite, a deeper debate is flooding social media over Allberry’s position on concupiscence (the idea that a predisposition / attraction to sin is not sin in itself – that it only becomes sin when acted upon). Many commentators are now denouncing this theological standpoint, insisting that the attraction itself is sinful, and that for Allberry to say he is ‘same sex attracted’ means that he was already disqualified from any form of church leadership role.
• Wisdom, restoration and grace. A few lone voices have noted that Allberry's disqualification was not due to sexual or romantic impropriety, but a "sinful emotional attachment." They also note that Allberry has consistently affirmed the biblical position on marriage and called same sex attraction a consequence of the fall. They call the desire to gossip and breed quarrels as lamentable and disappointing, requesting instead prayer for wisdom, for restoration, and for grace in how we speak about those who have fallen.

Israel

• Construction plans approved for re-established Jewish settlement. The other week, the Jewish community of ‘Sa-Nur’ was reopened in the northern West Bank, 21 years after it was forcibly dismantled by Israel as part of Ariel Sharon’s 2005 disengagement plan, which saw some Jewish settlements withdraw from the territory and all from Gaza. The presence of Israeli cabinet ministers at the formal re-establishment showed just how far official thinking had changed towards this sensitive issue. But the left-wing Peace Now organization said the establishment of Sa-Nur "in the heart of a Palestinian population in an area without an Israeli presence is intended to sever any Palestinian contiguity and destroy even the little economic development possible for the Palestinians.” 
• Massive LGBTQ festival planned by Israel’s Dead Sea. Israel is set to host a four-day LGBTQ ‘Pride Land’ festival which is being staged at the Dead Sea next month. It will be the Middle East’s largest ever LGBT festival, transforming the middle of the Judean Desert into a colourful pride city, 24 hours a day, with 15 hotels, beach complexes, parties, and a central performance arena all operating around the clock. The location was chosen because, the organisers claim, “Pride rises at the lowest place on earth.” The festival comes at a time when Israel is seeking to revive its tourism industry, but the U.S. State Department has warned Americans against travel to the country due to security concerns. 
• Claims festival is mocking God. While the Israeli government is not responsible for the event, critics are blaming the organisers for allowing it. Some have noted that the location is precisely where Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone – and that it will enact the ‘boomerang effect’ — where sin returns to the place it began, and where God's prophetic pattern unfolds. One pastor wrote, “They are mocking God.”

Broken Society

• Nearly 1.5 million migrants received Universal Credit last year, accounting for nearly 16% of Universal Credit claimants in the UK. 
• Nurseries in Wales have been told to report children for "racist incidents" in taxpayer-funded guidance backed by the Labour Government.
• Up to half of convenience stores and vape retailers in some areas of Britain are believed to have links with organised crime, according to Trading Standards.
• A volunteer has been banned from cleaning graves with only soap, water and a brush because the council says it breaks health and safety rules.
• A migrant father-of-nine has been allowed to remain in a retirement home with his young family until he is found more suitable accommodation after claiming eviction would breach his human rights.
• A record one million children will be on disability benefits by next year amid a sharp rise in claims linked to behavioural issues.
• Britons have the most mental health problems of any rich country.
• A Green Party candidate pushing Britain to pay trillions of pounds in slavery reparations is descended from a slave-trading Nigerian royal family.