Noteworthy News: 2015 Deadliest Year for Christians Worldwide

The Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors has released its annual list of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution and found that it has reached unprecedented levels worldwide as over 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith between November 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015.

Although (they) stated last January that 2014 was the ...year (that was worse) for Christian persecution than any other time in modern history, the organization said during the rollout of its 2016 World Watch List  that 2015 surpassed 2014 as the deadliest year for Christians worldwide.

Open Doors found that over 3,000 more Christians were killed for faith-related reasons during its reporting period for the 2016 World Watch List than it found during the reporting period for the 2015 report. Additionally, over 2,400 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed during the reporting period, which is more than double the number from last year.
—Samuel Smith for ChristianPost.com

Noteworthy News - Majority Believes Government and Press are Negative Influences on America

The “freedom of the press” has been used to do more damage than good, according to a majority of people polled recently.

Even though the government is viewed in a negative light, the press is seen as promoting a negative environment and slanted reporting. Washingtonexaminer.com (November 23, 2015) reports that “more than six in 10 Americans believe that the news media, followed closely by Hollywood, has a negative effect on the country, according to a new survey.

“An extensive new Pew Research Center survey finds that 65 percent believe that the news media ‘has a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.’ Some 56 percent said the entertainment industry has a negative effect.”…

“For comparison, 51 percent believe that the Obama administration has a negative effect, and 40 percent say labor unions do too.

“Sixty-seven percent said the federal government has a negative effect on the U.S. Seventy-five percent said Congress has a negative effect.”
—Dr. Ron Baity, RETURN AMERICA