NEW DELHI, INDIA (Worthy News)– The leader of a hardline Hindu group wants India's constitution to legalize the killing of Christian evangelists and, for instance, promoters of other non-Hindu religions. Praveen Togadia, the general secretary of the influential Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or 'World Hindu Council', told supporters in the western Indian state of Gujarat this week that the constitution should be changed and "allow anyone who converts Hindus to be beheaded”. His remarks, obtained by Worthy News Friday, November 11, came as American evangelist Franklin Graham began a series of massive evangelistic rallies in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. On the second night of Graham's 'Hyderabad Festival' on Friday, November 11, some 50,000 people poured into Lal Bahadur Stadium in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh state, witnesses said, despite protests from VHP supporters.

YEREVAN/BUDAPEST (Worthy News)– Rights activists and religious groups in Armenia say new legislation will increase intolerance towards the country’s evangelical Christians and other minorities, some of whom already face prosecution for their church activities. In statements obtained by Worthy News Friday, July 15, they criticized a proposed new ‘Religion Law’ as well as changes to the ‘Law on Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Church’ and to the Criminal and Administrative Codes. “In practice they would be used to repress religious organizations,” warned Stepan Danielyan,who represents the Yerevan-based Collaboration for Democracy Center. “This is a kind of theatrical farce,” added Evangelical Pastor René Leonian in a statement distributed by rights group Forum 18. He spoke as his colleague, Pentecostal Pastor Vladimir Bagdasaryan, was preparing to hear a possible quilty verdict in a controversial trial.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL (Worthy News)-- After abolishing Hinduism as its state religion, Nepal is now proposing a new criminal code forbidding a person from one faith to "convert a person, or abet him to change his religion." Article 160 of this proposal would also prohibit conversion "by offering inducements, or without inducement". Convicted offenders could be imprisoned for a maximum of five years and fined up to 50,000 Nepalese rupees; if a foreigner, the offender would also be deported within one week of completing his/her sentence.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (Worthy News)-- A British family doctor defended suggesting faith in Jesus Christ to a patient last year despite facing disciplinary action and concerns he could lose his job. "After doing the standard medicine I said to him: 'Look there is something else that could help you here',"explained Dr. Richard Scott, 50, in an interview. Dr. Scott said he told the patient, "If you like we can discuss and have faith and that could be an advantage to you in this case, and could help you move forward and give you some hope for the future." The Cambridge-educated doctor, who works at Christian-oriented Bethesda Medical Center in Margate, Kent, stressed he only discussed how his faith in Jesus had helped him "at the end of the consultation" -- with the 24-year-old patient’s "consent". But the General Medical Council (GMC) said it is considering disciplinary action because the patient's mother had complained about the faith discussion. The GMC made clear Dr. Scott risked bringing his profession into disrepute by discussing Christianity.

NEW DELHI/TOKYO (Worthy News)-- Christians across Asia prayed for Japan as the strongest earth quake ever recorded unleashed a monster tsunami that pulverized northeastern areas and impacted churches there. "The wall of water wreaked havoc on the coastal city of Sendai as it moved inland," explained Paul Hattaway, director of Christian mission group Asia Harvest working in the coastal region, where police said hundreds of bodies had been found. It was not immediately clear whether Christians had been killed in the earth quake and how many churches were destroyed. However witnesses said there was huge devastation as a towering wall of water generated by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake -- the seventh biggest in world history -- sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through the streets of Sendai and across open farmland. TIDAL WAVE A tidal wave of debris-littered mud destroyed everything in its path, television footage showed. "There are dozens of small churches in the area" Hattaway told Worthy News in a statement Saturday, March 12.