In addition to this weeks top news stories from around the globe; Barnabas Fund talks to Dr Jules Gomes, a columnist from The Conservative Woman about whether UK churches need to be protected from the threat of terrorism.

On Saturday 3 June the UK experienced its third terrorist attack in three months (Westminster, March; Manchester, May; London Bridge, June). On Monday in Melbourne, Australia also experienced a terrorist attack, only six months after security services foiled a plot to attack Melbourne cathedral at Christmas. Both the Australian and UK Prime Ministers have responded by calling for a renewed focus on tackling the ideology behind the attacks. That is something which Barnabas Fund has long sought to do as part of our work seeking to alleviate the suffering of persecuted Christians.

Last Friday, 29 Egyptian Christians were murdered and a further 22 injured as they travelled to a monastery. The ambush happened as the vehicles carrying the Christians were on a road that only led to the monastery. Men were taken off the buses, their identity cards checked to see that they were Christians and then told to recite the Islamic shahada indicating that they were converting to Islam. All of the murdered men refused to renounce their Christian faith in this way. Among the bodies were left Islamist leaflets, reportedly on the subject of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan which was just about to begin.

The UK is reeling from a terrorist attack on a pop concert which has so far claimed at least 22 lives and left around 60 injured, many of them children. Barnabas Fund wishes to express its deepest condolences to those who have been affected by this barbaric act in any way and assure them of our heartfelt thoughts and prayers.

The UK government has now granted a visa for the Syrian church leader to visit the UK, having initially refused her visit, claiming she might overstay. The Home Office originally informed Rev. Rola Sleiman – an influential figure in the National Evangelical Church of Syria and Lebanon – that they were “not satisfied” that she would leave the UK at the end of her visit, despite the fact that her trip was being sponsored by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. However, the Home Office reversed its decision on Tuesday (16 May).

Our top stories this week: The Christian former governor of Jakarta, “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, has been found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. When handing down the sentence, the lead judge told the court that Ahok had “convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy”, even though prosecutors had dropped their claim that Ahok had insulted Islam and were no longer pursuing his conviction for blasphemy. Ahok is understood to be planning to appeal.

Morocco’s High Religious Committee decreed earlier this year that individuals who leave Islam should not face the death penalty for apostasy. This astounding ruling from a body charged with issuing fatwas (an authoritative religious or juridical ruling), reverses the classical sharia legislation that has stood since medieval times.

Prosecutors announced last week that they were dropping their claim that “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama had insulted Islam the day after the Christian incumbent lost to a Muslim in Jakarta’s governor elections. Ahok will still face trial on charges of “showing animosity toward others”, for which prosecutors are demanding a non-custodial sentence, but the blasphemy charge, which had come to define the election, has been dropped.

In an alarming development, the Pakistan government is seeking to introduce what is in effect a global Islamic blasphemy law that prohibits any internet material critical of Islam.

An official information request submitted to the New Zealand government by one of our supporters has revealed evidence of the institutional discrimination against Syrian Christian refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).