>> today on christian world news they are the most persecuted religion out group in the world and also the largest. find out what is being done to stop the oppression against christians. and massacre in tucson. attack on u.s. congresswoman leaving her critically wounded, and 6 others and 1 man gives his life to save his wife. see why these house churchs are out in the open.

schools of christian are jailed and arrested in iran. hi everyone, i am a wendy griffith, george thomas is on aassignment. the government raided a number of christian home it is day after christian. 25 arrested. 11 christians have since then be released. authorities still have 14 in custody. since the attacks, regime has arrested 30-40 christians, possibly as many as 600. governor of tehran province says they were arrested for their corrupting influence and warns more arrests are coming. this week pope benedict called on governments around the world to do more to protect religious minorities and specifically sited several muslim nations in africa and middle east. paul strand has the look at

this persecution and why you are not hearing about it in the news media. >> christians may well be the most persecuted religious group on the planet. harassment can range from loss of life to loss of livelihood. >> 600, 700 million christians. >> christians face some sort of harassment. >> goes back to jesus and his disciples. >> christians in innumerable countries under huge amounts of pressure either from the government or societies in which they find themselves. >> communist countries cause the most problems. fear is shifting to the muslim world. open doors, usa tracks the persecution and puts out a watch list. open doors president carl muller, in this year's top 10. >> eight are islamic countries.

>> iraq jump into the list. the massacre of christians in a baghdad church. >> level of brutality is unbelievable. >> we are labelling it religiouside. >> muslims in pakistan killing christians at a rate. >> christians are being accused of blasphemy by concerting. uncil naranjo? verting. >> christians are killed in turkey, that is new. >> they are infadels, they are unbelievers. >> for good reason, north korea has headed up open doors watch list for 9 years in a row. >> if you are caught in north

korea, you can be thrown into a labor camp exactly like the old soviet union. >> in the very countries founded as christian nations and contain huge christian majorities. some blame it on the elite. persecutors, not victims. >> we have elite universities basically teaching their dergraduates that the only villians are history were the christians. >> marshal says the elites are openly hostile. >> europeans who can otherwise be laid back get very angry about christians. >> there is an unwillingness to accept the fact that christians have become an endangered species. >> for many secular types -->>

it touches on areas they are uncomfortable with. for them it is like the fingernails on the black board. >> aikman worries the obama administration or least obama himself? >> has not been as forthright as president bush. >> many countries contemplating a crack down on christians, doesn't matter, the u.s. is not going to complain. let's make life hard for our christian minorities. >> it can create martyrdom. 2011 is a deadly year. latest attack in egypt. off border policeman opened fire killing a 71-year-old

christian man and injuring several others. just 2 weeks ago a suicide bomber killed 21 christian outside a church. meanwhile the pope voiced his concerns. in neighboring sudan, christians in the south will decide if they will secede from the muslim north. more than 2 million people, the final tally in the south sflit spliting from the north. north has long resisted. the muslim -- during a bloody 23-year-old civil war. about 2 million people were killed in that civil war. >> joining us now to talk more about christianity is dr.

cliffton park at regent university and an expert on africa, dr. clark, let's start with sudan, what is the nature of the conflict between the north and south? >> the nature of the conflict, both religious, ethnic, and historical. you need to go back to the colonial period, british along with the egyptians colonized sudan and divided the country up into the north and south. a devieded ru. there has been a conflict between the 2. >> it is a religious conflict between muslim north and christian south. >> 1956 to 1972 tremendous bloodshed there. there was a peace record in 1972 and then sharia law that

didn't go well for the south. then until 1975 to 2005, more bloodshed. >> is there a danger of another war? >> referendum that came out of the peace accord, there would be a referendum in 2011. there is a possibility of another war. i think, hilary clinton was right when she said this referendum is a ticking time bomb. it could go either way. if it goes for the north, there could be problems in the south reacting against it. if it goes to the south, of course the north are going to react. it depends on how the international community focuses on the conflict. if it goes to the south, the referendum is carried out. >> let's talk about egypt, we mentioned attacks on christians.

the coptic christian church has been there for thousands of years. >> it is growing at an alarming rate. 470 million christians in africa, a lot are muslims turninging to jesus christ. this is alarming for muslims. places like iraq and afghanistan, tremendous persecution because the amount of christians converting. the amount of muslims converting to islam. the amount of muslims converting to christianity, sorry. >> is this part of a larger struggle? >> africa has always been caught between the struggles, whether it is the cold war, communism, capitolism. it is fair game, a fertile

ground for places like conflict and religious, religions to spread. >> doctor, why did they want to spread nar islamic fliens? influence? >> a lot of the times they can get access to europe and via the places like nigeria and other places. also, i think africa has a lot of wealth and a lot of influence. the community of islam can be established. >> of course that is part of the islamic e philosophy, to spread their religion far as wide as they can. they see an open door in africa? >> definitely an open door. it is important that christians around the world pray for africa. a lot of islamic persecution taking place in place like

nigeria. >> christian church is growing by leaps and bounds in africa? >> absolutely. you find there are 470 million christians in africa alone. that is 1 in 5 christians around the world in africa. great revival. that issing great news. >> more christians than muslims? >> absolutely. >> thank you for joining us. we appreciate your incites. wen the bullets started flying in tucson, this man sacrificed his life to save his wife. learn more about him after this.

>> u.s. representative gabrielle giffords is recovering in a tucson hospital after an attempt on her life this week. authorities say 23-year-old jared loghner shot the arizona congresswoman and 19 others, 6

people died including a federal judge and 9-year-old girl. one was 76-year-old mavy stoddard. chuck holton talked with their pastor and what happened and how god is moving in the community. >> he dove on his wife and saved his wife. >> he grabbed her and pulled her down and ened up on top of her. her wounds were minor, she was shot in the leg. he was shot in the leg. when i talked to mavy in the hospital. she said i am so happy he is in heaven waiting for me. >> how do you see god working? >> i have been the pastor here and i am not saying this was needed for our community, so many people have been drawn

together because of this. god has been praised throughout this whole tom. >> president obama spoke at a memorial service. a year ago this week a 7.0 earthquake ravaged haiti. russ jones traveled to haiti to show us how christian ministries are helping people recover. >> reporter: tens of thousands gathered in downtown port-au-prince as a memorial. only 5 percent of the rubble has been removed making reconstruction difficult. thousands still live in tent cities with limited food and water supplies. an outbreak of cholera has hit. >> we built shelters.

we made the determination, we stopped the shelter program and team came here and instructed this compound. >> cholera has killed many and sickened more. they are educating haitians on the threats of disease that may not go away. >> it is a fact of life in haiti. just like it has become a fact of life in other places of the world. behavior will have to change. >> living in haiti with 2 legs was hard enough at loan. alone. 9-year-old dully lost his leg. mission of hope are fitting him for a pros thetic leg.

he is one of one 75 earthquake victims who has received a prosthetic leg. >> mission of hope also feeds some 50,000 children per day through its feeding program and 2500 students in its goal. the government donated ache aj. 500 new homes in the initial development plan. after 5 years of plans, it is then deeded over to the occupant. for brad johnson, it is truly a labor of love. >> it has been an incredible fruitful year. we have seen god do so much in a year's time because of what happened in the earthquake and the world attention coming to haiti. >> since 1998 the ministry has

served millions of meals and attending to the needs of thousands of patients. it is missions of hope helping haitians walk on solid ground. >> we don't want a north american here if ago haitian can do that job. >> cbn operation blessing is on the ground in haiti. one of the ministry's current projects is the construction of a new surgical center behind st. damion. after the quake, st. damion was overwhelmed and the hospital decided to begin to expand and serve adults as well. from one of the world's most oppressive regimes, see why these house chches are out in the open right after this.

>> for decades, they faced arrest, torture and death for

their faith. tod chinese's christians are getting bolder. today one of the largest christians in beijing has decided to go public. george thomas reports from beijing. >> [singing]. reporter: on a recent sunday morning, a few blocks from beijing's financial district, hundreds of christians gathered to worship god. twenty years ago we would have never permitted you to film our meeting. today china is changing, and the church needs to change as well. >> one of the largest underground churches, this is the first time since founding his church 17 years ago, he has opened a service to cameras. >> we worship in secret spread out around the city meeting in

different homes. >> then the church decided to come out of hiding. they began meeting together in one location. ugan is an elder in the church. >> we brought the small house churches in one place. this was an important first step. >> next they went puck lick. public. >> we felt god was calling us to be a light on a mountain top. >> they invited non believers to the meetings. some 1,000 people regularly attend the weekly service and often it is standing room only. >> in my church, they gather so many members of christians, they are all have passion. they want to be with society. >> such open pos proselytizing

is still forbidden. the church hasn't registered with the government nor part of any of the state-sanctioned churches. the authorities have chosen to turn a blind eye. >> it is a far cry from the dark days of the cultural revolution, when authorities burned temples to the ground and pastors were routinely arrested and labelled counter revolutionaries. today an international service report millions of chinese people are flocking to christianity, buddhism, taoism, and islam. it is christianity that is experiencing the most dramatic growth. >> trying to get precise figures on the number of christians today in cry china

is extremely difficult. all the more experts say christians, especially those part of the house church go public. >> recently, they did something unthinkable decades ago. they began holding secret talks with government authorities in beijing, including with members of the city's security bureau. >> we are making progress and we are having better and better. >> this is a church that has faced its share of challenges. a couple of years ago they were looking for a home they were growing so fast. they found a location, approached a landlord with a price, they paid the money, then the authorities began to put pressure on the landlord. >> government started harassing the landlord not to sell us the

property. >> on november 1st, 2009, in the middle of a bitter winter storm, 500 members meant in an outdoor park to worship and protest the government's pressure. >> we wanted them to know it was our goal can to meet in one place. now, we were willing to meet in the open. it was a bold move. new >> the government wasn't going to let that happen. the authorities asked the leaders to go back in doors. they agreed. finding a suitable place to meet was difficult. in a surprising move, the government stepped up and offered the church this place owned and operated by the people's liberation army. this was a significant gesture, one that he and many others

hope will pave the way for china's house churches to be legally recognized. >> that is why i exist. >> that is your ultimate dwoel? goal? >> yes. >> george thomas cbn news, in beijing, china.

>> that is going to do it for us. this show went really fast, didn't it? you can find out information on all the stories on our website at world christian world news you can also stay on with facebook. from all of us here at cbn we'll see