Christian Today staff writer

• Christian-owned zoo hits back after professor attacks it as 'blatantly creationist'

  A row has broken out between an eminent professor, writer and broadcaster and an award-winning British zoo which holds a creationist position on the beginning of the world, which it says is 'much younger than 4.5 billion years'.

• Former Irish president Mary McAleese: Paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan abused my brother

  The former Irish president Mary McAleese has opened up about how her younger brother was 'seriously, physically and sadistically abused' by a deceased Catholic priest who is at the centre of recent publicity in Northern Ireland.

• Congregation applauds priest threatened over predecessor's abuse

  A parish priest in Northern Ireland has received threats telling him to 'get out of town' following publicity about a separate priest in the parish who died in 2002 and has recently been revealed as a paedophile.

• Chess master Nigel Short attacked for mocking rival's Christianity

  A British chess grandmaster is under fire after mocking a rival's Christianity.

• Lightning strikes Adventist church in Rwanda, killing 16

  At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured when lightning struck a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Rwanda on Saturday, an official said.

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  Muslims hide in church in Central African Republic in fear of lives

  More than 1,000 Muslims have been hiding from a hostile militia inside a Roman Catholic Church at a compound in Bangassou, Central African Republic.

• Bodies of 21 Christians murdered by ISIS in Libya to be returned to families

  The bodies of 21 Christians infamously beheaded on the Libyan coast in February 2015 are to be returned to their families three years after their deaths, according to the persecution website World Watch Monitor.

• Turkey Catholic Church suffers second attack this year

  A Catholic church in Trabzon, Turkey has suffered its second attack this year. A gun-attack this week followed a failed pipe bomb at Saint Maria Catholic Church; there have been no causalities but locals have warned that anti-Christian hate crimes are on the rise, with little concern from authorities.

• Serbian Orthodox Church plans controversial nationalist rename

  The Serbian Orthodox Church plans to change its name to stress connections with Kosovo, the former Serbian province that gained independence in 2008. The controversial move is seen as clashing with the Serbian government's conciliatory efforts with Kosovo.

• Belgian Catholic baptisms in major decline amid rise of evangelicals and Muslims

  For the first time, fewer than 50 per cent of Belgian children were baptised as Catholics last year, according to figures from the Belgian Bishops Conference in cooperation with the University of Louvain and reported by Evangelical Focus.

• Christian couple had children removed over their refusal to lie about the Easter Bunny

  A child welfare agency in Ontario, Canada removed two girls from a foster home, causing potential trauma, because the Christian couple who cared for them refused to lie about the existence of the Easter Bunny.

• Are jailed Britain First leaders Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding Christians?

  Jayda Fransen, 32 and Paul Golding, 36 – jailed 36 weeks and 18 weeks respectively – both claim to be practising 'Christians'.