This week’s briefing opens on a paradox: Nigeria’s Senate has criminalised bus preaching — not under a religion law but under a road-safety act, and defends itself by noting the ban has sat quietly in traffic regulations since 2007. Elsewhere three traditions moved to police their own missionaries: Indonesia’s MUI certified a 49th cohort of preachers, Thailand’s overseas dhammaduta office met in Ulaanbaatar to map legal obstacles, and the IMB deployed physiotherapy where preaching is unwelcome. Plus Yad L’Achim confronts the IDF, and lay Christians outpace their pastors into AI.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends – 3-10 April 2026
News from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Turkey. – Iranian Christian converts detained by US Immigration. – Catholic Church: more detailed data revealing the scale and geographic breadth of the 2026 Easter baptism surge. – Provincial council will address the pastoral challenge of welcoming, forming, and integrating the unprecedented number of neophytes entering the French Church. – The “missionary-as-provocateur” frame.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends – Weekly Briefing – 21-27 March 2026
India has entered an accelerated phase of what might be called the “juridification of conversion.” – The “public Islam” controversy in Britain as a template. – The structural asymmetry of persecution coverage. – The centennial of World Mission Sunday in October 2026 will likely generate a significant volume of Catholic reflection on the theology and ethics of mission.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends — Weekly Briefing — 14–20 March 2026
The legislative tightening around conversion accelerates in South and Southeast Asia. – The collapse of the mainline Protestant missionary model is now complete. -The proselytism-attraction dichotomy continues to define Catholic ecclesiology. – The judicialization of street evangelism in the United States. – Digital proselytism as an emerging regulatory battleground.
Research: Conflicts over proselytism – An overview and comparative perspective
“Missionaries are missionaries!” Such was the instant reaction of an Indian police official, speaking of missionary activities in his area, and whom I had asked to tell more precisely which missionaries he had in mind. Similar reactions can be observed in many places around the world. Whether it be Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, or secularists, […]