In this African country, even children who turn to Jesus Christ are punished as severely as adults, with their parents as the culprits.
In the latest of such incidents, eight children from a village in Uganda were beaten up by their Muslim families and kicked out of their homes as "infidels" after they embraced Jesus. Moreover, the pastor who showed them the way to Christ was threatened with death by the angry Muslim extremists, the Morning Star News reports.
The children—whose ages range from 9 to 16 years old—converted to Christianity after meeting with Pastor Brian Mukisa from the Power Gates Church.
Gushing with joy at their newly discovered love for Jesus, the children innocently told their parents about their conversion—only to be shocked by their parents' vehement reaction. Their parents beat them up severely and forbid them from attending worship services.
Not content yet, the parents and other members of their families trooped to the Power Gates church and set it on fire, with one of the arsonists even threatening to kill Pastor Mukisa.
The pastor was forced to relocate his congregation to a temporary house about 6 miles away from the site of the original church.
"Your church activities will not be tolerated in this area," the attackers told Pastor Mukisa, adding that "if you do not leave our village, then we shall soon come for your life."
Pastor Mukisa said many of the children are still recovering from injuries they sustained from their parents' beatings. They are now taking refuge at the relocated church.
"The parents have totally disowned them as infidels," the pastor told Morning Star News. "They need prayers to come to terms with the separation from parents for choosing Christ."
In another recent incident of Christian persecution, a male high school student suffered serious head injury after the father of a Muslim girl that he led to Christ attacked him with a sharp metal object, according to Morning Star News.
In June, a Muslim father reportedly tied his 9-year-old son to a tree and set it ablaze because he had converted to Christianity and refused to fast during Ramadan.
In March, a young Christian convert was beaten up by his father and uncle who also torched his house.
"I could not deny Christ when my father asked me whether I had joined Christianity," the Christian convert named Nsera told Morning Star News. "With a lot of joy I answered him affirmatively, with a yes. My uncle, who had a walking stick, hit me on my back, and my father tried to get hold of my shirt, but I managed to escape with a tattered shirt and a bleeding back."
