Seattle becomes first US city to ban caste discrimination
Seattle, US AP The Seattle City Council on Tuesday added caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws, becoming the first US city to ban caste discrimination and the first in the world to pass such a law outside South Asia. Calls to outlaw discrimination based on caste, a division of people based on birth or descent, have grown […]
Pope, world religious leaders, issue pre-COP26 appeal on climate change
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis and other religious leaders made a joint appeal on Monday for next month’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) to offer concrete solutions to save the planet from “an unprecedented ecological crisis”. The “Faith and Science: Towards COP26” meeting brought together Christian leaders including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Orthodox Ecumenical […]
Child sex abuse found across major UK religions – report
London, UKAP An inquiry investigating child sexual abuse in a wide range of religious organisations and settings in England on Thursday found “shocking failures” in how many religions handled abuse allegations, with victim-blaming and abuse of power by religious leaders often contributing to under-reporting. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse looked into child protection […]
Indonesian president invokes ‘Pancasila’ to counter rising Islamism
RNS Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a moderate Muslim who enjoys widespread support from the country’s minority religious communities, is resurrecting the country’s founding secular ideology, known as “Pancasila,” as he aims to counter the growing forces of Islamism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. Pancasila, a term from old Javanese that roughly translates […]
Mob attacks churches in Indian state of Tamil Nadu – report
Five churches in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu were attacked by a mob on Sunday, according to a report in World Watch Monitor. The news organisation said the attacks, in which several women were reportedly stripped, beaten and even sexually assaulted, were allegedly led by members of Hindu Munnani, an organisation formed to […]