ESSAY: HOW OUTRAGE FOR A DEATH ROW INMATE IN THE US MAY HAVE FLIPPED SUPREME COURT JUSTICES FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
In an article first published on Religion News Service, AMANDA TYLER, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, looks at recent US Supreme Court decisions involving the issue of religious liberty…
Kenyan Supreme Court overturns ruling allowing hijab in Christian schools
Nairobi, KenyaRNS An emotional debate over whether Muslim students may wear hijab in Christian schools took a new turn last week when the Kenyan Supreme Court reversed a lower-court ruling that had allowed female students to wear Muslim headscarves to school. The ruling comes amid a heightened push by Muslim leaders and civic groups for […]
ESSAY: BLASPHEMY LAW IS REPEALED IN IRELAND BUT REMAINS A PROBLEM FOR CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
US academic STEVEN PINKERTON, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at the ongoing evolution of blasphemy laws around the world…
Bangladesh’s PM says anyone who offends Islam will be prosecuted
World Watch Monitor Bangladesh’s Prime Minister has pledged that anyone who offends Islam or its prophet will be prosecuted. Sheikh Hasina said the religion of Bangladesh “is Islam”. “Anyone who pronounces offensive comments against it, or against the Prophet Muhammad, will be prosecuted according to the law,” she said, as reported by Asia News. Her comments […]
ESSAY: WHY EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS – AND ALL OF US – SHOULD STAND UP FOR THE UIGHURS
US Baptist Minister BOB ROBERTS on why Christians – and evangelical Christians in particular – should stand up for Uighur Muslims facing persecution in China…
ESSAY: FAITH AND FRIENDSHIP AS A REMEDY TO THE US OPIOID CRISIS
KATELYN BEATY, in an article first published on Religion News Service, looks at the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to America’s opioid crisis…
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 […]
Tunisians protest against closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan
World Watch Monitor Non-Muslims in Tunisia have taken to the streets during this year’s Ramadan to protest the closure of many cafés and restaurants, saying they can’t be forced to fast, reports the New York Times. Around 100 protestors began Ramadan this year by drinking water and eating sandwiches in central Tunis in the middle of […]
Pakistan’s top judge says he’ll hear Asia Bibi’s appeal personally – and ‘soon’
World Watch Monitor Pakistan’s chief justice says he will decide, “soon,” the fate of Aasiya Noreen, a Christian woman whose 2009 conviction on blasphemy charges has fixated world attention on the country’s treatment of religious minorities. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar told Noreen’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, on 21st April that he would hear the woman’s appeal. Ms […]
Nigerian Christian schoolgirl ‘escaped’, only to be sent back to Boko Haram
World Watch Monitor The only Christian among the 110 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last month by Boko Haram ran away from her kidnappers but was caught and brought back three days later, according to fellow captives, reports the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Leah Sherubu, 15, and two other girls walked for three days and, hungry and exhausted, asked for help from […]