Islam
(ANALYSIS) The planned execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan sparked renewed debate among Christians over capital punishment. Catholic leaders cited church teaching opposing the death penalty, while some evangelical leaders defended it biblically. Disagreement also centered on whether televising executions promotes justice or glorifies violence.
Sharia, often called Islamic law, is a system of religious guidelines that inform how Muslims understand their responsibilities to God, themselves, their families and society. The Arabic word — sharia — is commonly translated as “the way” or “the path.” It refers to a way of life rooted in Islamic teachings rather than simply a collection of laws enforced by a government.
Day after day, the senator-judges begin proceedings by asking God for the same things — truth, wisdom, justice and freedom from bias. As they prepare to decide Vice President Sara Duterte’s fate, those prayers have become an implicit measure of the responsibility they have assumed: To turn appeals for divine guidance into a verdict determined by evidence, law and conscience.
(ANALYSIS) With barely two weeks remaining before Israel’s Oct. 27 election, the country has been consumed by an extraordinary confrontation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior former aides over what he knew before the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, what he did with that knowledge and whether his office subsequently sought to rewrite the historical record.
The Houthis are both an armed political movement and a governing authority in parts of Yemen, as well as an organization designated as terrorist by the United States. Understanding these different dimensions is essential to assessing the movement and its impact on the Middle East. This weekend’s attack on Saudi Arabia sheds a spotlight on the militant group terrorizing the region.
(ANALYSIS) Two scholars decided to make a pilgrimage along the Kumano Kodō trail — an ancient route in Japan connecting Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples — guided by an artificial intelligence assistant. The two — Wayne E. Arnold and John A. Shultz — trained an AI companion to suit their travel needs. They were also curious to see how AI would shape their pilgrimage experience.
The election is expected to serve, in large part, as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition’s refusal to take responsibility for the failures of Oct. 7. But the fallout will also appear on the ballot itself, which will include several candidates whose lives were upended on that fateful day and the three tumultuous years that followed.
(REVIEW) What makes “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” so impressive is that it combines so many things that are hard to find in faith-focused movies. Hollywood films have long struggled to make movies about faith that resonate with the experiences of actually religious people. Religious people have historically struggled to make faith movies that aren’t preachy.
The U.S. recently completed its military withdrawal from Iraq after a 12-year mission against ISIS. Iraq is more stable but remains shaped by powerful Shia parties, Iranian influence, armed militias, Sunni political recovery, Kurdish autonomy and lingering ISIS activity — raising questions about the country’s future.
An anti-Islam rally promoted as a “Christian Crusader March” drew hundreds of demonstrators and counterdemonstrators to this majority Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan. A few participants carried assault rifles as police in riot gear patrolled. The Sunday after the recent protest, minister Wayne Beason felt compelled to speak up for his Muslim neighbors.
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11 last month, Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr. found myself in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michgan. He came to work on a story related to America’s ongoing war over words over Muslims and their place in U.S. society. While coincidental, the timing struck Ross as ironic.
(OPINION) Once we start using this lexicon, we have been successfully “groomed” into a new discourse we might not quite “get” — but which we begin to accept as normal. No, I’m not a signed up conspiracy theorist, and yes, language evolution is part of the dynamic of a lively society whose moods and modes it carries. But is that all it is?
Across several of the country’s most competitive congressional contests, religious identity has become a central issue for many voters. Here’s a look the the Senate and House races where faith has become a major issue.
Experts said that the Taliban is using women’s own Muslim faith to “dehumanize” them. “The very religion that gives them strength is being used against them,” one expert said. In a country where only Sunni Muslims are considered citizens, religious minorities increasingly face danger, imprisonment and even death.
Twenty-five years after 9/11, American Muslim communities face record levels of anti-Islamic bias, attacks and political hostility. From Michigan’s police partnerships to Texas’s legal battles, mosques are strengthening security and grassroots vigilance, seeking to protect worshippers while preserving spaces of faith, fellowship and belonging.
Activist Malala Yousafzai returned to New York this week to discuss the paperback release of her memoir “Finding My Way” — but the conversation moved beyond her story of attending college and growing up. At the center was the issue that has defined much of Yousafzai’s public life: The Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls and its use of religion to justify restrictions on their rights.
Today the Christian legal movement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has touched many aspects of American life. Firms have been on a winning spree at the Supreme Court, overturning long-standing legal limits on religious expression by public officials, expanding religious exemptions and elevating the place of religious exercise to its highest point in modern times.
The 9/11 attacks are often remembered as a single event. That morning, 19 terrorists turned commercial airliners into weapons and the modern era of terrorism began. A total of 2,977 people died in the terrorist attacks, the deadliest to ever take place on U.S. soil. To understand 9/11, one need to take a look at the Islamic radicalization of a movement that few in the West took seriously.
Civilian deaths increased 51 percent and abductions rose 153 percent between October and December 2025, compared to the same period a year before, researchers said. Months later, beginning in April, the government began arresting and convicting Boko Haram terrorists and others of related crimes.
(ANALYSIS) Texas politicians, however, portray sharia as a threat to American law. That suspicion has now produced official action against the Islamic Tribunal, a Dallas-based organization that offers religious arbitration, a process where parties agree to submit disputes to a religious panel, the way any two businesses might agree to skip court and use a private arbitrator instead. Much of the tribunal’s caseload is Muslim women seeking religious divorces.
(ANALYSIS) The Paris Grand Mosque — a cultural landmark located in the heart of the city — is celebrating its centenary. Built as a war memorial to honor Muslim soldiers killed during World War I, it was the first permanent mosque in the French capital and remains its only mosque built with a minaret and a dome.
(ANALYSIS) As the situation in the country continues to deteriorate, important questions must be asked about where to go from here. What is the future of Afghanistan for women and religious minorities?
(ANALYSIS) Members of the Christian community arrived at the protest site in New Delhi alongside Hindu, Muslim and Sikh groups. The participation of religious groups and leaders is part of a broader, interfaith effort to show solidarity with youth and students demonstrating against the Indian government.
Buddhism is experiencing a revival in northern Bangladesh as thousands of Indigenous Oraon people have embraced the faith since the mid-1990s. Supporters see it as a return to an ancient religious heritage, though the movement faces challenges, including a shortage of monks and criticism from some religious leaders.
Dozens of Christians connected to Iran Alive Ministries have been killed and hundreds arrested amid escalating persecution in Iran, ministry leaders report. Despite imprisonment, surveillance and criminalization of Christian broadcasts, the underground church continues growing, with thousands reportedly converting to Christianity and imprisoned believers sharing the Gospel.
(ANALYSIS) The earliest reference to Muslims in America is the account of an enslaved African Mustafa Zemourri. He arrived in 1527 on the coast of Florida as part of a disastrous Spanish expedition.
(ANALYSIS) India’s religious diversity has deep historical roots, reflected in the experiences of Hindu soldier Sitaram Pande and Muslim poet Mirza Ghalib. Their writings portray sacred landscapes shaped by multiple traditions while revealing identities that crossed religious boundaries, challenging contemporary claims that religious purity justifies anti-minority rhetoric or violence.
(ANALYSIS) Today, amid Japan’s shrinking population and anti-immigrant sentiment, it might be jarring to remember that there once were hopes that the island nation would be the anti-colonial leader of the world’s Muslims and that some of Asia’s Muslims dreamed of an “Islamic Republic of Japan.”
Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group, warps Muslim theology into an extremist ideology in order to attract young men to its ranks. Now, a unique program aims to de-radicalize former fighters through counseling and showing them how to live a peaceful Muslim life.
(ANALYSIS) Military service is mandatory for most groups in Israel, although Muslim and Christian Arab citizens are exempted. Jewish Israelis see conscription as a unifying experience and a demonstration of commitment to the state. Starting at 18, most women serve two years and men serve almost three. For decades, however, Haredi men received de facto exemptions.