(OPINION) By demanding that public discourse be scrubbed of distinct theological substance, the state is fundamentally rewriting the rules of the Canadian public square. What is promoted as a welcoming gesture functions in reality as an institutional restriction on authentic faith, replacing shared cultural roots with administrative conformity.
Read MoreExperts 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.
Read MoreTwenty-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.
Read MoreActivist 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.
Read MoreThese prisoners are not only eyewitnesses to what happened inside Iran’s prisons. They are also earwitnesses: people whose knowledge of imprisonment comes partly through what they heard when they could not see.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read More(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?
Read More(ANALYSIS) As Israel enters its third year of war on multiple fronts, the question of whether ultra-Orthodox men should be exempt from mandatory military service has become a much larger argument about citizenship itself: Who bears responsibility for defending the Jewish state?
Read More(ESSAY) It is one of Hinduism's oldest and most sacred symbols, representing peace, prosperity, good fortune and well-being. But Hitler hijacked it, turning it into a universal symbol of hate. My Hindu classmates and I advocated for our history classes to accurately teach the difference.
Read MoreIn times of unrest, our impulse is to seek solutions in painfully precise increments. But what if the only way to bring lasting change is to shoot for the stars?
Read MoreDozens 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.
Read MoreChinaAid is seeking 100,000 signatures petitioning President Donald Trump to urge Pastor John Cao’s safe passage to the U.S. when President Xi Jinping visits Washington in September.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Nepal underwent major political upheaval just a year ago, toppling the government in a fashion few could have imagined. An even more dramatic development followed. Voters handed a near-supermajority to the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which was founded only four years earlier. Its senior leader, Balendra Shah, became the youngest prime minister in Nepal’s history.
Read More(ANALYSIS) News from around the world gives little hope for the prospects of addressing violence based on religion or belief — nations need to act now in accordance with UN policies to ensure everyone has freedom of religion.
Read More(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.
Read More(ANALYSIS) To believe a lot of the commentary, especially on the right, you would think America is headed, if not already sinking, into a bottomless moral abyss. But a recent report tells a rather different story. If America was on an immoral path, it is now slowly correcting course. Emphasize slowly.
Read MoreBoko 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.
Read MoreThey’ve survived ISIS, genocides and persecution. Their homeland has been destroyed. Now the Yazidis in Iraq are rallying together to build their own soccer stadium — a symbol of resilience and hope despite their difficult past.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Pentagon needs to define America’s religious categories due to chaplains’ responsibility to handle the spiritual needs of soldiers as effectively as possible. The problem is that Americans’ religious choices are pretty much uncountable.
Read MoreTerrorism that began in northeast Nigeria with the founding of Boko Haram in 2002 spread to the northwest, has become common in the Middle Belt and is now spreading to southern Nigeria — leaving safe for daily living only perhaps 20 to 40 percent of Nigeria, the largest nation in Africa and the sixth most populous in the world. Nigeria is the deadliest country for believers globally.
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