(ANALYSIS) Until the 1960s, Quebec was the most religious part of North America. Now it is home to an aggressive secularist government that, on Nov. 27, introduced a proposed law, Bill 9, that would outlaw public prayer. For several centuries, religious minorities faced discrimination and, until the 1960s, Jehovah's Witnesses were still being arrested for their refusal to salute the flag.
Read MoreThe Rev. Emmanuel Bekomson, the parish priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Calabar, Nigeria, became concerned about how members of his parish with different disabilities were being engaged in church activities. He became even more unsettled and burdened when he discovered that some members did not attend Mass.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In Laos, Christian burials are barred from cemeteries, churches have to find improvised worship spaces, and Christians are often pressured to engage in activities that go against their religion. And with neighboring China’s new influence, it may get even worse.
Read MoreOn the same day the breakfast concluded, a local news outlet reported that two Armenian opposition podcasters had been placed in pre-trial detention. Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, co-hosts of the “Imnemnimi” podcast, had been arrested over comments made in a Nov. 10 episode about National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan.
Read MoreAt a Delhi temple, Afghan Sikhs gather in prayer, their voices rising in unison, yet their hearts weighed down with longing for a homeland they were forced to leave. Among them is Daya Singh. He fled Afghanistan twice — first in 1992 when the Taliban seized control, and again in 2006 after facing persecution for being Sikh.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It’s been over a decade since Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Borno, in April 2014. The abduction received international attention, with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirl being shared globally, including by Michelle Obama.
Read MoreThe U.S. designation of Nigeria as an egregious violator of religious freedoms has not gone far enough to stem violence there, top persecution watchdogs said amid an intense uptick in attacks on Christians in the African nation.
Read MoreItaly’s Supreme Court ruled that an evangelical worship space, which is located in a former shop a short distance from the Vatican, does not qualify as a religious edifice due to its non-traditional appearance.
Read MoreFor more than a decade, Hindu businessman Balwant Rathore and his Muslim partner Mohammad Harun have run their shop together. Then, without warning, they were told to vacate their shop. Blaming “Love Jihad”, a Hindu nationalist leader’s son ordered Muslims to leave the market.
Read MoreHundreds of Christians from various churches in South Africa came together recently to march to the Union Buildings, the seat of the national government, to protest the establishment of a statutory regulatory body that they say is a violation of their right to freedom of religion. It came after the government passed a law regulating the activities of churches.
Read MoreThe shrine, once crowded day and night with devotees, now stands eerily deserted. For weeks, it has remained sealed as a crime scene after a mob attack left one of his followers dead. Since August 2024, more than 100 shrines have been attacked or vandalized, according to rights groups.
Read More(ANALYSIS) President Trump recently designated Nigeria as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act. Like most of his acts, this ignited major controversy, much of it reflecting longstanding and now renewed disputes about what is really happening in that country.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In recent years, litigation on certain types of religious freedom lawsuits have been practically run of the mill: prayer on school premises, for example, and government funding for students at faith-based schools.
Read MoreTwo soccer teams — each comprised of eight Muslims and eight Christians — faced off as a mixed crowd cheered. Only months earlier, 52 people were killed in yet another religious massacre nearby. Some of the players on the field had lost relatives in that attack. Yet, they chose sports over revenge.
Read MoreWhen she began wearing the hijab, critics accused Wafaa Al-Khudari of abandoning her sect, but now she and other Syrian women are leading the charge to ease religious tensions in their communities. The country, which recently ousted a regime, regularly experiences violent conflicts among the political and religious sects.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Street protests spill into riots. Universities host intimidation campaigns. Digital mobs savage anyone who dares step outside the script. Across America, political anger is spilling into the open, and on the left it increasingly takes a violent shape. What begins as dissent can tip quickly into destruction.
Read MorePresident Donald Trump designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) Oct. 31 for tolerating religious freedom violations especially against Christians, and threatened sanctions and military force to discourage such persecution.
Read More(ESSAY) Again and again, deadly incidents occur at Cuba’s largest garbage dump — sometimes from sudden eruptions of violence, sometimes from hunger or disease. But a group of about 50 locals, led by a pastor, have banded together to look out for one another. “Sometimes they kill each other over a piece of copper,” said one local woman.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, published a statement condemning the latest public execution in Afghanistan and calling on the de facto authorities to immediately impose a moratorium and abolish the use of the death penalty.
Read MoreAblution, or wudu, is often performed before prayer and involves washing the hands, face, mouth, nostrils, arms, and feet in a certain sequence with running water. “I always travel across Africa with work. Many buildings and public spaces have no wudu facilities. This makes most Muslims uncomfortable,” said one frequent traveler.
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