(NEWS ANALYSIS) India’s Hindu nationalist and populist Bharatiya Janata Party won reelection Thursday in a sweeping parliamentary majority. Here’s what that means for religious minorities, other marginalized groups and the organizations working for their welfare.
Read MoreThe region has long been plagued by atrocities against Kashmiri Muslims, some of whom advocate for separating from India, and ethnic Kashmiri Hindus, who support India’s military occupation and takeover. Caught in the conflict is a tiny minority of Sikhs, who say their voices are not being heard.
Read More(COMMENTARY) In Avengers Endgame, faith is noticeably missing, even though most humans religious or not ask the big questions when faced with death and destruction.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) Matteo Salvini, who leads the League party, could take his anti-immigration stances to Brussels if opinion polls prove correct. His hardline stance on the issue has put him at odds with the Catholic church in Italy as well as with Pope Francis, who has repeatedly spoken in favor of refugees seeking asylum in Western Europe.
Read More(COMMENTARY) A month after the Notre Dame blaze, there continues to be little to no coverage when it comes to the rash of suspicious fires and vandalism that plagued French churches in the weeks before the Paris incident, which was quickly deemed unintentional by Parisian authorities.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) The genre became infamous in the early 90s for suicide, arson, murder and more. Were those metal heads and their successors devil worshippers? Or just creative, dark rock musicians?
Read More(COMMENTARY) Christians are called to be in the world, not of it. So why do our churches strive to copy the culture?
Read MoreThe film premiered at New Jersey’s Montclair Film Festival this week, with Catholic late night host Stephen Colbert sitting down with the Finnish director Dome Karukoski.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The attempt by Pope Francis to finally create some accountability and transparency is well intentioned, although misguided given that it largely ignores the role of laypeople and relies primarily on clergy self-policing.
Read More(COMMENTARY) At a time when humor is struggling with political correctness and fallout from the #MeToo movement, there’s little material for late-night hosts and stand-up comedians to work with. However, the people you’re allowed to pick on (at least from the material you see on TV) are Christians across all denominations.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The religion of presidential candidates and history with the dogma of their respective faiths — what they believe, why they believe it and, in some cases, when they changed their minds — is an issue many Americans care about.
Read MoreIn the wake of the Easter terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, we spoke to Nishan De Mel, the executive director of Verité Research in Colombo, for a deeper analysis of who’s behind the attacks, what they may want, what they were targeting, and what this all means for South Asia and Sri Lanka’s religious groups and stability.
Read More(COMMENTARY) It is 10 years since deadly riots in Xinjiang province provoked a major crackdown against Muslims; 20 years since China launched its effort to liquidate the Fulan Gong movement; and 60 years since Tibet’s young Dalai Lama fled Chinese occupiers’ harassment of Buddhists. All three campaigns persist.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Iran’s nefarious intentions and activities are being closely scrutinized by the Trump administration and have led to crippling sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. And now U.S. waivers – which permitted eight specific countries to purchase Iranian oil despite existing sanctions – will not be renewed in May 2019.
Read MoreIn the past two years, Sri Lankan Christians have been attacked by various hardline Buddhist and Hindu groups. Christian organizations reported 89 cases of discrimination, violence and threats against Christians in 2018, with 40 cases already in 2019.
Read MoreTrinity College in Dublin, to be exact, holds many a wondrous treasure for the insatiable scholar and fewer curiosities for the vaguely obligated tourist. For me, it held one of the crown jewels of literature, The Book of Kells.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Mayor Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana - an openly gay man - has soared from obscurity to a talking point about whether the religious left can unite like the religious right did around Ronald Reagan.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) In the wake of the devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, insightful reporting of the event and reflections of its significance could be found across Twitter a day after the catastrophic blaze. Here are eight perspectives that stood out to us.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) The country’s incumbent president Jokowi, seen as a liberal “metalhead of state”, chose conservative Muslim cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate to win votes from an increasingly conservative Indonesia. Meanwhile, Jokowi’s challenger Subianto has been wooing radical Islamist groups.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Before Monday’s fire in Paris, a string of arson cases and other acts of desecration took place inside Catholic churches in France during Lent. In a country with a recent history of terrorism, these incidents somehow didn’t warrant any kind of attention from American news organizations. Even major outlets with a presence in Paris failed to adequately do so.
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