Nearly 42 people were killed, including a Delhi cop, and more than 200 injured. The violence began when Hindu mobs clashed with Muslims in northeast Delhi protesting a new citizenship law that fast-tracks citizenship for religious minorities of all major faiths coming from some neighboring countries, except Islam.
Read MoreThe night before President Trump’s arrival, Indian police arrested several activists involved in protests against a controversial citizenship bill and register seen as anti-Muslim. Police released the activists after the "Namaste Trump" event was over and Trump left to visit the Taj Mahal.
Read More(TRAVEL) A village once burned down by radical Islamists is maintaining its culture by following Islam as well as their pre-Islamic ancestral traditions, including living mostly without electricity, building from wood and bamboo and living 430 steps below access to a main road.
Read More(OPINION) Denying internet access is becoming more common as a tool for suppressing dissent and violating human rights. It puts entire communities in real danger, as is the case for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) At the launch on Wednesday, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed the ever-growing need to combat the increasing violence based on religion or belief, including “terrorists and violent extremists who target religious minorities, whether they are Yazidis in Iraq, Hindus in Pakistan, Christians in northeast Nigeria, or Muslims in Burma” and “the Chinese Communist Party’s hostility to all faiths.”
Read MoreFrom 2016 to 2019, Indian Christians recorded 1,774 cases of hate crimes, with 527 in 2019 alone.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) The conviction in the UK of a gay serial rapist from Indonesia is fueling debates in the Muslim-majority country of whether rape is a symptom of homosexuality. While homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia, the largest Muslim organizations have been advocating to criminalize gay sexual activities.
Read MoreAn Internet ban in Kashmir is causing job losses and hardships for students, journalists and everyday people living isolated from the rest of the country and the world. Government-provided computer terminals can only be accessed after traveling and hours of waiting in line, and all activities online are monitored.
Read MoreArrests of Hindu activists protesting India’s new citizenship bill that excludes Muslims has energized Muslims and Christians who support a pluralism over what they see as attempts to make India a Hindu nation.
Read MoreRussian TV captured a short exchange where the leaders used the biblical story of Paul the Apostle to joke about how a visit to Syria might change the American president.
Read MoreMore Kashmiris are turning to anti-depressants to ease increasing signs of anxiety, according to health experts and hospitals, as arrests of thousands and the world’s longest-running ban on internet access in a democracy continues.
Read MoreThe Raelians believe in intelligent design for atheists— that aliens created all life on earth and that there is no god but only those who come from the sky, the Elohim. We attended their recent North American conference to learn more about their beliefs and practices.
Read MoreThe Travels of Guðríður Símonardóttir tells the little-known story of an Icelandic woman in the 17th century who was captured by North African pirates. She was enslaved at a harem in Algiers until ransomed, then married Iceland’s most famous poet. His hymns, inspired by the couple’s suffering, are still sung in churches and at funerals.
Read MoreHindu nationalists are trying to stop a Catholic parish’s proposed 114-feet-high granite Jesus statue atop a hill in rural South India, sparked by a large Christmas land donation from a Hindu politician. The archbishop of Bangalore sought the state chief minister’s intervention this week to continue the $1.5 million project.
Read MoreThousands gathered in the small Muslim neighborhood of Shaheen Bagh on the outskirts of India’s capital to protest against the new citizenship law that excludes Muslim migrants and a proposed citizenship register, calling Jan. 1 a “black day” rather than a holiday.
Read More(OPINION) A series of heightened attacks in recent weeks by terror groups in West Africa – Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger Republic and even at Nigeria’s border with Cameroon – gives credence to the theory that this region is targeted as the next formidable stronghold for ISIS.
Read More(OPINION) The church in China is under attack, but the famous missionary’s work there more than a century ago endures.
Read More(REVIEW) In the new book Welcoming the Unwelcome, 83-year-old American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön moves past her usual style of writing in poetry and strict spiritual guidance and instead into a vulnerable teaching about how to overcome the pain of the world by explaining how she was led to do exactly that.
Read MoreA new citizenship law that excludes Muslim migrants is the latest and boldest move by India’s Hindu nationalist government, igniting protests by Indians who support the country’s secular founding and worry about increasing authoritarianism in the world’s largest democracy.
Read MoreMass protests erupted in India this week condemning a law that discriminates against Muslims. Police and para-military forces have responded to several protests with violence.
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