(OPINION) With approximately 30 million members, Muhammadiyah is Indonesia’s and the world’s largest modernist Muslim organization. While the Indonesian government has been slow to respond to COVID-19, Muhammadiyah has drawn on the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings and the Quran to advise Muslims to stay home during Ramadan celebrations, including ritual obligations some may see as essential to their faith.
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(OPINION) In early April, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom called for the release of prisoners of conscience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These prisoners are often detained simply for holding beliefs their government does not recognize. But a prison sentence should not become a death sentence due to the virus.
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(OPINION) Coronavirus is bringing to the fore what is likely to be one of Islam’s most fundamental divides of the next decade: the rift between those Muslims whose worldview is being shaped by the modern world and those who are clinging to a literalist past.
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Indian Muslims are being targeted in different parts of the country following reports that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at a mid-March gathering hosted by a Muslim missionary society.
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Days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a 21-day countrywide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Hindu nationalist-led government ushered in a new residency law for Kashmir, opening up India’s only majority-Muslim region for settlement by outsiders.
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(OPINION) Since last year’s church attacks in Sri Lanka, persecution of Christians around the world has only gotten worse. With the spread of coronavirus, this Easter is unlike any other we’ve seen. But there is hope.
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The coordinated Easter 2019 terrorist attack in Sri Lanka killed 290 people and injured about 500 others at three churches and three hotels. Survivors struggle to pay for their medical treatment and regain financial stability, despite government compensation, and insist their faith in Jesus has grown even stronger.
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(OPINION) Who’s to blame for the coronavirus pandemic? It’s not really a difficult whodunit to figure out. Just look to a system that rejects God and freedom: China’s Communist Party for the culprit.
Read More(OPINION) The Chinese Government facilitated the transfer of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities from Xinjiang to factories in various parts of China, and big companies have profitted from the forced-labor.
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(TRAVEL) With most of the world’s population stuck at home in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, travel has come to a standstill. Springtime, and the approaching summer, are typically a time to take a flight and explore another part of the world.
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More than 24 people who attended a Sunni Muslim gathering earlier this month in Delhi have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the health ministry. Some of the ruling Hindu nationalist party’s leaders and supporters have taken to social media to blame Muslims for the inevitable spread of the virus in the nation of 1.3 billion people.
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In the news these days — including religion headlines — it’s all coronavirus all the time. Our Weekend Plug-In columnist explores some of the COVID-19-related big ideas and questions emerging in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The roles that religion and religious leaders play during crises have consequences for how people regard religion long after the crisis ends. We should consider the past to understand the implications the coronavirus pandemic will have.
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Nyepi Day, or The Day of Silence, is a Hindu new year celebration unique to Bali. For 24 hours, the festival looks a lot like social distancing. But Balinese authorities are also allowing tens of thousands to attend ceremonies during the pandemic — and experts fear that despite warnings to limit gatherings, the coronavirus will spread.
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The main duties of a priest are to administer the church’s sacraments — which include baptism, confession and holy communion — while also visiting the sick and providing pastoral care to parishioners. How does all that work during the COVID-19 pandemic when most priests are in the high-risk age category for contracting the deadly virus?
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(OPINION) A recent report from the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom reveals that the Chinese government has forced Uighur Muslims to work in factories that may connect to supply chains in large American companies.
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On. March 13, in a surprise move, the Indian government released former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and current Member of Parliament, Farooq Abdullah. He had been detained more than seven months inside his home in Kashmir, since Aug. 5, 2019 when the Indian government revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status.
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(OPINION) With proper precautions, religious traditions can and have continued. For priests, a pandemic is not only an impediment to their duties but is central to their calling.
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The Indian government has restored Muslim-majority Kashmir’s Internet access. Kashmiris wonder: for how long?
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David Eubank and his wife have raised their children in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Their Christian faith calls them to it, they say.
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