The annual pilgrimage is the 33rd day of Judaism's somber seven-week "counting" between Passover and Pentecost and marks the ceasing of a plague that killed 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva ( c. 50–135 CE), a sage martyred by the Romans during the genocidal persecution of the Emperor Hadrian.
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) Echoing papal pronouncements, a position paper and then a columnist of the Southern Baptist Convention’s seminary said that Jesus Christ appointed only male apostles. Evangelical author Beth Moore was one among many voices to push back on Twitter.
Read MoreEleven NGOs petitioned the Kenyan government and won to force a Kenyan church to remove billboards aimed at expecting mothers considering abortion.
Read More“I had all the reasons and justifications to join a terrorist group because of what has happened to me,” said Raghu Balachandran, a Christian who witnessed the murder of his father and brother in Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war between Tamil Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) Palestinian jihadi militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 700 rockets and mortars over the weekend, right as tens of thousands of musicians and fans are arriving to Tel Aviv for the 64th annual Eurovision festival. The move doesn’t make sense militarily, but likely aims instead to damage Israeli tourism.
Read MoreJews, Christians and Muslims have buried their loved ones in Jerusalem’s Bab al-Rahma Cemetery for hundreds of years, but more recently Israel has banned burials, citing the need to protect Jewish antiquities. Now, Palestinian families who claim to own the land are suing Israel.
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(NEWS ANALYSIS) Reports claim that more than 40 Nigerian Christians were killed in the week leading up to Easter, and many more remain missing. Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari was quick to send condolences to Sri Lanka, but slower to respond to Islamist attacks on Christians in his country.
Read MoreThousands of Eastern Orthodox pilgrims crowded in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday for the Easter ceremony at Jesus’ burial and resurrection site. Some believe a flame miraculously comes from heaven into Jesus’ tomb.
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 MoreEthiopian Jews make up only two percent of Israel’s population, but they account for 40 percent of the public discrimination complaints. The art show “The Color Line” draws inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement and the African-American writer W.E.B. Du Bois.
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 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 MoreHindu nationalist extremist groups have been using building code regulations to shut down house churches across India. Pastors and their lawyers say they’re being unfairly targeted.
Read MoreA new film tells Abby Johnson’s journey from being an award-winning director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas to becoming an outspoken pro-life advocate.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The most interesting figure in the culture wars today may be Patriarch Kirill from the Russian Orthodox Church, which with Russia has been promoting traditional Christian agendas on sexuality and abortion. This weekened the international non-profit World Congress of Families, founded by a Russian and an American, is hosting its annual meet to promote a pro-Christian worldview, conservative gender roles, anti-abortion policies and a hetero-normative agenda.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Religious persecution of Christians is more than at any other time in modern history, while other groups like Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jews also suffer discrimination and violence in different regions of intolerance.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked released a satirical perfume ad jabbing at leftists who call her fascist, the country’s largest English daily labeled Israel’s democracy a joke and President Trump upended decades of U.S. policy in one tweet.
Read MoreSurviving Yazidis and Christians in Iraq and Syria will remember their people’s genocide for generations. And in the aftermath of ISIS attacks, help and hope are still in very short supply.
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