(OPINION) Asma Uddin is the author of the provocatively titled “When Islam Is Not a Religion.” Her advocacy for all religions, including those with adherents who might oppose hers, is a lesson in the universality of freedom of religion that the Constitution intends.
Read More(OPINION) President Trump announced Sept. 23 that the U.S. would devote $25 million to religious freedom issues and continue pressuring countries to end religious persecution, but in Iran, the U.S. is neglecting ethnic and religious minorities. Baha’is, numbering 300,000 in Iran, are particularly persecuted.
Read More(OPINION) A report that two Yazidi girls abducted by Daesh may be in Iran has prompted a British politician to take some action. The situation should be investigated thoroughly. The report raises questions about the fates of many others.
Read MoreA group of Yazidi journalists visited the Religion Unplugged offices in New York, hosted by the U.S. State Department, to talk about the current state of affairs in Iraq for the persecuted people group.
Read MoreLocusts destroyed crops in Yemen this summer during a famine that’s already reaching biblical proportions. While some see the insects as a blessing to eat, others believe the pests are a punishment from Allah.
Read MoreNetanyahu has planned to visit the site of the bloody 1929 riots that killed nearly 70 Jews and has fueled tension with Palestine ever since.
Read More(OPINION) Some of Israel’s most devout citizens are at the heart of a major political rift over the country’s compulsory military service. The issue could shape the elections next month.
Read More(OPINION) Over the weekend, Israeli forces struck an Iranian base in Syria after intelligence of “killer drones” there. While Iran’s hostility increases, Middle East observers should remember that many of Iran’s leaders have particular minority Shia beliefs about preparing the world for the reappearance of a hidden imam.
Read More(OPINION) The United Nations has established for the first time ever on Aug. 22 a day to draw attention to people groups around the world violently persecuted for their religious beliefs: Yazidis in Syria and Iraq, Christians in Nigeria, faith minorities in Pakistan, Rohingya in Myanmar, Uighur Muslims in China and others.
Read More(OPINION) To strategize effectively against terrorism, we must listen to people directly hurt by it.
Read More(OPINION) The lack of swift justice for Yazidis sends the outrageous message that it is possible to get away with genocide.
Read MoreWe talked to human rights activist Dr. Widad Akreyi about the Yazidi community’s wait for justice on the international stage after the start of a genocide on Aug. 3, 2014. Thousands captured by Islamic State fighters remain missing.
Read More(COMMENTARY) There are still hotspots of Daesh support, and a territorial defeat of Daesh does not mean the defeat of their perverted ideology, which is still threatening religious minorities like the Yazidis.
Read MoreSaudi Arabia, China, Russia and Myanmar are the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom in 2018, according to the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report.
Read MoreA recent poll found that only 80% of Americans believe that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) Top rabbis and politicians have been accused of sexual assault this year, and Israelis are protesting for their convictions and removals from leadership.
Read MoreFrom the White House to London and Brooklyn, interfaith iftars — the fast-breaking meals of Ramadan — are trending this year.
Read MoreThe 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 More“I think we have arrived at the days of the Messiah,” Jewish community spokesman Naom Arnon said at an iftar dinner that marks the end of the day’s Ramadan fast, hosted by the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a joint Israeli-Palestinian group to promote business ties and economic cooperation in the West Bank.
Read MoreThe annual quiz was held last week in Jerusalem in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other prominent Israeli leaders. The outgoing education minister Naftali Bennett spoke about the current challenges Israel is facing in losing its people to the Diaspora.
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