Named La’eeb — which FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, said is “an Arabic word meaning super-skilled player” — the World Cup mascot triggered plenty of confusion and scorn on social media. But the mascot was primarily an homage to Arab garments known as the “keffiyeh” and “thawb.”
Read MoreAbdul Manan Shiway e-Sharq, the former deputy minister for information and publications of Afghanistan, has relocated to Germany and is continuing his campaign to safeguard his country’s multicultural heritage — and repatriate looted antiquities.
Read More(Opinion) Afghanistan still has major issues when it comes to religious freedom. Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom said, "People are being hunted down and beaten and are threatened with death if they don't betray members of their families who are considered apostates" by the Taliban.
Read MoreEnes Kanter Freedom’s efforts go far beyond the basketball court. He is one of the most outspoken basketball players and athletes at the professional level when it comes to activism, standing up for religious freedom and the oppressed. He’s been one of the few pro athletes willing to criticize China for its treatment of religious minorities.
Read MoreA standing–room only crowd of 500 packed the Heichal Ya’acov synagogue in Jerusalem this week to pay their final respects to Esther Pollard, the wife of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Jay Pollard. Esther Pollard, 68, died on Jan. 31 of septic shock complicated by COVID-19. She was also battling breast cancer.
Read MoreFor 42-year-old Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac, the bullet hole inside his church is a symbol of the conflict he aspires to resolve. A Lutheran with an evangelical background, he is involved in the controversial and often slow work of exposing Christians abroad to the realities of the Israeli occupation.
Read More(OPINION) A recent Pew survey found that 40% of countries and territories worldwide had blasphemy laws in 2019. But a few caveats bring a greater understanding of how blasphemy laws and hate speech laws are impacting believers and nonbelievers today.
Read MoreOf the 7.6 billion people on Earth, 2.4 billion identify as Christian, 1.9 billion as Muslim, 1.2 billion as Hindu and more than 500 million as Buddhist. Those are just the four largest religions. In other words, 310 million in the U.S. do not necessarily constitute the epicenter for all religion in the world. If anything, religion in America is a unique outlier.
Read MoreChristian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist and other community members gathered Monday night in the sanctuary of White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas, and applauded Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker — just two days after the rabbi and three others were held hostage in Congregation Beth Israel in neighboring Colleyville.
Read MoreThe prospects for peace in the Middle East nudged forward at the end of 2021 when Palestinian Authority security forces foiled two attempts to set fire to Joseph’s Tomb, a site revered by Jews, Christians, Samaritans and Muslims that has long seen sectarian violence.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As 2021 comes to a close, everyone is looking toward 2022. The news cycle over the last two years has been dominated by COVID-19, and that doesn’t seem to be subsiding given the rash of recent omicron infections. The Catholic world, meanwhile, had in 2021 one of its busiest years. Expect 2022 to be just as busy.
Read More(OPINION) Religious leaders have long involved themselves in the immigration debate, taking a variety of of pro and con positions. So does religiosity make people more welcoming, or more suspicious, of the stranger? A recent Religion News Service story tries to answer the question as it has unfolded in Europe.
Read MoreAmid heightened needs of Afghan girls and women, ReligionUnplugged interviews Daisy Khan, one of the most prominent female Muslim leaders in the U.S., about her work leading the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality to advance the rights of women based on the spiritual principles’ integral to the Islamic faith.
Read MorePalestinian protests in the West Bank and COVID-19 restrictions amid the rise of the omicron and delta variants are dampening Christmas tourism for the second year in Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem. Israel hopes that its domestic tourists will still turn out for the celebrations.
Read More(REVIEW) The latest Hollywood blockbuster “Dune,” a space opera based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name, is essentially a philosophical thought experiment that asks, How would Islam adapt and change thousands of years into the future on a distant desert planet? By projecting into the future, the film highlights our present reality.
Read MorePublisher Gökhan Talas used his training as a graphic artist, knowledge he gained from Kurtulus churches in Ankara and training at the Filipus theological school to found Miras Publishing Ministries with his wife in 2011. Miras is the only Turkish-language Christian magazine in an increasingly hostile climate and marks its 10th anniversary this month.
Read More(OPINION) On Nov. 10, the Iran Atrocities Tribunal opened its doors to a series of public hearings to investigate allegations of mass killings of protesters by the Iranian government in 2019. Amnesty International published a report detailing the deaths of 304 people killed by Iran’s security forces during the November crackdown.
Read More(OPINION) Afghanistan is probably the most heavily Muslim of nations, and the Taliban who regained power in August proudly proclaim totalist governance based upon strictly interpreted and enforced Shariah — Islamic law. This example of Islam in action presents a huge challenge to the world religion.
Read MoreThe Light a Candle charity — a project of Sean Feucht, 38-year-old worship leader, political activist and former Republican candidate best known for his 120-city tour of “worship protests” — has raised more than $200,000 for its Afghan Emergency Relief Fund. But the charity has no experience in the country and has provided no concrete plans.
Read More(ANALYSIS) This week, Samaritans are celebrating Sukkot — one month after Jews. The ranks of the once mighty Samaritan people reached 3 million in biblical times but were reduced by persecution and apostasy to 146 by 1918. Today they number 814: Half live on a mountaintop in the West Bank, and half live along coastal plains in Israel.
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