Egypt is developing the Holy Family Trail — a pilgrimage of sites from Jesus’ infancy to his wandering in the desert — hoping to revive its tourist industry battered by two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
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’Tis the season when Santa Claus is nearly everywhere. Most people know that jolly old St. Nick hails from the North Pole. But many might not realize that the real St. Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop, lived and worked in what is now the country of Turkey.
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The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, a limestone building in the style of old Arab structures, houses many masterpieces connected to Islam. From ceramics to manuscripts, the museum is the Arab world’s artistic jewel and a repository like no other. It is the only one of its kind to highlight art and culture from the Arab world.
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(ANALYSIS) Where did Iran’s morality police come from? The earliest evidence of a muhtasib, interestingly, was a woman selected in Medina by the prophet himself.
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(ANALYSIS) The World Cup in Qatar continues to roll along into the semifinals. So far, the premier soccer tournament — and arguably the planet’s biggest sporting event — has showcased skill, drama and even some upsets. Aside from all that, what the World Cup has also generated are plenty of different kinds of storylines to focus on.
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(ANALYSIS) On Nov. 24, 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Council held a special session to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Wassim Razzouk and his sons are carrying their family’s Egyptian Coptic Christian tattooing tradition into its eighth century in Jerusalem’s Old City. ReligionUnplugged.com talked to Razzouk to learn more about his family history, the craft of tattooing, why Christian megachurch pastors and Catholic priests are coming to his shop and promoting the Razzouks on social media and how the Coptic faith propels his family business.
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(OPINION) What exactly was antisemitic about the tweets and statements by Kanye West (now known as Ye) and Kyrie Irving over the past few weeks? Despite being antisemitic in tone, did any of these statements contain some degree of truth?
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(OPINION) A writer reflects on her choice to not wear the Islamic head covering even though her community teaches women not wearing the hijab are sinners and “wannabe Westerners.”
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(OPINION) The true scale and nature of the violence against protesters are yet to be uncovered. This is not an easy task, especially following the protests and, since Sept. 19, the U.N. reported prolonged internet disruptions in Tehran, Kurdistan provinces and other parts of the country.
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(ANALYSIS) The mounting anger and dissatisfaction in Iran have translated into recurring protests in the country, which the state has suppressed with brute force. But despite the brutality of state crackdowns, over the years, the frequency of these protests has surged.
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(ANALYSIS) Since mid-September 2022, when a young woman named Mahsa Amini died in detention after being detained for not wearing her headscarf “properly,” protests against the morality police and the broader regime have erupted across the country and from sympathizers around the world.
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(ANALYSIS) Shouts of “death to the dictator” and “woman, life, freedom” are reverberating throughout the streets of Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, while in custody of the “morality police” in Tehran. These protests have been gaining increased momentum and international attention, giving many Iranians inside and outside of Iran some glimmers of hope.
(OPINION) Daniel Pipes penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month urging Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to end Islam’s long-standing ban against non-Muslims entering the faith’s two holiest locations, Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad issued the Quran and founded the religion 14 centuries ago, and Medina, where he led the first Muslim state.
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Glenn Beck, the conservative LDS Church media star, helped raise $35 million for his two charities, Mercury One and the Nazarene Fund, to pay for evacuations of Afghans amid the U.S. withdrawal of troops. The organizations are claiming they evacuated 12,000 people but have provided few details about how the money has been spent.
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(OPINION) Since the Taliban assumed control in Afghanistan, it has slipped more deeply into a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by a tanking economy, skyrocketing poverty and widespread unemployment. The Taliban’s ideology and system of government solidifies their view that non-Muslims are disloyal enemies and infidels, which the Taliban use to justify killing and violence.
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(OPINION) President Biden’s refusal to pursue a calculated diplomatic and military procedure for the U.S. departure inspired the Taliban’s terrorist leaders, who immediately seized lethal power over Afghanistan’s hapless, hopeless population. Today, Afghanistan is the world’s No. 1 worst persecutor of Christians.
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On Tuesday, the director of Christian ministry World Vision’s work in Gaza was sentenced to 12 years in prison for allegedly transferring ministry funds to the terrorist organization Hamas. Mohammad el-Halabi, who has already spent six years in prison as his trial waged on, plans to appeal the decision.
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(ANALYSIS) A scholar visited Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to document the lives and stories of everyday Afghans. What he found is that the Taliban have less authority on the ground than they project to the media, fostering uncertainty about the government’s stability and longevity.
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In July, after five years of work, Father Francesco Patton inaugurated the multimedia exhibition “The Experience of Resurrection,” housed at the Franciscans’ Christian Information Center located inside the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. The 656-square-foot installation, spread over six rooms, takes 40 minutes to view.
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