Earlier this year, a 15-year-old walked through the gates of her high school in Kenya, wearing her hijab. The student and her parents had been assured by the principal that she could continue wearing it, just as she had throughout primary school. A few weeks later, that assurance fell apart. It has become part of a broader fight regarding religious freedom in the country.
Read MoreGracehaven, a Christian anti-trafficking ministry in Ohio, can continue serving young female trafficking survivors after Montgomery County settled a lawsuit over its exclusion from foster care programs. The county will pay attorneys’ fees, and the ministry retains its faith-based hiring practices.
Read MoreThe Liberty Bell symbolizes American freedom, rooted in Scripture and shaped by Pennsylvania’s Quaker ideals. Its inscription from Leviticus reflects Jewish teachings on justice and freedom, while Quaker beliefs in equality and tolerance influenced the nation’s founding principles, leaving a lasting moral framework as the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As the United States approaches its 250th birthday this summer, the fight over “Rededicate 250” underscores a deeper question about the future of American democracy: Can a nation that is religiously diverse maintain a shared civic identity without elevating one tradition — in this case Christianity — above all others?
Read MoreThree Kuki-Zo Christian pastors were shot dead on May 13 after armed gunmen ambushed two vehicles travelling through Kangpokpi district in Manipur. The murders led Kuki-Zo organizations to suspect that a Naga militant faction may have carried out the attack in coordination with valley-based Meitei insurgent groups.
Read MoreAuthorities in southwest China have arrested six Christians affiliated with a local church on charges including “fraud” and unprecedented accusations of “organizing minors to engage in activities undermining public order.”
Read MoreIn just a few days, crowds are expected to descend on Washington for an explicitly Christian event, celebrating the U.S. 250th anniversary. Later this month, many churches will swap hymns for patriotic songs and dress their sanctuary in American flags, mingling patriotism and Christianity. When do these patriotic actions cross over into Christian Nationalism?
Read MoreThe Big Idea for this podcast? The social-credits system shifted into high gear the year after China, in 2018, launched sweeping new regulations to crush religious activities that lacked formal government approval. Digital technology is at the heart of China’s efforts to control the beliefs of its citizens.
Read MoreMilitant Fulani killed more Christians in Nigeria over the past year than any other aggressor, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said May 8 in naming the militants a nonstate violator of religious freedom.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Liberal democracies promise freedom and prosperity, yet they often struggle to answer a deeper question: What is this freedom for? When shared narratives and moral horizons fade, individuals may experience fragmentation and a loss of meaning. Politics shrinks into technocratic management.
Read MoreA retired Baptist pastor is the latest Christian convicted for religious activity in an abortion buffer zone in the United Kingdom, this time for holding a church service on the outskirts of a zone.
Read MoreReligious minorities in India are in dire straits, facing persecution, lynching and other violence, according to a U.S. watchdog group. “Every day violence and calls for violence have become routine,” said Stephen J. Rapp, Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. “Throughout this grim history, it is seldom that the perpetrators have been held to account.”
Read MoreTo fully understand Atlanta, you have to look beyond its highways and glass towers, back to the broader history of Georgia and its unusual role during colonial America. In that earlier era, a quiet but consequential force — religious diversity — helped shape a mindset that would eventually contribute to the movement for independence in 1776.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Across American history, many colleges have attenuated or dropped their original religious purposes. Harvard University stripped down its 17th-century Latin motto, “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” (Truth for Christ and the Church) to simply “Veritas.” However, Baylor still proclaims “integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment” as its core mission.
Read MoreIn a new book, a religious studies scholar discusses how the concepts of conversion, testimony and purity can be used to study the vaccine hesitancy movement. Author Kira Ganga Kieffer explains how the vaccine hesitancy movement became bound up with religious liberty activists in trying to preserve their rights.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In India, Muslims and other religious minorities remain under attack. A new report identified credible evidence of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Assam and Uttar Pradesh states — violations which may amount to international offenses, including crimes against humanity.
Read MoreAfter several churches and other places of worship were demolished, a public outcry forced Uganda to pause a project that aimed to clean up cities and enforce zoning regulations. But now, government officials say, the project is back on, and more unsanctioned structures might be on the chopping block.
Read More(ANALYSIS) All this has happened even as President Donald Trump has emphasized a particular idea of religious liberty throughout his second term. In his proclamation for Religious Freedom Day in 2026, he emphasized familiar ideas of Americans’ “God-given right to practice their faith, follow their conscience, and worship their God freely and without fear.” But the statement also seemed to reflect a broader project of lending government support to Christianity.
Read MoreYazidis in northeast Syria are fleeing yet again as renewed fighting in Aleppo triggers mass displacement, reviving trauma from ISIS’s 2014 genocide. Survivors face deep psychological scars, economic hardship, and persistent insecurity, with many fearing further violence, family separation, and the gradual erosion of their community and identity through repeated upheaval.
Read More(ANALYSIS) More questions remain. Will the Vatican seek to impose doctrine, potentially provoking further resistance from the West? Or will it allow a degree of local experimentation, accepting the risk of inconsistency in the name of pastoral responsiveness? Leo’s statements on the issue suggest a preference for the former.
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