The practice, enforced by some conservative Sunni clerics and condemned by others, requires a divorced Muslim woman to consummate a marriage with another man before she can remarry her first husband.
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Kashmiri classical music, which blends Sufi traditions from Persia with Indian classical music, is facing threat of extinction as fewer students have leisure or funds to study the art form and fewer maestros exist to teach them. Its musicians believe the genre could bring peace to the army-occupied region, following the ways of Sufi mystics who preached peace, tolerance, pluralism and universalism.
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Samaritan’s Purse, the poverty and crisis relief organization known for sending millions of shoeboxes to orphans every Christmas, has said it is mobilizing resources to alleviate the U.S.-Mexico border crisis. The announcement came 10 days after Christian singer Nichole Nordeman wrote an open letter to Graham in the Washington Post.
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This month, thousands of Indian Hindu pilgrims are visiting the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir — a region of armed conflict between Kashmiri Muslim militants and Indian security officials — to pray at the Amarnath cave and shrine. Thousands of Kashmiri Muslims are setting up shops and travel businesses to accommodate them.
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A bill to ban triple talaq, or Islamic instant divorce, is creating controversy in India. The bill could be unconstitutional in two ways: it would criminalize only Muslim men for deserting their wives and it trumps so-called personal laws meant to provide religious freedom in civil matters like marriage.
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As Americans gather to celebrate Independence Day, it is worth remembering that historic Trinity Church in New York City played a significant role in the birth of America and remains the burial site of several Founding Fathers, including Alexander Hamilton.
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Christian comic book fans see biblical influences on the origin stories of popular superheroes like Superman, Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer. Meanwhile, Christian publishers are getting into the graphic novel genre.
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The Episcopal Church in the U.S., part of the Anglican communion and the Church of England, is too liberal on issues like same-sex marriage for many expats from Africa and the Global South. The split in views and immigration to the U.S. and Canada is prompting growth in the conservative split-off, the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), while the Episcopal Church is gradually declining.
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The same-sex relationship affirming ministry of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Paul the Apostle represents a divide between some liberal Catholic parishes and the Vatican’s conservative teachings.
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We spoke with award-winning photographer Kieran Dodds about his project capturing the gardens of Eden cultivated by Ethiopian churches. The conservation is an act of worship to save their forests and provide an oasis for their congregations. Listen to the full podcast or read the edited transcript here.
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.
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A fragile Christian alliance that supported Pres. Bolsonaro’s election to office in October is weakening amid rising unemployment, budget cuts to education, and their leader’s negative comments about women, black people and the LGBT community.
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A new survey named the Holy See’s famous museums first among its top 10 travel experiences — beating out second-place Chicago for their architectural river cruises — and the only religious tour to crack the global list.
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The Rohingya, an ethnic minority persecuted by some Buddhist groups in Myanmar, are facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises of this century. We spoke to Yangon-based activist Sam Naeem about the evolution of their struggle so far.
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A recent report estimates 60,000 organ transplant surgeries happen in China every year, an industry adding $1 billion a year to the economy and cracking down on religious groups seen as a threat to the Communist Party.
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Rebuilding Notre Dame will be a painstaking task. Estimated to cost in the billions, the cathedral has also become a political pawn in a broader fight between traditionalists and secularists. In a country divided politically — the recent European election was another reminder of this — the fate of Notre Dame very much rests in the hands of the country’s warring lawmakers.
Read MoreDo you ever wonder what happened to Osho’s ranch in Wild Wild Country? Young Life, a Christian student ministry, bought the land for a camp retreat center 20 years ago this month. We paid a visit.
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A recent poll found that only 80% of Americans believe that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.
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(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.
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One nun acted as the church’s contractor and another the mechanical engineer to build this $2 million Greek Orthodox church and its surrounding monastery, including a popular bakery and coffee bar that locals and tourists drive more than 50 miles through Indian country to reach.
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