Religion News on the Web
Selected religion-related news from around the Web
February 20, 2012
- Newsweek
Newsweek: ‘Treason’ in Turkey
Turkey’s reform-minded Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is nothing like his iron-fisted Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin—right?
February 11, 2012
- The Economist
Economist: Render unto Caesar
THERE was a time when Devon Chang had difficulty reconciling his two chosen faiths: Christianity, which he embraced in 2005 at the age of 19, and the Communist Party of China, which had embraced him a year earlier.
February 10, 2012
- Agence France-Presse
AFP: Turkish PM criticized for 'religious youth' remark
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comment his government wants to "raise a religious youth" has touched a nerve in society, fuelling debates over an alleged "hidden agenda" to Islamicize secular Turkey.
February 07, 2012
- Straits Times
Straits Times: Is Atheism Illegal in Indonesia?
After surviving a mob attack over a Facebook posting, 31-year-old Indonesian civil servant Alexander Aan was taken into custody by the West Sumatra police for his own safety.
January 27, 2012
- The New York Times
NYT: Teaching Tibetan ways, a school in China is an unlikely wonder
There are many marvels at the end of the punishing dirt road that skirts the edge of this stark white glacier high on the Tibetan plateau: thousands of fluttering crimson prayer flags, planted on the slopes by the religious faithful; wild goats scrambling across impossibly steep cliffs; and Buddhist monks meditating as they have for centuries in a place where newcomers find themselves gasping for air.
January 12, 2012
- The Australian
Australian: Salman Rushdie brushes off call for festival 'blasphemy' ban
The vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, one of India's most influential Islamic seminaries, has called on the government to deny the Indian-born writer a visa to attend the Jaipur Literary Festival over the insult caused to Muslims by his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.
January 10, 2012
- Los Angeles Times
LA Times: Malaysia opposition leader not guilty of sodomy
Malaysia's surprising acquittal Monday of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges suggests a nascent maturation in the country's judiciary and political environment, analysts said, positioning a resurgent opposition to take on the powerful ruling coalition in upcoming elections.