pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
Reuters: Christians face arrest, persecution in Iran, U.N. experts say
More than 300 Christians have been arrested since mid-2010 in Iran where churches operate in a climate of fear and Muslims who convert to Christianity face persecution, United Nations human rights investigators said on Thursday.
Reuters: As Muslims rage, Pakistan scrutinised by churches
With Muslim leaders in many countries calling for a global law barring what they call insults to Islam, the main non-Catholic world Christian grouping on Monday said just such a law in Pakistan is used to persecute other religions.
AP: Multiple personalities of the Muslim rage
At the height of the latest Islamic rage, one of the Muslim world's first media-celebrity imams told worshippers they were indeed witnessing a clash of civilizations. But just not the kind you think.
CS Monitor: After film, push strengthens for blasphemy clause in Egypt's constitution
Last week's protests in reaction to an anti-Islam YouTube clip have led to Egyptian demands that the United States prosecute the filmmakers and may give a decisive push to an effort to enshrine in the Egyptian constitution the criminalization of blasphemy, or insulting religious figures.
NYT: Cultural clash fuels Muslims angry at online video
Stepping from the cloud of tear gas in front of the American Embassy here, Khaled Ali repeated the urgent question that he said justified last week’s violent protests at United States outposts around the Muslim world.
AP: Change of Pakistan's blasphemy laws unlikely
The apparent collapse of a case against a Christian girl accused of burning pages of a Quran has given a dim ray of hope to critics of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, some of the harshest in the Muslim world.
Reuters: Muslim-Christian relations clouded in the new Middle East
When Middle Eastern Christians and Muslims meet to discuss religion and the region’s future, it can sometimes seem like they are talking about two different places and using divergent meanings for the same words.
Reuters: Egypt constitution talks stumble on role of Islam
A proposal by ultraconservative Salafis to give Egypt's main Islamic institution the final say on whether the law of the land adheres to Islamic laws threatens to bring the already painfully slow process of drafting the new constitution to a grinding halt.
AP: American killed in Libya protest over film

Protesters angered over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad fired gunshots and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing one American diplomat, witnesses and the State Department said.
 

 

National Post: Israeli police intolerant of Christianity: clergyman
The Israeli authorities are growing increasingly intolerant of Christianity in the country, responding inadequately to violent attacks against the faith by Jewish extremists, a senior Vatican official in Jerusalem has warned.
Telegraph: Vatican official says Israel fostering intolerance of Christianity
Police inaction and an educational culture that encourages Jewish children to treat Christians with "contempt" has made life increasingly "intolerable" for many, Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Custodian of the Holy Land, said.
LA Times: Egypt town's Muslim-Christian unrest speaks to bigger challenges
It began when a Christian dry-cleaning business scorched a Muslim man's shirt.
AP: Tunisia designs its democracy, painfully
Tunisia dived into a fierce debate this week over a document that could be an example for the changing Arab world: a long-awaited constitution that will lay out what women are free to do, Islam's role in society and art, and how to share political power after decades of dictatorship.
WSJ: Platform change on status of Jerusalem sparks debate
The Democratic Party released a 2012 platform Tuesday that omits previous language describing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, sparking an unexpected dust-up just as President Barack Obama is preparing to accept his party's nomination for a second term.
AP: Culture clash emerges in Iraq as conservative clerics battle sassy Western styles
For much of Iraq's youth, sporting blingy makeup, slicked-up hair and skintight jeans is just part of living the teenage dream. But for their elders, it's a nightmare.
Guardian: Christian girl hailed as 'daughter of nation' by senior Pakistani cleric
The Christian girl who was allegedly framed for blasphemy by her local mullah has been hailed as a "daughter of the nation" by one of Pakistan's most senior Islamic clerics, who also vowed to guarantee her safety if she is eventually released from prison.
The Times: Israel's Orthodoxy at odds with Reformers
Shlomo Amar, Israel's joint Chief Rabbi, is on the warpath. He is mobilising rabbis in what he has called a "battle for the soul of the Jewish people", warning of a threat posed by the "uprooters and destroyers of Judaism" and "haters of the Lord".
AP: Palestinian government chips away at male divorce monopoly, easing women’s ability to separate
For decades, Palestinian women seeking to divorce their husbands risked years of miserable, expensive litigation or lengthy domestic battles as they begged their spouses for permission to leave.
WSJ: Attacks on shrines rattle Libya
Libya's newly elected congress held an emergency session on Sunday about the destruction over the weekend of two of the country's most revered Sufi shrines by suspected religious extremists, who some lawmakers allege may have undertaken their actions in collusion with security officials.
Miami Herald: Spiritual journeys
In troubled times, many people turn to their faith, which may explain why faith-based travel has been gaining momentum in recent years.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9