The church has tried to play a mediating role between Ortega’s Sandinista government and protesters who have increasingly demanded his ouster amid demonstrations and clashes in which about 450 people — most of them protesters — have been slain.
Religious Freedom
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
What FiveThirtyEight gets wrong about Catholic hospitals
For a website with a quantitative bent, FiveThirtyEight is surprisingly willing in this case to use statistics to obscure the truth.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Holy See Ambassador: ‘Securing’ religious liberty top priority for U.S. and Vatican
Ambassador Callista Gingrich joined Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, and other speakers at an event to discuss the Vatican’s perspective on and fight for religious freedom around the world.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Central African bishops distance themselves from group promising violence
The group calling itself the League of Defense of the Church alleged there was inaction by Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui as the church faced attacks, with Christians and priests being killed.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Missionaries of Charity condemn trafficking allegations in India
Facing child trafficking allegations at one of its homes for unmarried mothers in India, the Missionaries of Charity said the order condemns the actions of individuals involved and stressed that these are unrelated to the order.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Rebuilding with US funds, Iraq’s minority religious communities still await security
Last fall, as coalition troops broke through the last major strongholds held by the so-called Islamic State, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech to the advocacy group In Defense of Christians in Washington, D.C. In what attendees said was an unexpected move, he focused a sizable portion of his remarks on attacking United Nations efforts to assist Iraqi minority religious groups whose ancient, ancestral homes were ravaged by the militants.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
A campaign to blitz the country with ‘In God We Trust’ laws takes root
This year, five state legislatures passed laws mandating that every public school prominently display the U.S. motto, “In God We Trust.” The addition of Arkansas, which passed such a law in 2017, brings to six the number of states with public school mandates, including Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
In Europe, religious minorities face mounting hostility and harassment
The Washington-based Pew Research Center issued a report on religious freedom around the world last week that found that Europe registered the sharpest increase in “social hostilities concerning religion” in 2016, the last year for which it has full statistics.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
There is religious bigotry behind Trump’s travel ban. The Supreme Court should have known better.
The Supreme Court ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case was correct, but the Trump travel ban showed even more bigotry toward religious belief.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
King of Jordan wins Templeton Prize for fostering Muslim cooperation
King Abdullah II of Jordan has won the 2018 Templeton Prize for promoting dialogue and cooperation between Muslims of differing traditions.