The polarizing campaign gave hard-line Islamic groups a national stage and has undermined Indonesia’s reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam.
Religious Freedom
Posted inFaith, News
Arsonists strike cathedral in Nepal capital
Father Ignatius Rai, pastor of the cathedral parish, said “unknown persons” broke into the church premises and started a fire that partially damaged the priest’s residence and the western part of the church.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Gorsuch’s first Supreme Court week features a separation of church and state case
The outcome of the court case could make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in many states.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Study: Worldwide restrictions on religion on the rise
A total of 40 percent of surveyed countries registered “high” or “very high” levels of overall restrictions, according to Pew Research Center’s annual study on global restrictions on religion.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians, and why do extremists target them?
Egypt’s Coptic Christians have become the preferred target of the Islamic State group, an apocalyptic cult seeking religious war.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Supreme Court struggles with church-affiliated hospital pension case
Justices considered the cases of three church-affiliated nonprofit hospital systems being sued for underfunding pension plans.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Proposed bans on Sharia law are just an attempt to ‘alienate’ U.S. Muslims, leaders say
Supporters of state proposals to prevent Islamic code from being used in American courts argue they aren’t overtly anti-Muslim and are needed to safeguard constitutional rights for average Americans.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Why evangelical churches are booming in Cuba
Pastors and worshippers say Cuba is in the middle of a boom in evangelical worship, with tens of thousands of Cubans worshipping unmolested across the island each week.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
French presidential candidates are breaking tradition by playing the religion card.
Playing the religion card so openly is unusual in France, where the official separation of church and state is normally taken so seriously that politicians rarely if ever mention in public whether they have a faith or not.
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
What’s the Jesuit approach to protesting controversial speakers?
What is needed is a case for civility and engagement across the lines of ideology, race and class—grounded not just in freedom or tolerance but charity.