(OPINION) The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Muslim organization, recently welcomed the new leader of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). The two groups aim to further Muslim-Christian relations and counter threats to religious freedom and secular extremism.
Read More(OPINION) After two mass shootings in the U.S., many are examining the motives of the shooters. But people are complex creatures. We may be driven by hate, by anger and greed, and also by fear, insecurity, guilt, shame, jealousy and envy. Sometimes motives may be impossible to fathom.
Read MoreSince the fall of President Suharto in 1998 and especially since the establishment of regional autonomy in 2001, there has been controversy over the practice by many Indonesian public schools to require Muslims and non-Muslims to wear symbols related to religion, like a headscarf.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The religious freedom of and even the number of Christians in Egypt is highly contested, but there are a number of important reasons why the Coptic pope declines to call discrimination against Christians “persecution.” A recent webinar by In Defense of Christians discussed the topic.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Thousands of Islamic militia members are going to gather outside churches in Indonesia this Christmas week. This sounds like a terrifying scenario, and in parts of the world it certainly would be. But very few, if any, Indonesian Christians are worried. They are more likely to greet the militia members with tea and cake.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The recent return from Saudi Arabia of Islamist firebrand Muhammad Rizieq Shihab sparked massive welcoming crowds, threatens to reform old political alliances and may even create new ones.
Read More(OPINION) The Oct. 16, 2020 terrorist beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty has galvanized France and led to increased international tensions. French President Macron has portrayed the conflict not as a lone terrorist attack but as a war between Islamists and France that is a conflict of ideologies.
Read More(OPINION) Governments have often overstepped their bounds in restricting religious gatherings more than other types of gatherings in restaurants, protests or casinos. Media has unfairly blamed churches for spreading COVID-19 cases when they make up a tiny portion of the overall case spread. But should churches defy orders and worship in-person?
Read More(OPINION) With Turkey President Erdoğan’s AKP party having suffered losses in municipal elections, his response to these drawbacks has been to emphasize his Sunni-Islamic credentials and to link these to the restoration of the splendors of the Ottoman Empire. One aspect of this propaganda effort has been to threaten the status of Hagia Sophia.
Read More(OPINION) Social distancing has fractured Muslim gatherings for Ramadan this year. A Presbyterian missionary couple shares the way Ramadan celebrations are interfaith in their neighborhood.
Read More(OPINION) During the pandemic we should remember that what the media reports is a picture of the important and unusual things happening around us— not necessarily the everyday encouraging acts of goodness that are also a part of our reality during lockdown.
Read More(OPINION) Stranded on opposite sides of the U.S./Canada border, Paul Marshall and his wife united in prayer.
Read More(OPINION) The Muslim-majority West African nation has historically had high religious freedom, but changes to its Constitution and growing territorial control of terrorist groups could threaten that.
Read More(TRAVEL) A village once burned down by radical Islamists is maintaining its culture by following Islam as well as their pre-Islamic ancestral traditions, including living mostly without electricity, building from wood and bamboo and living 430 steps below access to a main road.
Read More(NEWS ANALYSIS) The conviction in the UK of a gay serial rapist from Indonesia is fueling debates in the Muslim-majority country of whether rape is a symptom of homosexuality. While homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia, the largest Muslim organizations have been advocating to criminalize gay sexual activities.
Read More(OPINION) A trip to the Sekaten festival reveals a colorful Islamic tradition that is scorned in some Sunni regions, but celebrated with much ado in Indonesia.
Read MoreA Chinese apostle of Islam is a symbol of religious and racial harmony in the world’s largest Muslim country.
Read MoreThis Indonesian province has a rich history of a matrilineal society that’s shifting from its indigenous culture toward a more austere form of Islam. Cultural and theological divides are widening with less openness to discussion.
Read More(COMMENTARY) In Maluku, two villages — one Christian and one Muslim — follow a unique tradition they say dates back to 1506 to live in harmony without diluting either of their faiths.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The U.S. State Department’s second annual Ministerial on religious freedom drew over 1,000 official invitees and many more for side events.
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