Posts in Asia
Having Fled Genocide, The Rohingya Muslims Now Face COVID-19 Risk

(OPINION) The Kutupalong refugee camps in Bangladesh are inhabited primarily by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group that fled mass atrocities in Myanmar. Amid the spread of COVID-19, there is a growing fear that the refugees will now face further threat to their lives, as the camps are more densely populated than New York City.

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Bolton: Repression of Chinese Catholics, Falun Gong 'didn't register' to Trump

The former National Security Advisor’s inside look at the Trump administration claims a widespread indifference from the president to China’s suppression of religious freedom, even as other diplomats pressed for the U.S. to act.

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Missionaries Around The World Are Responding To COVID-19

With the swelling challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic further depriving the impoverished, Danielle Schneider, Brad Brunsch and Rachel Simmons face a year of ministry like no other.

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Indian Sikhs sanitizing over 500 temples, mosques and churches for reopening

The charity United Sikhs has organized volunteers to regularly clean and sanitize some of India’s most prominent religious sites of every faith to allow religious leaders and devotees to worship with minimized risk of infection from coronavirus. Many religious sites in India begin reopening Monday, June 8.

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In Photos: Malaysians celebrate Eid al Fitr in lockdown

After a gathering in Kuala Lumpur in late February spread coronavirus to several countries in the region, Malaysia has made great progress in flattening its COVID-19 curve. Here is how Muslim families celebrated Ramadan and Eid al Fitr under a lockdown.

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Kashmir Gun Battle Leaves Hundreds Homeless During Eid and COVID-19 Pandemic

This week Indian security forces killed a rebel militant commander in Kashmir, destroying dozens of homes in the process amid rising coronavirus cases in India. Some families say the Indian officers started the fires and looted their possessions.

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COVID-19 is creating new burdens for religious minorities

(OPINION) The chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed governments across the world the liberty to heighten existing religious persecution. Many religious minorities are discriminated against in healthcare provision and some are even being blamed for the spread of the virus.

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A pandemic book list for readers interested in religion

(OPINION) Go with heavy material. Certain translations of holy books offer valuable insights into our world and this era. Thomas Paine’s skewering of biblical religion is a worthy read, along with classics like “Lord of the Flies.”

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How The Jason Bourne Films Inspired A Pill-Sized Bible

A China-based Christian ministry hosts hacker events for Christians with backgrounds in the CIA, military and related intelligence fields. They use advanced technology to create and use devices ranging from drones, Bibles the size of credit cards and a pocket-sized WiFi device called the Gospel Cloud, inventions that 007 would be proud of if he were a man of God.

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John Paul II centennial: 6 things you didn't know about the pope's life

Monday marks the centennial birth of Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint following his death. John Paul II was one of the longest-serving pontiffs in church history, the first non-Italian elected pope in 455 years and spent much of the 1980s ending communism in Eastern Europe.

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Modi Government Accused Of 'Witch Hunt' Against Muslim Activists

The arrests of several Muslim activists amid the coronavirus lockdown is seen by critics of the Modi government as a way to blame Muslims for the Delhi riots that killed more than 50 people in February and squash protests of a citizenship law passed in December seen as discriminatory against Muslims.

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Inside The $100 Million Russian Church Meant To Honor Putin, Stalin And War

(REVIEW) The church was planned to open May 9 on the 75th anniversary of Russia’s “Victory Day” celebrating the Nazi surrender and end of WWII but postponed during the coronavirus pandemic. The church’s architecture resembles military missiles, iron steps are forged from melted German weapons, and figures like Stalin, responsible for murders of thousands of faithful and clergy, were originally planned to feature inside the sanctuary alongside saints.

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China and Human Rights: ‘Then They Came For Me, And There Was No One Left To Speak For Me’

(OPINION) With these words Martin Niemoller criticized our silence in the eyes of evil, silence that amounts to complicity in the crimes. These words are as relevant now as they were during War World II in the case of human rights violations in China. 

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This Indonesian Muslim group is keeping millions safe during COVID-19

(OPINION) With approximately 30 million members, Muhammadiyah is Indonesia’s and the world’s largest modernist Muslim organization. While the Indonesian government has been slow to respond to COVID-19, Muhammadiyah has drawn on the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings and the Quran to advise Muslims to stay home during Ramadan celebrations, including ritual obligations some may see as essential to their faith.

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Prisoners of Conscience freed due to COVID-19

(OPINION) In early April, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom called for the release of prisoners of conscience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These prisoners are often detained simply for holding beliefs their government does not recognize. But a prison sentence should not become a death sentence due to the virus.

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Coronavirus is highlighting the rift in Islam

(OPINION) Coronavirus is bringing to the fore what is likely to be one of Islam’s most fundamental divides of the next decade: the rift between those Muslims whose worldview is being shaped by the modern world and those who are clinging to a literalist past.

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In India, Muslims are blamed for spreading coronavirus

Indian Muslims are being targeted in different parts of the country following reports that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at a mid-March gathering hosted by a Muslim missionary society.

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