(ANALYSIS) The move — in the wake of a decades-old priest shortage — will grant women the chance to serve as lectors, read Scripture and serve as eucharistic ministers. The changes, however, will continue to forbid women from being made deacons or priests.
Read More(ANALYSIS) What will 2021 bring? That’s the big question following a 2020 that will forever remain a year where the world was held hostage by a pandemic. It was also a year where we had a combative presidential election and a reawakened social justice movement that brought our divided politics out into our streets.
Read MoreIndia’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost local elections in Jammu and Kashmir Dec. 23 to a rare local political alliance that wants to reverse the sweeping constitutional changes made to the Muslim-majority region that opened it up for greater Hindu settlement, a severe lockdown and arbitrary detentions. Kashmir-based political parties put aside their differences to form the People’s Alliance For Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), explicitly to fight the BJP.
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) Last week, the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court confirmed that it would not go further with the trials for the alleged crimes against the Uyghurs in China. The court does not have jurisdiction over crimes in China, allowing for senior Chinese leaders to continue religious persecution.
Read MoreThe Indian government has evicted hundreds of nomadic Muslims living in the forests of Kashmir and cut down their sources of income— their apple orchards. The move comes a year after a court order declaring their occupation of the land illegal, but activists say the Hindu nationalist government is ignoring a law allowing tribal people to live on government land and accusing the government of wanting to change the Muslim character of the region.
Read More(REVIEW) David Geisser’s new cookbook in time for the holidays, The Vatican Christmas Cookbook, offers up over 100 recipes from around the world.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A narrative pushed by Hindu nationalists suggests Muslim men are forcing Hindu women and girls to marry them and convert to Islam. An anti-conversion law that prohibits “love jihad” was passed at the end of November and criminalizes Hindu-Muslim couples.
Read MoreJews are fed up with being told where they can worship and what they can build, and the Department of Justice has swept in to have their back. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is having a rare moment of bipartisan unity begging other countries to stop persecuting religious minorities. In India, fears of “love jihad” have fueled a new anti-conversion law in the country’s most populous state, appeasing Hindu nationalists. Finally, California churches have won a step forward in a lawsuit against the governor.
Read MoreA new bill in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand would recognize the Sarna faith of tribals (indigenous people) for the first time. The state hopes to persuade the national government to pass a similar resolution. But some Hindu nationalist groups are pushing back.
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 MoreAnalysts say if the election is fair, it could be a referendum on the constitutional changes made on Aug. 5 last year. But there is evidence that the Indian government is preventing local political parties from campaigning in India’s only Muslim-majority region.
Read MoreThe highest court in the U.S. overturned an attendance limit on New York houses of worship, Europeans deal with miscommunication over anti-radicalization policy, Greece joins the Serbian Orthodox Church in a battle over safety in worship as the pandemic tears through their highest-ranking clergy, and China eyes a new law to control religious appointments.
Read MoreA group of art historians are petitioning Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his country’s peace-keeping force in the Nagorno Karabakh region to protect Armenian Christian monuments under threat of destruction, including churches that date back to as early as the 4th century. Parts of the region are transitioning from Armenian to Azerbaijani control this week.
Read More(OPINION) Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs wants to model a way of being a faithful and zealous Muslim that is consistent with Indonesia’s tradition of tolerance and pluralism. Their work is especially important at a time when Indonesia is experiencing a rise in religious extremism and intolerance.
Read MoreIn a handwritten letter sent exclusively to Religion Unplugged, Cardinal Joseph Zen reflected on the Vatican’s continued cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, declaring the Church in China “schismatic,” and placing the blame on Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin.
Read MoreThis year, millions celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights celebrating the triumph of good over evil, had to adapt their plans amid various restrictions on gathering during the coronavirus pandemic. In Malaysia, Hindus attended temple for prayers for the first time in more than a month, as the government had closed houses of worship to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Read MoreThis weekend, millions are celebrating the Hindu festival Diwali, or the festival of lights. The holiday celebrates the triumph of good over evil and remembers several different Hindu mythologies.
Read MoreIn an online broadcast to his followers, Rev. Sean Moon, son of the Unification movement’s founder, said America is threatened by totalitarianism and must fight back to ensure President Trump serves a second term, even if that means dying in “a gun fight with police.”
Read MoreWorldwide, religious leaders are making headlines in secular society for the realms where their faiths clash with the political.
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