EVENT, 16 June 2026: Religious Freedom Annual Review: The USA at 250: Life, Religious Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Provo, Utah, USA) (International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), Brigham Young University)

EVENT, 30 August 2026: Festival of Faiths (Indianapolis, IN, USA)(Religious Freedom Alliance Council)

EVENT, 1-3 September 2026: 8th ICLARS Biennial Conference: State Neutrality and Cooperation with Religion: Protecting Freedom of Religion or Belief without Discrimination (Palermo, Italy) (International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies)

Religious restrictions around the world (Pew Research Center)

More countries had elevated levels of social hostilities involving religion in 2023 (Samirah Majumdar and Vivian Jacobs, Pew Research Center)

WCC executive committee calls churches to work for peace (World Council of Churches)

Faith, AI, and the planet: John C. Havens on sustainability in an innovating world (G20 Interfaith Forum)

Spiritual exploration of possible pathways for providing energy security for all (JoAnne Wadsworth, G20 Interfaith Forum)

Articles and books of interest - 15 June 2026 (Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Is this the end of political Islam? (Ben Hubbard, The New York Times)

Asia

From crime to covenant: What Korea’s decriminalization of adultery asks of the church (Joe Cho, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

Bangladesh has a new Catholic diocese: why Hindus and Muslims are excited, too (Stephan Uttom Rozario, Religion Unplugged)

Indonesian Christians, officials try to end dispute over church construction (Union of Catholic Asian News)

China: Detention of church leaders signals intensifying attacks on religious freedom (Amnesty International)

UN calls on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reverse crackdown on women (Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press)

South Africa

Amid anti-migrant attacks, South African clergy urge dialogue and open doors (Fredrick Nzwili, Religion News Service)

Colombia

Ahead of runoff, Church concerned about political violence in Colombia (Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Protests will continue 'until religious group leaves' (Phil McCann, BBC)

Unauthorised Buddhist temple hidden in former pub closed by council (The Times)

Catholic bishops from G7 countries and COMECE issue joint appeal ahead of G7 Summit in France (The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE))

Russia: "Without any investigation, they're already presuming us guilty", says pastor (Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)

Large-scale Russian attack sparks fire at historic monastery and other sites in Ukraine, in photos (Efrem Lukatsky, Evgeniy Maloletka, and Danylo Antoniuk, Associated Press)

The ECtHR Judgment in Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v. Italy: A First Note (Pierluigi Consorti, DiReSoM (Law and Religion in Multicultural Societies))

“Intese”: Strasbourg Condemns Italy’s Forty-Year Exclusion of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter)

Rep. María Elvira Salazar cosponsors bipartisan legislation to protect Jewish Americans and combat antisemitism (María Elvira Salazar, U.S. House of Representatives)

Religious liberty for all: Celebrating this founding freedom at America 250 (Center for American Progress)

CAIR-Arizona calls on governor to veto anti-Muslim hate bill (Council on American-Islamic Relations)

Hare Krishnas celebrate a 50-year milestone with a parade of chariots in Manhattan (Trisha Mukherjee, Religion News Service)

Religious liberty ‘the cornerstone of any just society,’ Pope Leo says in message to Becket gala (Kate Scanlon, OSV News)

Video: McCain Institute hosts Senator Coons, religious freedom experts for discussion in U.S. Senate (McCain Institute)

‘Timely and urgent’: Conference studies pathways to religious pluralism (Rice University)