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)

International Day for Countering Hate Speech, 18 June (United Nations)

Online course: Tackling hate speech (FORB Learning Platform)

Countering hate speech: A call for wisdom, courage, and balance (World Evangelical Alliance)

Asia

Kyrgyzstan: Five reform Adventists in 2-month pre-trial detention (Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)

Sri Lankan Church slams political smear campaign against cardinal (Union of Catholic Asian News)

Gurudwara killings deepen fears among Pakistan's minorities (Union of Catholic Asian News)

WEA Secretary General had a face-to-face meeting in Singapore with Islamic NU Chair, Yahya Staquf (World Evangelical Alliance)

The Americas

The war on drugs and violence against Catholic priests in Mexico (Yves Bernardo Roger Solís Nicot, Debora Roberta Sánchez Guajardo & Maria Fernanda Alcala Durand, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

WCC invites churches around the world to pray for Colombia (World Council of Churches)

Bill C-9 has passed: what will change? (Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)

Africa

Religious, traditional leaders debunk ritual myths about albinos, demand end to discrimination (Rotimi Agboluaje, Guardian)

South African Council of Churches calls for human dignity, justice and solidarity (Christine Masivo, Vatican News)

Niger military junta introduces new penal code criminalizing homosexuality with 5-10 years in prison (Associated Press)

Australia

Multi-faith project encourages Australians to be counted in the 2026 Census (Cath News)

Welsh police backtrack on Islamic ‘blasphemy law’ amid free speech backlash (Jules Gomes, Middle East Forum)

Hate crimes against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Western Europe (Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter)

Judgment of the Court (Italian Defense Ministry and covid vaccine) (Court of Justice of the European Union)

Irish bishops oppose attempts to widen abortion laws (Christian Today)

Stockholm court ruling reinforces religious freedom for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sweden (Jehovah's Witnesses)

Fehrs: Churches open their doors during heat waves (German) (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland)

Representatives of Churches meet with speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk (Institute for Religious Freedom, Ukraine)

When religion becomes governance: The Kadyrov case (Inal Sherip, Hudson Institute)

“Yes, I will veto”: Bulgaria’s PM stuns Brussels with threat to block Russia sanctions over Patriarch Kirill (Sofia News Agency)

DOJ cracking down on MLB for potential religious discrimination after Pride Night caps controversy (Jackson Thompson, Fox News)

Trump envoy’s push to eliminate standalone Holocaust office divides Jewish leaders (Grace Gilson, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Religious freedom ‘rooted in human dignity,’ says expert ahead of US bishops’ observance (Gina Christian, OSV News)

Most U.S. Catholics view Pope Leo favorably; many think Trump has been too critical of him (Gregory A. Smith, Pew Research Center)

Louisiana cops threatened to arrest a man for handing out religious leaflets. They got qualified immunity. (Jacob Sullum, Reason)

Religious Freedom Index, American perspectives on the First Amendment, 2024 (The Association of Religion Data Archives)