Law and Religion Headlines
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Church in Chile collaborates with state agencies to solve refugee problem
(Ivan Fernandes, La Croix International)
Myanmar: The army destroys a Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Mandalay; the Chapel of Adoration remains standing
(Agenzia Fides)
Monday, 16 January 2023
Religion’s roles in peacebuilding in Ethiopia: Religion and interfaith engagement in times of conflict and disaster
(Asma Redi Baleker, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
We must not let the Rohingya people slip to the bottom of the international agenda
(Ellis Heasley, FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
Several killed in DR Congo church bomb attack
(Al Jazeera)
Islamic State claims church bombing in east Congo; 14 dead
(Associated Press)
Online course: Engaging faith actors to support the implementation process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(KAICIID Dialogue Centre)
Photos of the week: Black Nazarene; Orthodox Christmas; Rabbi funeral
(Kit Doyle, Religion News Service)
Tracking rising religious hatred in India, from half a world away
(Pranshu Verma, The Washington Post)
Rethinking religion and nationalism: The case of the Sikhs
(Giorgio Shani, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)
Pakistan: UN experts urge action on coerced religious conversions, forced and child marriage
(Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations)
Catholic priest burned alive in Nigeria’s hard-hit north
(Chinedu Asadu, Associated Press)
China: Religious persecution and issues, bimonthly digest Jan 01-15
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
US expert 'disappointed' in Vatican-China deal
(Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service)
China’s ingress in Arunachal Pradesh has to do with control of Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism: Report
(Oplndia)
Inspired by George Floyd, annual ecumenical week to focus on racial justice
(Elise Ann Allen, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Catholic leader warns Mozambique’s ‘anti-terrorist’ drive may target civilians
(Ngala Killian Chimtom, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Sri Lanka cardinal hails verdict against ex-president in Easter Sunday bombings
(Nirmala Carvalho, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Moscow receives apologies from Vatican for Pope's remarks about Russian people
(Interfax-Religion)
‘Move along… there’s nothing to see here,’ Religious Zionism MK tells Diaspora amid judicial reforms
(Jotam Confino, Jewish News)
Two weeks in review, 2 January – 15 January
(Tal Gross, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Papal criticsm of nuclear war 'indispensable': UN official
(Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service)
Bangladeshi PM: Islam is a religion of peace, fraternity, friendship
(International Quran News Agency (IQNA))
WCC denounces continuing attacks on civilians in Ukraine
(World Council of Churches)
A historic meeting of Orthodox Christian scholars convenes to confront divisions and war
(Meagan Saliashvili, Religion News Service)
We must not let the Rohingya people slip to the bottom of the international agenda
(FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
Cuba: The religious persecution on our doorstep
(Antonio Garrastazu, The Hill)
Indonesia: Half-hearted progress: religious freedom after the new Criminal Code
(Zainal Abidin Bagir, The University of Melbourne)
Video of Jim Shannon MP raising the issue of persecution in Iran
(Twitter, UK Bahá'í Office of Public Affairs)
Australia should have more public holidays – but make them civic and secular
(Hugh Piper, Lowy Institute)
Legal Journal Number 4 (18): January (Spanish)
(Observatorio de Libertad Religiosa de América Latina y El Caribe)
Brazil: Meetings of Peoples of Terreiro fight religious intolerance (Portuguese)
(Vitor Taveira, Século Diário)
Brazil: National Week to Combat Religious Intolerance January 18th to 21st (Portuguese)
(JBN Bahia)
Brazil: President Lula signs law that makes it a crime to attack or try to close churches (Portuguese)
(Júnior Silva, Portal de Prefeitura)
Friday, 13 January 2023
The deep Constitution of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church
(Mikhail Antonov, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Chairman of World Muslim Communities Council impressed by visit, says ‘important for Muslim world to understand Xinjiang’
(Global Times)
Uyghurs abroad, rights groups condemn visit to Xinjiang by Muslim delegation
(Erkin and Gulchehra Hoja, Radio Free Asia)
Pakistan: Boy charged with blasphemy for calling God "cruel" on social media
(Marco Respinti, Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights in China)
Seeds of Islamic radicalism in Pakistan sown in state school textbooks: Study
(P. K. Balachandran, Eurasia Review)
Nigeria’s bishops push Buhari on terrorism, corruption; Buhari reportedly pushes back
(John Dyikuk, The Pillar)
Dozens still in captivity after Christmas Day attack in Nigeria, Catholic priest says
(Jude Atemanke, Catholic News Agency)
Advancing religious freedom despite persecutions on the rise
(Deborah Castellano Lubov, Vatican News)
Charting a nationalist and secular Iraqi state: The road ahead (podcast)
(Geneive Abdo, The Middle East File: Religious Freedom Institute)
Sri Lanka Catholic Church hails Supreme Court order for ex-president over bombings
(Uditha Jayasinghe, Reuters)
Sri Lanka church seeks criminal justice for Easter bombings
(Associated Press)
Why focus on religious roles in the global forced migration crisis?
(Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
The clergy and laity of the UOC-MP demand answers to 10 questions regarding the status of their Church and withdrawal from the ROC
(Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU))
Assessing Kyiv’s new focus on “spiritual independence”
(Denys Brylov, Tetiana Kalenychenko, Peter Mandaville, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Integrating religion in the governance of the refugee crisis
(Jocelyne Cesari, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Learning from the vast COVID-19 restrictions on religion
(Eric Patterson, World)
Nine killed in mosque attack in Burkina Faso
(AFP, Barron's)
Kazakhstan: Religious censorship at border
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)
Jihadists threaten Catholics in central Mali, demand conversion
(Guy Aimé Eblotié, La Croix International)
Parliament joins civil society in responding to United Nations new agenda for peace
(Parliament of the World's Religions)
Afghanistan: Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul attack that killed 5 people
(Associated Press, NPR)
Myanmar: Junta bombs church in Kayin State killing 5 civilians
(Radio Free Asia)
Christian missionaries target the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal
(Kevin Kim and Rebecca Henschke, BBC News)
Turkiye President criticises Taliban ban on women education
(Middle East Monitor)
MECC and OHCHR organize seminar entitled "Dignity, Freedom and Justice" marking 75th anniversary of adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(Lebanon National News Agency)
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Why religious freedom matters to me
(Chris Seiple, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Understanding religion’s roles in peacebuilding
(James Christie, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Lebanese Hezbollah condemns Charlie Hebdo cartoons in France
(Associated Press)
Maronite Patriarch meets with UK political leaders and Lebanese delegations
(Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales)
Iran: An Unbelievable Injustice: Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi sentenced to a second decade in prison in Iran
(Bahá’í International Community)
The persecution of Christians keeps surging around the world
(Richard Ostling, Religion Unplugged)
Russia: 47 Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to prison terms in 2022
(Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
Religious repression in Putin’s Russia
(Antonio Graceffo, Providence Mag)
Religion in the war in Ukraine (audio recording)
(Peter Mandaville and Knox Thames, WorldNews Reddit Talk)
Announcement of 3 year contract with the International Rescue Committee to help resettle refugees
(Twitter, Islamic Relief USA)
The number of Christians and churches in Nepal released by the NCCS
(Kumar Singh Bist, The China Christian Daily)
Why interfaith marriage in India is getting dangerous
(Murali Krishnan, Deutsche Welle)
New book: Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law
(Edited by Tom Ginsburg and Benjamin Schonthal, Cambridge University Press)
Israel’s new hard-line government has made headlines – the bigger demographic changes that caused it, not so much
(Michael Brenner, The Conversation)
Why Israel’s Orthodox Jewish parties want to narrow the country’s ‘Law of Return’
(Avi Shafran, Religion News Service)
Norms in religious traditions for response to the displaced
(David Hollenbach, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Quebec's Bill 21 on secularism finds support in Ontario
(Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun)
Hijab and niqab in North America: Politics, identity, and media representation
(Katherine Bullock, Muslim Matters)
Open letter to the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
(Religions for Peace)
Religious Freedom in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan
(Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
The Journal of CESNUR: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Central Asia (pdf)
(The Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR))
First new church in Turkey in more than 100 years
(Christian Network Europe)
Iraq: Weaponising religion for war
(Farouk Yousef, Arab Weekly)
Benin: In the small West African nation of Benin the government is calling on voodoo to attract tourism
(ABC News Australia)
Church in Peru condemns murder of police officer burned alive: ‘No more deaths!’
(Catholic News Agency)
Chile: Comment following Chamber's vote condemning antisemitism (Spanish)
(Twitter, Miguel Angel Calisto)
Brazil registers three complaints of religious intolerance a day and Jutay defends more severe punishment for those who practice the act (Portuguese)
(Daniel Alexandre, Repórter PB)
Brazil: Now it's law: Religious Diversity Week joins the official calendar of the city of São Paulo (Portuguese)
(Carol Flores, Câmara Municipal de São Paulo)
Monday, 9 January 2023
Indonesian Catholics seek resolution of community grievance
(Union of Catholic Asian News)
Fear over growing use of blasphemy law in Indonesia
(Asia Sentinel)
United Arab Emirates says it will teach Holocaust in schools
(Jon Gambrell, Associated Press)
Does the state of Israel still have a prayer?
(Jeffrey Salkin, RNS Column: Martini Judaism)
40% of Israeli Jewish students don't want an Arab teacher - survey
(Eliav Batito, The Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs: Israel prevented call to prayer in Ibrahimi Mosque 613 times in 2022
(Middle East Monitor)
What does Israel’s new government mean for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
(Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, The United States Institute of Peace)
Presiding bishop joins world leaders in condemning Jerusalem Christian cemetery desecration
(David Paulsen, Episcopal News Service)
As China, Eritrea, Iran and more extend repression beyond their own borders, we must do better
(Mervyn Thomas, FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
French magazine’s insulting move part of Islamophobia project: Iranian diplomat
(International Quran News Agency (IQNA))
Refugees and religious freedom: Why religious freedom matters for asylum seekers and refugees
(Kareem P. A. McDonald, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF))
How Pope Benedict XVI stood up for Chinese Catholics
(Nina Shea, Hudson Institute)
Pope Benedict’s dialogue with the secular in a culture in crisis
(Jacob Phillips, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)
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