Law and Religion Headlines
Thursday, 9 April 2020
North Korea: Coronavirus, missiles, and diplomacy
(Ambassador Joseph Yun; Frank Aum; Paul Kyumin Lee, United States Institute of Peace)
Indian religious leaders urge faithful to follow Covid-19 rules
(UCA News)
Churches ring bells, start interfaith prayer against coronavirus
(ABS CBN News)
USCIRF outraged over China selection to UN Human Right Council Consultative Group
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
USCIRF calls on Houthis in Yemen to abide by commitment to release Hamid bin Haydara
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Uzbekistan: UN cites concerns on torture, freedoms
(Human Rights Watch)
Christians in Guangdong indicted for printing children’s Bibles
(International Christian Concern)
Indian Christians experience “brief respite from violence” over Easter due to corona measures
(Alliance Defending Freedom)
Iran’s supreme leader suggests mass gatherings may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month Ramadan amid pandemic
(Associated Press)
Report 2020 “Religious Persecution in China” by Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(Forum for Religious Freedom Europe)
Baptists cry out for federal intervention against scapegoating
(Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))
Kremlin expects Israel to remain committed to decision on Alexander Metochion's handover
(Interfax-Religion)
Russia: Mass raids, new arrests on "extremism" charges
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)
Supreme Court won't hear bid to suspend Quebec's secularism law
(CBC News)
Israeli-Bedouin students left behind over coronavirus
(Danny Zaken, Al-Monitor: Israel Pulse)
Shops reopen in Bahrain as government rolls back restrictions
(Elizabeth Hagedorn, Al-Monitor)
Is Oman’s model of governance about to shift?
(Sebastian Castelier, Al-Monitor)
Millions of Egyptians out in the streets despite coronavirus lockdown
(Doaa Fareed, Al-Monitor)
Khamenei blames Western culture, atheism for coronavirus response failings
(Al-Monitor: Iran Pulse)
Iran releases jailed UK resident Aras Amiri on furlough
(Al-Monitor: Iran Pulse)
Iraq’s president taps intelligence chief to form new government
(Al-Monitor: Iraq Pulse)
COVID-19 crisis threatens to double Turkey’s unemployed
(Mustafa Sonmez, Al-Monitor: Turkey Pulse)
Turkish pandemic plan raises concerns over citizens' digital rights
(Diego Cupolo, Al-Monitor: Turkey Pulse)
Kachin IDPs risk their health for work during coronavirus epidemic
(Olivia Miller, International Christian Concern)
Malta court authorizes seizure of €29 million in Vatican bank assets
(Ed Condon, Catholic News Agency)
Vatican thanks Chinese groups for donations to combat coronavirus
(Catholic News Agency)
Cloud of doubt surrounds coronavirus figures reported by Iraqi government
(Mustafa Saadoun, Al-Monitor: Iraq Pulse)
Wednesday, 8 April 2020
The eleventh plague: Passover in the time of coronavirus
(Kimberly Winston, Religion Unplugged)
Articles of interest - 6 April 2020
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
USCIRF condemns the stigmatization of religious minorities during COVID-19 pandemic
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Canada’s Trudeau administration using COVID-19 money to fund ‘reproductive rights’
(Cassy Fiano-Chesser, Live Action)
Dozens of churches granted legal status in Egypt
(Christianity Today)
42 Thai returnees from Indonesia found to have coronavirus
(Tassanee Vejpongsa and Edna Tarigan, Associated Press)
Refugee Jehovah's Witness released in Belarus
(Belorusskii Partisan, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))
Russia to seek return of Alexander Metochion in Jerusalem in court - Stepashin
(Interfax-Religion)
Belarus: Makhalichev "basically free, but still not out of danger"
(Olga Glace, Forum 18 News Service)
Court frees Cardinal Pell: Washington Post offers basic journalism. And the New York Times?
(Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)
Stories near you? Ultra-Orthodox Jews making news in a time of coronavirus self-isolation
(Ira Rifkin, GetReligion)
Islamic law and international law share many similarities, Notre Dame Professor says
(Colleen Sharkey, Notre Dame News)
Rights group blasts arrest of three Myanmar artists as ‘ridiculous’
(The Myanmar Times)
Tanzania’s leader urges people to worship in throngs against coronavirus
(Nicholas Bariyo and Joe Parkinson, The Wall Street Journal)
Myanmar: 3 charged for COVID-19 street art
(Human Rights Watch)
How isolation will change religion as a public presence in Australia
(Andrew West, ABC News Australia)
Iraq’s PMU throws weight behind countering COVID-19
(Tamer Badawi, Al-Monitor: Iraq Pulse)
Humanitarian crisis in Kaduna state, Nigeria as herdsmen attack unchecked
(Christian Headlines)
Catholic non-profit highlights dignity of people with disabilities amid coronavirus
(Catholic News Agency)
Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Australia's top court reverses sex abuse convictions of Cardinal George Pell
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
On the acquittal of Cardinal Pell
(Neil Foster, Law and Religion Australia)
George Pell releases statement after High Court overturns convictions
(Lucy Mae Beers, 7 News)
Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria kill more than 60 Christians in five weeks, sources say
(Morning Star)
Pakistan: No place for minorities in Punjab – analysis
(Eurasia Review)
Top Americas court finds Peru responsible for torture of trans woman
(Oscar Lopez, Thomson Reuters Foundation News)
Oldest synagogue in Russia celebrates its 140th anniversary
(Interfax-Religion)
Crimea: Prosecuting worship as "illegal missionary activity"
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)
Cardinal Pell acquitted
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
Faith groups in Tunisia call for harmony between science and religion
(Bahá’í World News Service)
UAE-based Indians face legal action for Islamophobic remarks on social media
(The Wire)
Turkey's state religious body undermines anti-coronavirus efforts
(Pinar Tremblay, Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East)
‘All hands on deck:’ Middle East embassies inundated with citizens stranded in US
(Elizabeth Hagedorn, Al-Monitor)
Jordanians cope with lockdown through humor, empathy and solidarity
(Osama Al Sharif, Al-Monitor: Jordan Pulse)
Monday, 6 April 2020
WEBINAR EVENT, 6 April 2020: The COVID-19 Crisis: Taking Stock of Religious Responses
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Repressed, removed, re-educated: The stranglehold on religious life in China
(Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
The Drama of Ethnic Kazakhs Persecuted in Xinjiang: Full Book
(Turarbek Kusanov, Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights in China)
Brazil’s Church leaders warn about threat to prisoners posed by COVID-19
(Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Over 300 Protestant churches closed in two provinces
(Yang Guangan, Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights in China)
Police in Nepal falsely charge pastors with violating coronavirus lockdown, sources say
(Morning Star)
Israeli leader announces lockdown over Passover holiday
(Ilan Ben Zion, Associated Press)
Pandemic, border crackdown hamper Catholics’ aid to migrants
(David Crary, Associated Press)
Nicaraguan officials stop church program to prevent COVID-19
(David Agren, Catholic News Service)
United Arab Emirates leaders welcome Latter-day Saint temple in series of tweets
(Tad Walch, Deseret News Faith)
How evangelicals in Brazil are spinning COVID-19
(Thomas Milz, Deutsche Welle)
Why Brazil’s churches closed, even though President Bolsonaro disagrees
(Maurício Zágari and the Assciated Press, Christianity Today)
Mormon church to open first temple in mainland China
(Keith Zhai, Tony Munroe, Reuters)
“No one is immune from the roundups”: Life for Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region
(CSWPress, FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
Saturday, 4 April 2020
Pope Francis addresses Italy in recorded message
(Associated Press, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
U.S. religious freedom ambassador calls for release of prisoners of conscience
(Catholic News Agency)
Transnational terror: Sri Lankan Easter attacks
(Brammy Rajakumar, Harvard Political Review)
Friday, 3 April 2020
Infographic: The History of Pandemics
(Shai Kuritzky, BabaMail)
How will humans, by nature social animals, fare when isolated? Covid-19 will harm people’s mental health
(The Economist)
How did covid-19 begin? Its initial origin story is shaky
(David Ignatius, The Washington Post - Opinions)
USCIRF dismayed by lack of accountability for the murder of Daniel Pearl
(Press Release, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom)
USCIRF calls for the release of Vietnamese prisoner of conscience Nguyen Bac Truyen
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
USCIRF welcomes the release of Ayda Expósito, calls for release of other religious prisoners of conscience in Cuba
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Mosques stay open in Pakistan even as virus death toll rises
(Kathy Gannon, Associated Press)
After ignoring warnings, Israeli ultra-Orthodox hit by virus
(Ariel Schalit and, Associated Press)
South African cops storm Cape Town church to expel migrants
(Associated Press)
Virus lockdown changes how Hindus celebrate holy period
(Biswajeet Banerjee and Gary Fields, Associated Press)
Asia’s top cardinal: China’s ‘criminal negligence’ responsible for coronavirus pandemic
(Nirmala Carvalho, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
20 whole families of Jehovah's Witnesses face prosecution
(Za Prava Cheloveka, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))
Jehovah's Witness wins appeal against forced psychiatric examination
(Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))
Russia: 32nd Jehovah's Witness criminal conviction
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)
China’s divorce rates rise as couples emerge from coronavirus quarantine
(Meaghan Wray, Global News)
Coronavirus: Islamophobia concerns after India mosque outbreak
(BBC News)
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying's regular press conference on April 3, 2020 - (Responding to Samuel Brownback)
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
An Indonesian church’s quest to obtain a building permit
(International Christian Concern)
Thursday, 2 April 2020
Saudi official urges Muslims to delay hajj plans over virus
(Aya Batrawy and Jon Gambrell, Associated Press)
Hajj pilgrimage could be cancelled because of coronavirus
(Martin Chulov, The Guardian)
‘Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey And The Future Of Secularism’ – book review
(James M. Dorsey, Eurasia Review)
Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey, and the Future of Secularism
(Sumantra Bose, Cambridge University Press)
How will the global upheaval from COVID-19 affect religion?
(Richard Ostling, Religion Unplugged)
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