Law and Religion Headlines
Friday, 19 January 2024
Haiti: 6 nuns have been kidnapped in Haiti while they were traveling on a bus, religious leaders say
(Associated Press)
WCC urges World Economic Forum to consider longer-term good of all people
(World Council of Churches)
The ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, notably the case of Mr Ding Yuande
(European Parliament)
DRC: Bishops warn country in danger, decry elections as fraudulent and full of violence
(Paschal Norbert, Catholic Information Service for Africa)
Kenya: government withdraws all teachers from a Catholic sponsored school after protest
(Arnold Neliba, Catholic Information Service for Africa)
Ghana’s SDA petitions for election date change: A test of democracy and religious freedom
(Ebenezer Mensah, BNN)
Sudan: Evangelical Church set on fire by Rapid Support Forces in Wad Madani
(CSW: Everyone Free to Believe)
Africa’s six Anglican women bishops meet and issue call to combat Africa’s ‘triple threat’
(Fredrick Nzwili, Religion News Service)
Women and children who went to live with IS in Syria are being brought home
(Eleanora Kulenbekova and Daniel Wittenberg, BBC News)
Ecumenical Patriarchate takes active role in Davos meeting on peace in Ukraine
(Orthodox Times)
Occupied Ukraine: "If they took Russian citizenship, they could return to Donetsk"
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)
Dissenting voices: Unveiling complexity in the Russian Orthodox Church’s stance on the Ukraine conflict
(Evgeniia Muzychenko, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)
Russia: Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest Jan 01-15
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Understanding the contested religious histories behind the Gaza War
(James Walters, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)
Iran: Baha’i mother and sons sentenced to jail in Iran
(Iran Wire)
The interrelationship between freedom of thought, conscience, and religion and the rule of law
(Jessica Giles, Journal of Law and Religion)
Status between law and religion: Introduction
(Timothy Lubin, Journal of Law and Religion)
Life at the margins: religious minorities, status, and the state
(Mona Oraby, Journal of Law and Religion)
Religious freedom and sacred lands
(Sonia Sikka, Journal of Law and Religion)
China: Fueling online antisemitism is China’s new tool against the West
(Josh Rogin, The Washington Post)
Why Pope Francis and others want to ban surrogacy
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)
Dozens of priests arrested in 2023 as authoritarian regimes crack down on Church
(Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU))
Russia, TV channel of an Orthodox oligarch under EU sanctions
(Ievgeniia Gidulianova with Willy Fautré, Bitter Winter)
Anti-Catholicism spreading in Moscow and Minsk – OpEd
(Paul Goble, Eurasia Review)
Russia: Criminal case for repeat "discreditation"
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)
Canada: disclosure of personal religious records: Vabuolas
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
Canada: After days of confusion, Trudeau government says it will abide by ICJ on genocide case against Israel
(Evan Dyer, CBC News)
Ecuadorian bishops plead for peace, harmony amid rising gang violence
(La Croix International)
Bangladeshi Islamists oppose transgender protection law
(Emran Hossain, Union of Catholic Asian News)
India: Modi’s promised Ram temple is set to open and resonate with Hindus ahead of India’s election
(Sheikh Saaliq and Biswajeet Banerjee, Associated Press)
India: In new temple to Lord Ram, the Indian city of Ayodhya hopes to shed a disturbing history
(Richa Karmarkar and Yashraj Sharma, Religion News Service)
Nicaragua expels Catholic Bishop Alvarez, priests amid crackdown
(Reuters)
Australia: Should Australian parliaments axe the Lord’s Prayer? In Victoria it’s up for debate
(Benita Kolovos, The Guardian)
Malaysia charges two with ‘wounding religious feelings’ in now-banned film
(Al Jazeera)
Religion Watch, Volume 39 No. 2
(Religion Watch, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion)
Two weeks in review, 1–14 January
(Justina Uriburu, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Global Interfaith Monitor No. 19
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Legal Journal Number 4 (19): January (Spanish)
(Observatorio de Libertad Religiosa de América Latina y El Caribe)
Monday, 15 January 2024
Law, religion, and decolonization
(Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Religion and law in Ireland’s post-colonial nation-building
(David Kenny and Peter McCarthy, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
The Orthodox Church and Moscow’s colonial policies in Siberia
(Stanislav Panin, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Spiritual decolonization, national security, and religious freedom: Squaring a triangle in the case of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
(Andriy Fert and Dmytro Vovk, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Decolonizing the Indonesian penal code
(Dicky Sofjan, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Communist law and the protection of religious freedom in Poland
(Piotr Szymaniec, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Portuguese colonization, Catholic faith, and the relativization of secularism in the jurisprudence of Brazil’s Supreme Court
(Ana Cristina Melo de Pontes Botelho, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Is homocolonialism a sound argument to advance human rights for LGBTQ+ people?
(Dmytro Vovk, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Russian Orthodox priest faces expulsion for refusing to pray for war victory
(Mark Trevelyan, Reuters)
Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez and 18 priests arrive in Rome from prison, guests of Vatican
(Associated Press)
Articles of interest - 15 January 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
China: Guidelines instruct religions how to implement the new Patriotic Education Law
(Hu Zimo, Anglican Ink)
Japan proposes guidelines that would artificially multiply the “victims” of “cults”
(Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter)
Friday, 12 January 2024
Canada: B.C. Jehovah's Witnesses lose court battle over disclosing records on 2 ex-members
(Bethany Lindsay, CBC News)
Canada: Charges against Canadians who defended religious freedom stayed
(Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms)
A spiritual leader in Nepal known as ‘Buddha Boy’ arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping
(Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press)
Taiwan: Why temples are a top campaign stop in Taiwan’s election
(Jordyn Haime, Al Jazeera)
Afghanistan: Islamic State group claims responsibility for a minibus explosion in Afghan capital that killed 5
(Associated Press)
Afghanistan: UN concerned over Taliban arrests of Afghan women and girls for alleged Islamic headscarf violations
(Associated Press)
Iraq: Church destroyed by ISIS in Iraq completely restored 10 years later
(Diego Lopez Marina, Catholic News Agency)
Vietnam: US requested to remove Vietnam from Special Watch List on religious freedom
(Voice of Vietnam)
Việt Nam committed to guarantee human rights, religious freedom: Foreign ministry
(Việt Nam News)
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan again designated as religious freedom violators, granted waivers
(Catherine Putz, The Diplomat)
India: Thousands of Indian teachers set to lose jobs as Muslim school funding ends
(Saurabh Sharma and Krishna N. Das, Reuters)
China bars Tibetan kids from private classes, religious activities
(Union of Catholic Asian News)
Egypt’s Al Azhar supports South Africa’s legal case against Israel before ICJ
(Egypt State Information Service)
As International Court of Justice hearings commence, WCC calls on “all responsible members of the international community to respect and implement the ICJ rulings”
(World Council of Churches)
30 years of LGBTQ+ history in Russia: from decriminalisation in 1993 to ‘extremist’ status in 2023
(Sergey Katsuba, The Conversation)
Bangalore: How polarisation is dividing India's Silicon Valley
(Soutik Biswas, BBC News)
World report 2024: Our annual review of human rights around the globe
(Human Rights Watch)
Africa’s Catholic hierarchy refuses same-sex blessings, says such unions are contrary to God’s will
(Nicole Winfield, BBC News)
Looking for home around the world: The Uyghur diaspora and its needs
(Elise Anderson, Freedom House)
Wednesday, 10 January 2024
World Council of Churches slammed for Cuba trip, claiming gov’t respects religious freedom
(Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post)
Brazil: ‘Outraged’: Brazilian Muslims face growing Islamophobia over Gaza war
(Eduardo Campos Lima, Al Jazeera)
Nicaragua: new priests ordained as UN appeals for missing religious
(Vatican News)
Nicaragua: Bishop Rolando Álvarez unjustly detained for 500 days in Nicaragua
(Matthew Miller, U.S. Department of State)
Young people to make pilgrimage to Christ the King shrine for religious freedom in Mexico
(Diego López Colín, Catholic News Agency)
Saudi Arabia interested in Israel normalisation deal after war
(David Gritten, BBC News)
Rebutting allegations of genocide against Israel
(EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Why the ICJ cannot order Israel to stop the war in Gaza as a provisional measure
(Jesse Lempel, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Syria: 9 dead as Daesh/ISIS terror group attacks convoy of Syrian regime forces
(Esref Musa, Anadolu Agency)
Pakistan rejects US State Department inclusion in religious freedom concern list
(Shashank Pandey, Jurist)
How to deal with same-sex unions? It’s a question fracturing major Christian denominations
(David Crary, Associated Press)
Indonesia: Behind bars for ‘blasphemy’ in Indonesia
(Andreas Harsono, Human Rights Watch)
Pope Francis calls for a universal ban on surrogacy. He says it exploits mother and child
(Nicole Winfield, Associated Press)
Kenyan court: Charge doomsday cult leader within 2 weeks or we release him on our terms
(Ton Odula, Associated Press)
Canada: Pro-life Canadian health workers say they won’t be forced to participate in abortion, euthanasia
(Anthony Murdoch, Lifesite)
Table Talks on Law and Religion
(John Witte, Jr., Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)
Uganda’s High Court deepens divisions among Muslims following property dispute
(John Semakula, Religion Unplugged)
Morocco to lead UN Human Rights Council despite South Africa’s disapproval
(Al Jazeera)
Hong Kong approves first Catholic university
(Union of Catholic Asian News)
Sri Lanka promises to check distortion of religious teachings
(Union of Catholic Asian News)
Nigeria: Religious rumblings
(Ebenezer Obadare, Council on Foreign Relations)
Philippines: The cascading risks of a resurgent Islamic State in the Philippines
(Haroro J. Ingram, The United States Institute of Peace)
Monday, 8 January 2024
First look at the 2024 Brazil G20 Interfaith Forum
(G20 Interfaith Forum Blog)
Canada: Beyond “Happy Holidays!”: it’s time to support Canada’s increasing religious diversity
(Veronique Sioufi, Policy Note)
Canada: A map of the 96 churches that have been vandalized or burned since the residential schools announcement
(Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North)
Lafarge facing lawsuit for their dealings with terrorist organization
(Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes)
Nicaraguan government expels arbitrarily detained priests
(Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes)
Nigeria and India do not make it as Countries of Particular Concern
(Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes)
Brazilian politician’s move to investigate a priest sparks outpouring of support for the clergyman
(Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press)
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