Law and Religion Headlines

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Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Canada faces hate crime headache 7 years since mosque shooting
(Daily Sabah)

Canada appoints first representative to fight Islamophobia
(Al Jazeera)

China, pro-government Buddhist abbott defrocked after a sexual scandal
(Ding Bohai, Bitter Winter)

China urges religious leaders to be more purposeful in the Sinicization drive in New Year greetings
(Tibetan Review)

China: Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal
(The Guardian)

Erasing Tibet: Chinese boarding schools and the indoctrination of a generation
(Tenzin Dorjee and Gyal Lo, Foreign Affairs)

Future of Dutch Muslims uncertain as far-right firebrand Geert wilders makes historic gains in Dutch election
(Euro-Islam)

Religious freedom in Africa: The launch of the African Forum for Religious & Spiritual Liberty
(YouTube Video, FOREF Europe)

Biden condemns anti-Arab hate after WSJ opinion piece calls Dearborn ‘jihad capital’
(Reuters and Toi Staff, The Times of Israel)

Prayer meets politics at U.S. House of Representatives
(Steve Rabey, Baptist news Global)

Kenya: As femicide cases rises, Kenyan religious leaders move to act
(World Council of Churches)

Kenya: NCCK asks Ruto to ease tax burden on Kenyans
(The Star)

CAR: Transforming conflict resolution in Central Africa Republic: KAICIID's pioneering initiative with Bangui University
(KAICIID Dialogue Centre)

Jordan: Arrests, harassment of pro-Palestine protesters
(Human Rights Watch)

Israel's war on Gaza fuels growing anti-Muslim incidents in US
(Daily Sabah)

Far-right Catalan mayor wants halal menus for Muslims out of public schools
(Alyssa Mcmurtry, Anadolu Agency)

Paul Mackenzie: Kenyan cult leader charged with 191 murders
(Anne Soy, BBC News)

Malaysia: Dozens of Rohingya refugees flee Malaysian immigration detention centre
(Al Jazeera)

Language and traditions are considered central to national identity: Publics around the world divided on birthplace and religion as requirements for national belonging
(Christine Huang, Laura Clancy, and Sarah Austin, Pew Research Center)

8 facts about atheists
(Michael Lipka, Patricia Tevington, and Kelsey Jo Starr, Pew Research Center)

How international recognition of cultural practices could be a new way to protect refugees
(The Conversation)

Uzbekistan: Documentary renews focus on religious freedom in Uzbekistan
(Navbahor Imamova, VOA News)

Opinion: What would Utah’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act look like?
(William C. Duncan, Deseret News)

Pennsylvania: Red Lion Area school officials drop legal battle over anti-LGBTQ+ policymaking records
(Meredith Willse, York Dispatch)

Fifth Circuit pitches Supreme Court on religious liberty case
(Jacqueline Thomsen, Bloomberg Law)

5th Circuit, 11-6, denies en banc rehearing on availability of damages under RLUIPA
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

9th Circuit: Delivering inmate's Ramadan meals too early burdened his free exercise rights
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Opinion: De Witt Long v. Sugai, et al
(Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)

February 2024 Newsletter
(The Association of Religion Data Archives)

Why the birthplace of the Western Apache religion shouldn’t be destroyed by a copper mine
(Luke Goodrich, Deseret News)

India: Authorities must immediately stop unjust targeted demolition of Muslim properties – new reports
(Amnesty International)

India: Interference in religious issues, will go to court, says AIMPLB
(The Times of India)

Is India targeting Muslims, with population growth committee as ‘camouflage’?
(Vasudevan Sridharan, South China Morning Post)

Pathways to Peace videos
(Conference of European Churches)

Colombia: Constitutional Court orders removal of Virgin Mary statue from public office
(Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights)

ECHR delivers judgment in Hamzayan v. Armenia case
(Panorama.am)

Florida considers allowing volunteer chaplains in public schools
(Brendan Farrington, Associated Press)

Sweden extradites to Boston man accused of impeding anti-Jewish arson probe of his brother
(Jewish News Syndicate)

Conservative Nebraska lawmakers push bills that would intertwine religion with public education
(Margery A. Beck, Associated Press)

Satanic Temple loses challenge to Idaho abortion bans
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

A life of struggle and survival: the reality of religious oppression in Cuba
(Alberto Reyes Pias, FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)

Indonesia’s presidential elections: How have human rights fared under Jokowi?
(FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)

After 1,000 years, a new temple to the Norse gods rises in Iceland
(Avi Kumar, Religion News Service)

NYPD reports 31 antisemitic incidents in January as surge continues four months after Oct. 7
(Luke Tress, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Noted Muslims condemn Hamas as Israel continues to seek release of hostages
(Gil Zohar, Religion Unplugged)

Bishops of Evangelical Churches in Ukraine held a meeting with a fellow believer, - Mike Johnson, US Congress speaker
(Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU))

Philippines: Filipinos embrace unity through religious diversity
(Jerico Joshua M. Kahulugan, Religion Unplugged)

Central Florida church vandalized with swastikas, other graffiti
(David Paulsen, Episcopal News Service)

Iraq: Yazidi woman rescued from Islamic State captivity
(CSW: Everyone Free to Believe)

Defusing a brewing conflict with the constitution: Humpert and Others v Germany, procedural rationality, and the right of civil servants to strike
(Ignatius Yordan Nugraha, Strasbourg Observers)

Laos: Bible burning, church destruction dismay Lao Christians
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

Maldives: Government announces public holidays for last 10 days of Ramadan
(Mohamed Rehan, The Edition)

Churches’ support for asylum seekers shouldn’t be seen as a magic ticket
(Guli Francis-Dehqani, The Telegraph)

UK professor suffered discrimination due to anti-Zionist beliefs, tribunal rules
(The Guardian)

Anti-Zionism as a protected belief: Miller
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Parents who refuse children gender change face seven years in jail in Scotland
(Daniel Sanderson, The Telegraph)

UK Catholics launch campaign to end human trafficking in fishing industry
(Charles Collins, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Venezuela's leftist leader Maduro makes a play for evangelical voters
(John Otis, National Public Radio)

Rubio, Cardin, colleagues introduce bill to reauthorize U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom
(Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate)

An attack on a satanic statue in Iowa has led to a hate crime charge
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

Religious persecution impacts millions of women worldwide, advocates say at D.C. summit
(Mark A. Kellner, The Washington Times)

Victims of persecution testify at International Religious Freedom Summit
(Tyler Arnold, National Catholic Register)

A Tennessee lawmaker helped pass a strict abortion law. He's now trying to loosen it
(Katia Riddle, NPR)

Brazil: Neglected by history, Bantu heritage is a central pillar in the formation of Brazil (Portuguese)
(Laura Pereira Lima, Jornal da USP)

State secularism and banning foreign religious education: Sardar Babayev
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Republican, Democrat both warn against rise of antisemitism
(Tad Walch, Deseret News)

Transgender bathroom bills are back. Does the nation care?
(Matt Lavietes, NBC News)

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

HYBRID EVENT, 6 February 2024 (10:30 GMT+0): Roundtable: Religion and conflict in context
(Dr Afework Hailu Beyene, Dr habil. Jörg Haustein, Cambridge Interfaith Programme)

Monday, 5 February 2024

Can’t we just be civil? Jean-Jacques Rousseau and a hellish limit to toleration
(Greg Marcar, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)

New book: Islam, Religious Liberty and Constitutionalism in Europe
(Edited by Mark Hill KC and Lina Papadopoulou, Hart Publishing)

India: Hindutva is at war with secular democracy in India
(Amit Singh, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)

The problems of banning Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
(Richard McNeil-Willson, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)

Morocco: Covenantal pluralism and religious literacy in Morocco
(Chris PreJean, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)

Samson in Gaza: The biblical story of Samson sheds light on the current war in Gaza.
(Brian Britt, Sightings, The University of Chicago Divinity School)

Catalan mayor aims to wipe halal food for Muslims off public schools
(Daily Sabah)

The rise of public–private religious partnerships: Arguing church autonomy in the era of public funding of religion
(Nahshon Perez, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion)

The WFB participated in the forum on Transforming Mentalities
(The World Fellowship of Buddhists)

Dignity, Deference, and Discrimination: An Analysis of Religious Freedom in America’s Prisons
(Elyse Slabaugh, BYU Law Review)

Around the web - 5 February 2023
(Law and Religion Forum, St. John's Law School Center for Law & Religion)

Pope reaffirms Christians’ special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism, Gaza war
(Associated Press)

Articles of interest - 5 February 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Why faith leaders lost the battle against online sports betting
(Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

Free to Believe? The Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in the West - 2024 Edition
(Family Research Council)

Senegal: Religious leaders in Senegal concerned over presidential election postponement
(Guy Aimé Eblotié, La Croix International)

The damp squib of third party intervention in Ukraine v. Russia
(William Schabas, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)

Canadians call for removal of provincial minister after she called pre-occupation Palestine ‘a crappy piece of land with nothing on it’
(Middle East Monitor)

China arrests 200 Christians for ‘defying’ state body
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

UN official asks Hungary to share its experience of helping persecuted Christians
(Hungary Today)

Church in Germany concerned about rise of xenophobic parties
(Vatican News)

Indonesia: Religious affairs minister emphasizes public involvement in implementing govt programs
(Tempo)

Catching up to Europe, Greece set to legalize same-sex marriage
(Renee Maltezou, Christian Science Monitor)

Trump-focused Texas border rally blends politics and religion
(Ted Hesson and Maria Alejandra Cardona, Reuters)

In South America, African-inspired religions gain more followers
(Lucinda Elliott and Candelaria Grimberg, Reuters)

Cape Verde: 10 years of the legal agreement between the State of Cape Verde and the Holy See – What lessons? (Portuguese)
(Adilson F. Carvalho Semedo, Expresso das Ilhas)

Brazil: TRE-RJ revokes state deputy for abuse of religious power (Portuguese)
(Poder360)

Brazil: Judge invokes freedom of belief to reject lawsuit against hospital that denied IUD (Portuguese)
(Rafa Santos, Conjur)

Friday, 2 February 2024

Remarks by President Biden at the National Prayer Breakfast
(The White House)

U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reaches agreement to resolve antisemitic harassment in Red Clay Consolidated School District
(U.S. Department of Education)

Blackwell Security Services will pay $70,000 to settle EEOC religious discrimination lawsuit
(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

Ocean County man admits federal hate crimes for series of violent assaults on members of Orthodox Jewish community
(U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, U.S. Department of Justice)

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