Law and Religion Headlines
Monday, 30 September 2024
Philippines urged to remove the word ‘divorce’ from marriage dissolution bill to enable passage
(Raissa Robles, South China Morning Post)
Indonesia launches Halal International Trust Organization in Japan
(ANTARA)
Iran: Religious issues and persecution – Monthly digest September
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
Cuba: Independent religious leaders meet with European Union Delegation
(CSW: Everyone Free to Believe)
Supreme Court flooded with prayers for relief from groups eager to promote religion
(John Fritze, CNN)
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs bill banning ‘captive audience,’ anti-union work meetings
(East Bay Times)
Inside Albania's planned Muslim microstate
(Abby Wilson, The Week)
Australia: Hezbollah flag-carriers investigated by police, as government appoints envoy to combat Islamophobia
(Michelle Grattan, The Conversation)
Pakistani religion ministry formulating new regulations to oversee Umrah operations
(Saima Shabbir, Arab News)
How Americans can engage religious diversity in their communities
(Interfaith America)
Archons travel to Warsaw for conference of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)
(Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
The Constitutional Court has opened proceedings regarding the constitutionality of part one of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine on Alternative (non-military) service
(Institute for Religious Freedom, Ukraine)
Saturday, 28 September 2024
EVENT, 28 September 2024 (17:00 CET): Youth, Intergenerational Dialogue, and Faith-Based Political Engagement (Brussels, Belgium)
(The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE))
Friday, 27 September 2024
Pope Francis tells wealthy Luxembourg to help developing countries
(Joshua McElwee and Marine Strauss, Reuters)
Pope travels to the heart of Europe to appeal for peace and to boost his dwindling flock
(Nicole Winfield and Raf Casert, Associated Press)
NIO minister Fleur Anderson praises community resilience after visiting arson attack Church
(Northern Ireland Office and Fleur Anderson MP, GOV.UK)
Vietnam: State-controlled religion and religious freedom in Vietnam
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Position Paper in support of UN General Assembly Resolution on Child, Early and Forced Marriage
(International Religious Freedom Roundtable)
Islamic Contract Law
(Ilias Bantekas, Jonathan G. Ercanbrack, Umar A. Oseni, and Ikram Ullah, Oxford University Press)
"Islamophobia is unjustifed fear of Muslims, Muslimness," explains Prof Ahmed Shaheed
(YouTube Video, Maktoob)
Georgia’s anti-LGBTQ+ measures raise fears of hate crimes in the conservative South Caucasus nation
(Sophiko Megrelidze and Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press)
Ethiopia: Thousands gather in Ethiopia’s capital to celebrate a religious festival. Many are thinking of peace
(Samuel Getachew, Associated Press)
Kazakhstan: Showman Nurtas Adambay fined for quoting Quran verses on social media
(Kazinform)
Australia’s Labor government has turned its back on people of faith again
(Michelle Pearse, Mercator)
Japan and the Unification Church: The Duval Report. 1. Organized Tort Cases
(Patricia Duval, Bitter Winter)
Amata gives House speech on protecting religious freedoms worldwide
(Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, U.S. House of Representatives)
Islamic scholars return from China, hail religious freedom in Xinjiang
(The News International)
Minority wing of Moldovan Orthodox church accuses priests of lobbying against Europe vote
(Alexander Tanas, Reuters)
During UN Climate Week, Hindu environmentalist Gopal Patel wants to look to the future
(Richa Karmarkar, Religion News Service)
DRC: Cardinal calls for a new narrative to end Democratic Republic of Congo’s decades-long wars
(Ngala Killian Chimtom, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Winning battles, losing the war? The conflation of religion and speech in American law
(Ismail Royer, Religious Freedom Institute)
Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC-MP loses court case against the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience
(Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU))
Normative development of religious freedom in Latin America: Counter-transfer of religious policies
(Camila A. Sánchez Sandoval, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)
Bangladesh turmoil proving a nightmare for Ahmadiyya Muslims
(Emran Hossain, Union of Catholic Asian News)
Senegal: Church leaders and laity ‘outraged’ by PM Sonko’s remarks on headscarf ban
(Wesley Omondi, Catholic Information Service for Africa)
Iran: Christian convert denied parole after ‘refusing forced confession’
(Article 18)
Kyrgyzstan: Authorities seek expanded powers to regulate religious affairs
(Ayzirek Imanaliyeva, Eurasianet)
Judge allows portion of religious discrimination lawsuit against NC Symphony to proceed
(The Carolina Journal)
Chile: Rethinking secularity (opinion) (Spanish)
(Yanira Zúñiga, La Tercera)
How the US government can stop ‘churches’ from getting treated like real churches by the IRS
(Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, The Conversation)
Many Catholics in the U.S. and Latin American want the Church to allow birth control and to let women become priests
(Jonathan Evans and Kelsey Jo Starr, Pew Research Center)
Thursday, 26 September 2024
WEBINAR, 26 September 2024 (10:30AM ET): Religious Freedom in North Korea and North Korean Refugees: Trends and U.S. Policy Options
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
EVENT, 26 September 2024 (7PM MST): How America’s Origin Stories are Shaping the 2024 Election (Tempe, AZ, USA)
(Robert P. Jones, Arizona State University)
EVENT, 26 September 2024 (6AM PT): Cultivating Cultures of Peace through Interfaith Collaboration
(United Religions Initiative)
EVENT, 26 September 2024 (11:45AM ET): Freedom From or For Religion? (Toledo, OH, USA)
(Vincent Phillip Muñoz, The University of Toledo’s Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership)
Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Malaysia: BYUH faculty and students participate in 2024 Regional Southeast Asian Human Dignity Conference
(Ke Alaka'i)
EVENT, 24-25 September 2024: Faith and Freedom Summit IV (Panama City, Panamá)
HYBRID EVENT, 25 September 2024 (3PM ET): Erasing Ukrainian Identity and Culture
(Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, House Committee on Foreign Affairs)
China: Free Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti from life sentence
(Human Rights Watch)
US anti-Semitism envoy faces backlash as Muslim group demands ousting
(TRT World)
On Asia trip, Pope Francis uses his bully pulpit
(Gordon Peake, The United States Institute of Peace)
A bitter fight between two tribes over sacred land where one built a casino
(Graham Lee Brewer and Kim Chandler, Associated Press)
Judge lets over 8,000 Catholic employers deny worker protections for abortion and fertility care
(Jack Dura and Steve Karnowski, Associated Press)
Poland: Archbishop Gallagher appeals for freedom of religion and conscience
(Polish Bishops' Conference)
Welcoming European Court judgement on Poland’s failure to protect same-sex couples married abroad
(International Federation for Human Rights)
Thailand legalizes same-sex marriage, allows couples to wed starting in January
(Associated Press)
Azerbaijan's Shusha hosts second session of "Fight against religious radicalism and media" seminar
(Trend News Agency)
Banned Russian priest stands by condemnation of 'brother killing brother' in Ukraine
(Reuters)
Rubio: Family, community, and faith are the fiber of our nation
(Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate)
Rubio, Scott introduce Bill to punish colleges that allow antisemitism
(Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate)
DRC - The commitment of religious denominations for peace in South Kivu
(Agenzia Fides)
Kenya: Incarcerating Kenya’s religious liberties
(Francis Omondi, The Elephant)
Sudan: Women from Africa and the diaspora call for action to protect women and girls in Sudan from conflict-related sexual violence
(FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
Senegal’s lay leaders condemn government’s 'targeting' of Catholic schools
(Guy Aimé Eblotié, La Croix International)
Mali: Jihadist airport assault leaves Mali's junta rattled
(Paul Melly, BBC News)
Church property conference offers congregations more than prayer to keep their buildings
(G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Religion News Service)
Law banning activities of churches affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church enters into force
(Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU))
Independent Safeguarding Audit – Diocese of Oxford
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)
KAICIID Council of Parties advances efforts toward UN Observer Status
(KAICIID Dialogue Centre)
Nicaragua: Continuing crackdown on churches and NGOs moves Nicaragua further from democracy to authoritarianism
(Richard Wood, The Conversation)
Nicaragua: Their churches no longer feel safe. Now Nicaraguans are taking their worship home
(María Teresa Hernández, Associated Press)
Religious action as part of the Global Alliance to End Hunger and Poverty
(JoAnne Wadsworth, G20 Interfaith Forum Blog)
Bishop Sherrington says buffer zone legislation discriminates against people of faith
(Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales)
What America’s history can teach us about debates on religious freedom and its importance for democracy
(Corey D. B. Walker, The Conversation)
‘Doing justly’ event highlights how Adventists are working to create peace
(Adventist Review)
Brazil: In a public event in Rio, Minister Macaé Evaristo reinforces commitment to a secular state (Portuguese)
(Pai Paulo de Oxalá, Ministério dos Direitos Humanos e da Cidadania)
Jehovah’s Witness deserved the right to refuse blood transfusion, Europe’s rights court rules
(Cain Burdeau, Courthouse News Service)
CAIR urges Biden Admin to fire U.S. Antisemitism envoy Lipstadt over ‘joke’ praising Israeli terror attacks on Lebanese civilians
(Council on American-Islamic Relations)
Tuesday, 24 September 2024
WEBINAR, 24 September 2024 (10AM ET): Religious Action as Part of the Global Alliance to End Hunger and Poverty
(Samuel Zan Akologo, David Beckmann, Saulo Ceolin, Andrea Kaufmann, Asma Lateef, Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Monday, 23 September 2024
Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech at the International Meeting for Peace
(The Archbishop of Canterbury)
WCC shares during peace meeting hosted by St Egidio community in Paris
(World Council of Churches)
VIRTUAL EVENT, 23 September 2024 (5:30PM ET): Cultural Clashes: The Role of Religion in Civic Society
(Fordham University)
China: Sinicization of religion: China’s coercive religious policy
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Around the web - 23 September 2024
(Law and Religion Forum, St. John's Law School Center for Law & Religion)
Sacred sites promoting pluralism
(Knox Thames and Emily K. Scolaro, The Haifa Labratory for Religious Studies)
Saudi Arabia: The shifting sands of child custody rights in Saudi Arabia
(Beata Polok and Zubair Abbasi, London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog)
Church Reporter, Vol. 9, 30 June 2024
(Church Law Society Prague – Brno – Olomouc – Stříbro – České Budějovice)
September/October 2024 issue
(Liberty Magazine)
Religious freedom, LGBTQ rights collide in lawsuit over Colorado’s universal preschool program
(Ann Schimke, Denver Post)
Premier says Albania will grant sovereignty to Bektashi Muslims in Tirana, similar to the Vatican
(Llazar Semini, Associated Press)
Articles of interest - 23 September 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Anti-Modi activists protest the Indian prime minister’s New York visit
(Richa Karmarkar, Religion News Service)
Interfaith advocates urge clemency for ‘death row imam’ a day before scheduled execution
(Genevieve Charles, Religion News Service)
Antisemitic incidents jumped 63% in 2023, according to FBI data
(Luke Tress, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Uzbekistan: Former prisoner of conscience rearrested, another given 10 more years jail
(Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service)
Church leaders hold 'constructive' social care sector talks with Scottish Government
(The Church of Scotland)
Law and religion roundup – 22nd September
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
After anti-immigrant riots, what do British Muslims need to feel safe?
(Hasan Ali, Christian Science Monitor)
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