Author: Martin Surridge

As their final assignment for the play, I had students respond to the question, “How would you feel if your religious freedom was taken away?” The responses varied, in both length and reaction. Nearly all of the teenagers in the class are self-described Christians, but their approach toward religion varies from conservative evangelical to tolerant progressives to near-agnostic. Their reactions to a potential scenario in which they were not allowed to practice religion freely ranged from the pragmatic to conformist to vigilant resistance.

In Quebec a furious public debate has erupted over Muslim women who wear the niqab – face veil. Out of over 200,000 Muslims in Montreal, only a few dozen women […]

By Martin Surridge – The mass of strangers and suitcases pressed against me so tightly that I did not have to worry about the sharp turns and rapid acceleration of […]

EXCERPT from BBC News (link below): France’s top administrative body has advised the government that any total ban on face-covering Islamic veils could be unconstitutional. The State Council also said […]

EXCERPT from BBC News (link below): Palestinians and Israeli police have clashed near the Jerusalem compound housing the al-Aqsa mosque, leaving dozens of people injured. A large group of Palestinians […]

EXCERPT from ABC News (link below): An Oregon husband and wife who relied on faith rather than medicine to treat their dying child were convicted today of criminally negligent homicide. […]

In high school, the only sports I played to any significant extent were soccer and basketball. A lot of my friends went snowboarding or skiing, but it was a long […]

EXCERPT from Al Jazeera English (link below): The United Nations and European Union have condemned a call from Libya’s leader for Muslims to carry out jihad against Switzerland over a recent […]

While they have been easy to miss, the news has been peppered recently with stories of serious threats to religious liberty not in the developing world, war-torn regions in the Middle East, or third-world countries struck by natural disasters, but in Europe, our own geopolitical backyard.