In its Founding Statement, the European Sunday Alliance argues that, in the interest of synchronicity, Sunday is the appropriate day of rest for all of Europe, and makes no allowance or acknowledgment of what should be done for those whose faith requires them to rest on a day outside of Sunday. In fact, it is not hard to see how those who rest on a different day might be an annoyance or hindrance to Sunday rest, and even in the debate may be portrayed as roadblocks, troublemakers, or even anti-religious. Businesses who open on Sunday could be fined, and those who conduct their own entrepreneurial endeavors on Sunday could also find themselves operating against the law.
Category: International
Liberty Magazine: Would An Official Sunday “Day Of Rest” Alienate Believers Who Observe A Different Day Of Worship?
The European Sunday Alliance, a network of 65 civil society organizations, trade unions and Churches, recently made a pitch for work free Sundays to the European Union’s Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The newly formed Alliance argued that a common day of rest would result in healthier families, a more cohesive society, and a…
Article18: Cuba — Three Protestant Pastors Interrogated; Roman Catholic Church in Havana Helps Free 126 Prisoners of Conscience
Like the classic American cars that drive up and down Havana’s hot streets, communist Cuba is a country from another era–Cold War isolationism, a American trade embargo that began fifty years ago, and a pair of aging dictator-brothers who have ruled the nation and restricted its freedom for decades. But while Cuba may be living in the past in many respects, its religious freedoms are a curious blend of old-fashioned totalitarian crackdown and modern globalist acquiescence.
Thailand Calls for Ban on Religious Tattoos for Tourists (CNN)
EXCERPT: Thailand’s Culture Ministry wants to ban tourists from getting religious tattoos after noticing an alarmingly high number of foreigners sporting deities that were inked in parlors in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai. As the Phuket Gazette reports, Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat told reporters this week that Phuket’s Culture Office had noticed many tourists are getting inked…
A Muslim American Reflects on Osama Bin Laden’s Death (Washington Post)
EXCERPT: By Arshad Chowdhury Osama bin Laden’s many victims include, first and foremost, those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, and their grieving families, the soldiers sent to war and the loved ones they left behind, and a new generation forced to grow up in a more polarized and paranoid world. For all of them,…
Hundreds of Christians, Muslims clash in Cairo (AP)
EXCERPT: Hundreds of Christians and Muslims are hurling stones at each other in downtown Cairo hours after mobs set fire to a church in violence that killed 12 people and injured more than 200. Christian activist Bishoy Tamri says Muslim youths attacked a large crowd of Coptic Christian protesters marching from the headquarters of the…
Chinese Authorities Block Easter Service in Beijing (CNN)
EXCERPT: The site of a planned outdoor Easter service at one of China’s largest independent “house” churches was eerily silent Sunday as police blocked more than 500 worshippers from leaving their homes and detained more than 36 for attempting to attend religious services in Beijing, church officials said. The gathering place for worshippers was empty…
Rev. Leo A. Walsh “Lost In Translation: Divergent Notions of Religious Liberty in Post Soviet Russia”
Rev. Leo A. Walsh, S.T.D.
Obama’s Olive Branch Doctrine (PART II) Interfaith Tolerance & the Reshaping of U.S. Foreign Policy
President Obama’s middle-ground approach to the credible and well-established “Clash of Civilizations” theme – when formulating international religious freedom policy – is best understood when placed on a scale between tolerance and international consensus (an interfaith, “soft-power” approach), and America’s constitutional ideal of religious freedom and human rights (an Evangelical and “exacting” approach). Yet both policy methods delimit religious freedom, threatening it altogether.
Chinese police detain members of unregistered church (LA Times)
EXCERPT: Chinese police on Sunday detained more than 100 churchgoers who tried to hold an outdoor prayer service on a pedestrian bridge in Beijing after having failed to secure permission to open a church. Although it is not uncommon for police to raid unregistered churches, this latest bust in the very heart of Beijing suggests…