EXCERPT: For centuries, Islamic scholars have said that Muslim women must cover their hair. But many Muslim women don’t. There are about 1 million Muslim women in America; 43 percent of them wear headscarves all the time, according to the Pew Research Center. About 48 percent – or half a million women – don’t cover…
Category: Religion
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…
Bus advertising campaign tackles Islamophobia (BBC)
EXCERPT: An advertising campaign to tackle Islamophobia has been unveiled on buses across the UK. Vehicles in several cities will carry the message “Muslims for loyalty, peace and freedom” in an attempt to challenge negative stereotypes of the faith. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, the group behind the campaign, said it hoped it would educate people…
The Oath Dilemma — Special Contribution to RLTV
“Oh Dave, don’t forget, your oath is today at 9:15.” The words snap my groggy mind to attention. Oath? My boss continues. “Yeah, it will be on the fourth floor, in the administrative offices. It shouldn’t be a problem.” It shouldn’t be a problem. Is that a threat? It shouldn’t be a problem if you…
Obama’s Olive Branch Doctrine: Religion & the Path of Democratic Reform in the Arab-Muslim World (PART I)
By Gregory W. Hamilton, President Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA) March 15, 2011 President Barack Obama came to Cairo in 2009 with the purpose of announcing to the Arab-Muslim world that he was not following his predecessor’s “Democracy Project” as a matter of U.S. Middle East policy. One could call this Obama’s “Olive Branch Doctrine”:…
The End of the Community Action Program?
By Monte Sahlin – One of the items on the hit list of the new majority in the House of Representatives to “balance the budget” is the Community Action Program (CAP) or what is currently labeled Community Service Block Grants. This is a program begun in the 1960s in the Lyndon Johnson administration. It is…
Russia’s Medvedev calls for Egypt to respect religious rights (ChannelNewsAsia)
EXCERPT: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday urged Egypt to hold legitimate elections and respect religious rights following the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “Russia hopes democratic procedures in Egypt will be fully restored and all legitimate electoral procedures will be used for this,” Medvedev said in a statement published on the Kremlin website….
Human Rights Watch to Pakistan: Drop Blasphemy Charges Against Teenager (HWR)
EXCERPT: The Pakistani government should immediately drop blasphemy charges against a 17-year-old student and ensure his safe release from detention, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities arrested Muhammad Samiullah on January 28, 2011, and charged him under Pakistan’s “blasphemy law,” article 295-C of the criminal code, for allegedly including derogatory remarks about the Prophet…
The Health-Religion Connection by Joshua Crouch
The struggle between faith-healing and public health services may not be a mainstream topic, yet it continues to rage throughout our nation. Oregon has recently had a string of adolescent deaths tied to extreme Christian conservatism. The Christian Science Church has pushed law makers to allow parents to exempt their children from all medical treatment,…