Tag Archives: Global: Religious Freedom

Christian Today: International Christian Concern says that protesters are being led by hard-line Islamists and that Christians have come under pressure to either join in protests demanding the resignation of President Bashir Assad, or else leave the country.

Catholic Culture: Muslim youth angered by the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan have set fire to four churches in northern Nigeria.

LifeSiteNews: The UK’s First-Tier Tribunal of the Charity Commission rejected an appeal last week by Catholic Care, the last Catholic adoption agency in the country, to change its constitution to exclude homosexuals from adopting children.

A independently-run Christian school in Stockholm has been criticised by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) after being reported for presenting homosexuality as a sin in its teaching.

AsiaNews.it: In a message to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is discussing ‘Universal Rights in a World of Diversity – The Case of Religious Freedom’, Benedict XVI stresses that “authentic freedom of religion will permit the human person to attain fulfilment and will thus contribute to the common good of society.”

AP: The wife and a friend of a prominent Chinese civil rights lawyer said he returned home Wednesday after disappearing for five days amid an ongoing government crackdown on dissent.

AP: Religious groups in Australia are allowed to discriminate against people who are gay or transgender, prompting criticism from gay rights activists who find it galling that their social service programs receive millions of dollars in government funding.

Religion Clause Blog: In Kenya, Seventh Day Adventist students at Masinde Muliro University say that the school’s scheduling of exams on Saturdays violates their freedom of conscience and religion as protected by Kenya’s new constitution.

AP: A U.S. commission that accused Beijing of restricting religious freedom is biased and is meddling in China’s internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

AP: The body of a man with his hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross and a crown of thorns on his head has been found in an abandoned stone quarry, South Korean police said Wednesday.

AP: The group, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the local Hausa language, has previously attacked churches and engineered a massive prison break.

AP: Turkey has launched a project to conserve an ancient Armenian cathedral and church in what is seen as a gesture of reconciliation toward its neighbor.

Jessica L. Thornhill, Clear As Mud: Pleasant Grove City V. Summum And Riding The Undefined Line Between Government Speech And Private Speech In A Public
Forum, 30 Miss. C. L. Rev. 121 (2011)

Catholic Culture: Following the discovery of a burnt copy of the Qur’an in a Christian cemetery, 500 extremists attacked a Christian neighborhood in Gujranwala, a city in Punjab province in northeastern Pakistan.

Catholic Culture: An estimated 14,000 people, most of them Christians, have fled their homes in the north-central Nigerian state of Kaduna following the latest in a series of attacks by supporters of presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who lost the April 16 federal election to Goodluck Jonathan.

Catholic Culture: Amid security fears, Christian schools and other institutions closed in Pakistan following the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden. Additional police have been placed around churches in cities across the country.

BBC: A rights group has published satellite images of what it says are North Korea’s political prison camps, saying they appear to be growing in size.

The Telegraph: The new chairman of the BBC has waded into the growing row over secularism by warning that atheists are “intolerant” of religion.

AP on Yahoo: The Church of Scientology says Russian authorities have lifted a ban on some of its publications.

CBC.ca: Muslim students at Carleton University say they need a new place to pray, because their numbers have increased so much there is no longer enough space in the designated prayer room.

The Christian Institute: There have been reports that the Church of England has blocked plans to lift the ban on Roman Catholics within the British monarchy.

Waldron, Jeremy, A Religious View of the Foundations of International Law (April 26, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1823702

Perry, Michael J., What is a ‘Human Right’? (April 28, 2011). Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 11-150; San Diego Legal Studies Paper No. 11-055. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824662

Perry, Michael J., The Grounds of Human Rights (April 28, 2011). Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 11-151; San Diego Legal Studies Paper No. 11-056. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824667

Baptist Press: For the fourth week in a row, a Chinese “illegal” church refused Sunday to follow government orders not to meet, and this time at least 31 of its members were arrested.

AsiaNews.it: A mob attacks homes and places of worship. The Christian minority is forced to flee fearful of more violence. The discovery of a burnt copy of the Qur‘an in a Christian cemetery sparks a reaction among Muslims. Restrictions are imposed on the right to assembly. Paul Bhatti meets victims, urging everyone to remain calm.

Forum 18: The arrival at the Seydi Labour Camp in eastern Turkmenistan of Dovran Matyakubov, a Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector, brought to ten the number of religious prisoners of conscience held in this camp, Forum 18 News Service notes. Nine are conscientious objectors. Matyakubov received an 18-month prison term in January for refusing compulsory military service.

Irish Times: THE DEPARTMENT of Education should take all reasonable measures to ensure parents have a choice of school patron, according to a new report by an expert group.

Catholic Culture: The Vatican has announced a new accord with Azerbaijan, establishing the juridical status of the Church in that country.

LifeSiteNews: The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) in Australia has banned billboards that read “The casualty list of every abortion: 1 dead, 1 wounded.”

The Guardian: Campaigners have warned that Chinese human rights lawyers remain under intense pressure, following the disappearance of another high-profile legal figure. Li Fangping went missing on Friday after ringing his wife to say state security agents were waiting for him – just as lawyer Teng Biao returned home after a two-month disappearance.

Tom Strode at Baptist Press: Egypt should be added to an infamous list of the world’s worst violators of religious liberty, a bipartisan commission told the United States government April 28.

Catholic Culture: Hindu extremists in Madhya Pradesh beat a Protestant pastor until he was unconscious; radicals in Maharashtra prevented tribal Christians from holding services; and extremists in Kerala beat Christians who were distributing copies of the Gospel.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2011 Annual Report and recommended that the Secretary of State name the following nations “countries of particular concern” or CPCs: Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Boston Globe (AP): A hard-line cleric warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday to end an escalating power struggle with Iran’s supreme leader, calling it a religious obligation to do so and accusing the country’s enemies of trying to sow rifts among its leadership.

AP: Vietnamese authorities have arrested the pastor of an outlawed Mennonite church for allegedly sowing division between the government and citizens of this communist nation, state media reported Friday.

AP: “Tibetan religious leader on Friday asked Chinese authorities to immediately release nearly 400 monks detained from the blockaded Kirti monastery in Sichuan province where two people died in a clash with police.”

C-FAM: A US appeals court ruled that a Chinese man whose wife underwent a forced abortion and IUD insertion is not eligible to asylum, despite US law to the contrary. Even though the court recognized the couple’s clear desire to …

Christian Newswire: Easter weekend was one of the bloodiest since the riots and anti-government demonstrations started in mid-March, leading some churches to cancel Easter services. The Associated Press reported 120 deaths last weekend across Syria and a total of 450 deaths since the unrest began.

NY Times: The chief United States representative to human rights discussions with China offered a cheerless portrait of those talks after their conclusion on Thursday, saying the United States was worried by “a serious backsliding” of freedoms in China and at loggerheads with Beijing officials over many aspects of the issue.

NY Times: Free speech advocates and Internet users are protesting new Indian regulations restricting Web content that, among other things, can be considered “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.”

The Daily Caller: Belgium has taken a major step toward banning burqa-type Islamic dress in public when its lower house of parliament overwhelmingly backed the measure.

Toronto Star: Small crowds of voters nervously cast ballots Thursday in two states in oil-rich Nigeria hit hard by religious rioting that killed at least 500 people following the nation’s presidential election.

Religion Clause Blog: In Norway, the Labour Party is proposing a change in the health care law so that ritual circumcisions of boys– practiced by Jews and Muslims– will be covered without charge as part of the public health system.

Scotsman: The attack, at St Andrews Church on Main Street, Livingston, is believed to be the sixth or seventh similar incident in the past year. It is thought a group of youths threw small rocks and stones at the church between Friday night and Saturday morning, breaking 11 windows.

Daily Mail: An ordinary bloke who became so angry and frustrated at Britain’s obsession with multiculturalism, diversity and political correctness that he felt he had no option but to stand up for his rights and beliefs. ‘I didn’t want any of this fuss. Who would?’ he says, brandishing a flowery tea cup. ‘The past few months have been unbelievable — a nightmare. The worry’s made Geraldine poorly. I’ve not slept more than three hours a night and I collapsed with stress at my doctor’s. ‘And there have been plenty of tears — though never in front of Geraldine,’ he adds, hastily. ‘But sometimes you’ve no choice. You have to take a stand.’

Andrea Minichiello Williams at Christian Concern for Our Nation: I never imagined that my skills as a lawyer would be used to defend Christians for following their faith in 21st Century Britain. In the UK, Christians are beginning to experience discrimination that leads to them being marginalised and losing their jobs. Over the past three years more than 100 have suffered after wearing a cross, sharing their faith, even offering a prayer.

AP: An American human rights envoy said Thursday that China provided no useful information when probed about specific cases of individuals who have been detained or who disappeared in a major crackdown on dissent in recent months.

Telegraph: Islamic fundamentalism is being allowed to flourish at universities, endangering national security, MPs and peers say.

Christian Institute: “Islamic clerics could be sitting next to Anglican bishops in the House of Lords as David Cameron studies plans for a multi-faith reform of the upper chamber. The move is being considered in response to calls to make the House of Lords entirely secular.”

Catholic Culture: An effort to amend the Act of Settlement, which bars any Roman Catholic from succession to the British throne, was blocked by an intervention from the Church of England, the London Daily Telegraph reports.

Leeds-based Catholic Care wanted exemption from the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations, which require it to consider gay and lesbian couples as prospective parents.

AP: A majority of Egyptians believe laws in their country should observe the teachings of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, according to the results of an opinion poll by a U.S.-based research center.

Washington Times: The International Monetary Fund says the “Age of America” will end in the ash heap of history in 2016, give or take a year or so, to be replaced by the “Age of China.”

Reuters on Yahoo: “When it comes to differences between China and the United States over human rights, the two sides can enhance mutual understanding on a basis of equality and mutual respect,” Hong told a regular news conference. “We oppose any country using human rights issues as an excuse to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.

Christian Post: Deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in the north of Nigeria following the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan has brought the death toll to over 500, according to a local civic group.

One News Now: Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs, Canada says 21 year old Hassan Adawe Adan was gunned down by two Muslim extremists connected to the terrorist group. “He had converted from Islam to Christianity several months ago. And it was found out that he was a Christian. He was dragged out of his house, and he was shot and killed.”

Wall Street Journal (via Google): As Easter approached this year, Beijing’s crackdown on all forms of dissent expanded to include a renewed assault on the right of Christians to worship freely. Authorities in the capital prevented the prosperous Shouwang congregation from occupying premises it bought to hold services

Christian Concern: A Christian employee, Colin Atkinson, who refused to remove a Palm Cross from the dashboard of his Housing Association vehicle is rejoicing this Easter Sunday, after threats of the sack have been lifted, and his employers have agreed to allow him to continue to keep the cross he has displayed for 15 years, in the cockpit of his van.

MSNBC: Nigerian officials on Thursday delayed next week’s gubernatorial elections in two predominantly Muslim northern states that have been wracked by deadly riots and retaliatory violence since the presidential election was won by a Christian from the country’s south.

Chuck Colson at Breakpoint via Crosswalk: The case has been widely viewed as a crucial one. As Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund put it, “A loss in this case would have meant, in essence, that it would be illegal under the European Convention on Human Rights to have religious symbols in any institution anywhere in Europe.” Before you start celebrating, though, you ought to know that this may be a very mixed blessing. When you take a close look at the court’s reasoning, it becomes clear that there are some disturbing implications to this ruling.

AP: Mukhtar Mai was assaulted after the council in her village in Punjab province ordered she be raped as punishment for her 13-year-old brother’s suspected affair with a woman of a higher caste.

AP: “A court has barred atheists from holding a march on Holy Thursday, saying that would be offensive to Spanish Catholics who mark Easter with processions of their own.”

ABC: London police have rejected a radical Islamist group’s request to hold a protest outside Westminster Abbey on the day of the royal wedding.

LifeSiteNews: The government, however, has expressly forbidden such groups from helping homosexually-inclined students to reform their sexuality – a fact that has many Catholic parents expressing concern with the bishops’ approach.

AP: China has released one of the most prominent activists taken into custody since a massive security crackdown was launched two months ago to stamp out any Middle East-inspired protests.

AP: “The Vatican has put a Chinese Catholic scholar who lived nearly five centuries ago on track for beatification, a move intended to raise the profile of the church in a country that keeps a tight grip on all religious expression.”

Islamist Watch: Though France is the pace setter, efforts to impose burqa bans, both broad and narrow, press on across the West. The following is a quick and by no means exhaustive update on recent attempts . . .

Middle East Forum: The grand irony, of course, is that Christian persecution has increased exponentially under U.S. occupation. As one top Vatican official put it, Christians, “paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship” of Saddam Hussein.

Catholic Culture: Muslim militants attacked a Christian village of Khokarki in the northeastern Pakistani province of Punjab on April 16, causing dozens of families to flee. The attack followed an accusation of blasphemy against Mushtaq Gill and his son, Farrukh Mushtaq Gill, who had been quarreling with local Muslims.

RiaNovosti: A Muslim crescent should be part of Russia’s national emblem along with Orthodox crosses, Chief Mufti of Russia Talgat Tadzhuddin said on Friday in an interview with Moskovskiye Novosti daily.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes freedom of religion as a basic human right . . . “It would be impossible today at the United Nations to have such an article accepted by the majority.” Why? The “freedom to change his religion” would not be allowed. “You would have, at once, 55 to 60 countries say, ‘No! We cannot accept that,’” Graz said.

Christian Institute: The centuries-old ban on a Roman Catholic becoming a British monarch should be scrapped, the Prime Minister has said.

AP: Burned corpses with machete wounds lay in roads and smoke rose above this city where rioting broke out again Tuesday among Muslim opposition supporters who were angered by the announcement that the Christian incumbent president had won the election.

Aroney, Nicholas and Ahdar, Rex, The Topography of Shari’a in the Western Political Landscape (November 2010). SHARI’A IN THE WEST, Rex Ahdar and Nicholas Aroney, eds., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1807801