Category Archives: Religion + Belief

Religion + Belief
Recent attack on Candomblé followers fuels fears of religious intolerance amongst Brazil’s growing evangelical population
  • An 11-year-old and her family and friends, followers of the Candomblé religion, were attacked by a group of evangelicals while returning from temple.
  • The incident is one of a string of incidents in recent years involving abuse, beatings, forced evictions, and anti-Candomblé rhetoric.
  • Monitors have observed evangelical preachers espousing anti-Candomblé rhetoric to fortify their congregations, which have grown in share to 22% of the population from just 9% two-and-a-half decades ago.

“They want to make people ashamed to practise Candomblé, so they feel they have to turn to the church. …But how can you be a Christian with such hate in your heart?”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Douglas Engle/AP, via The Guardian)

Religion + Belief
Three women’s flight from English town to join ISIS prompts renewed soul-searching about radicalization causes in Britain
  • The sisters left the northern town of Bradford with their nine children for a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, but are believed to have traveled to Syria to join the group.
  • Muslims represent around a quarter* of the population in the ethnically diverse working-class town that has encountered a number of economic struggles recently.
  • While PM David Cameron has announced tough crackdowns on those spreading extremist messages–including the closure of mosques–some community advocates find the measures are not combating the root causes of alienation and exclusion from opportunity afflicting the British Muslim community.

“It’s disturbing, because we’ve got young family of our own. We have to keep an eye on them, who they are associating with. At one time we were worried about lads on the street corner selling drugs. Now this is a bigger shock. Where does it end?”

More on this story at Reuters.

(Image Credit: Phil Noble/Reuters)

*Corrected (6/20) to accurately reflect the Muslim population proportion in Bradford.

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
As German state expands its Holocaust education programs, the inclusion of Muslim Germans stokes debate
  • Bavaria has proposed that all 8th and 9th graders visit a former Nazi concentration camp or the Munich center on Nazi war crimes.
  • One lawmaker from the Christian Social Union, the conservative party in power in the state, has suggested that some Muslim students would need to be exempt from the requirement.
  • Muslim leaders and academics in Germany have indicated that Holocaust education is increasingly accepted in Muslim German communities, with most contentious debates centered instead on how to address discussion and education of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“You notice among the students that they say, ‘We stand for talking about Jewish history, and the crimes that were committed, but why don’t we talk about the Palestinians? Where is the justice here?’”

More on this story at The New York Times.

Religion + Belief
Renowned Catholic church in Israel targeted by arson attack, which authorities believe to be the work of Jewish extremists
  • Inside the Church of the Multiplication, an office for pilgrims, a meeting room, bibles, and prayer books were damaged or destroyed in the fire, which led to two hospitalizations.
  • A passage of a Jewish prayer on idol worship was found spray-painted on a wall outside the church, evidence of the latest in a series of widely condemned provocations against churches and mosques.
  • The church is a popular tourist destination in Israel, which believers identify as the site of Jesus’s miracle of the loaves and fish.

“This morning’s outrageous arson attack on a church is an attack on us all. In Israel freedom of worship is one of our core values and is guaranteed under the law. …Those responsible for this despicable crime will face the full force of the law. Hate and intolerance have no place in our society.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty, via The Guardian)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
Nine killed at historic African-American church in Charleston, SC, in apparent hate crime
  • A young white man around the age of 21 walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during Wednesday evening prayer activities and opened fire; he remains at large.
  • Built in 1891, the church is one of the oldest historically black churches in the U.S., where South Carolina state senator Clementa C. Pickney, among the murdered, was pastor.
  • Eight died at the scene and another died en route to the hospital, with at least one other victim having been hospitalized.

“It is unfathomable that somebody in today’s society would walk into a church while they are having a prayer meeting and take their lives.”

More on this story at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Richard Ellis/European Pressphoto Agency, via The New York Times)

Religion + Belief
Bahrain court sentences leader of Shiite opposition party to four years in prison
  • Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of Al Wefaq, was arrested in December on charges of “publicly inciting hatred” and “insulting public institutions” in the Sunni-led country.
  • The sentencing is the latest in a crackdown on the country’s Shiite-led pro-democracy movement, which has included citizenship revocation and banishment for the political opposition.

“Al Wefaq, the opposition group, said that the verdict was part of a ‘security campaign against every person demanding legitimate rights,’ and that the court ‘ruled against the majority of the people of Bahrain that adopt Salman’s path in demanding democratic transition, justice and dignity.'”

More on this story at The New York Times.

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
Ahead of Myanmar elections, concerns mount over extremist tactics among Buddhist nationalists as memories of recent violence persist
  • Hundreds were killed in 2012 and 2013 in clashes between Myanmar’s Buddhist majority and Muslim minority, particularly in the western state of Rakhine.
  • Politicians are leery of alienating Buddhist-majority constituents by condemning the violence, but face international pressure to speak up for ethnic and religious minorities.
  • Myanmar transitioned to semi-democratic rule in 2012, but with uneven rights to expression and anxiety over the upcoming elections, non-Buddhists (particularly Muslims) are fearful for their security.

More on this story at Reuters.

(Image Credit: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
Israel’s Taglit-Birthright program celebrates its 500,000th participant
  • Founded at the turn of the millennium by Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman, Taglit-Birthright provides free 10-day identity-building trips to Israel for Jewish youth around the world.
  • The young American woman who presented the co-founders with celebratory reminders of the beginnings of the program shares her story of reconnecting with an identity lost to her when her parents passed in her childhood.
  • Since 2000, 500,000 Jews aged 18-26 from more than 66 countries have participated.

“Molly embodies what Taglit, literally translated as ‘discovery,’ is all about, as she travels to define herself as a member of the Jewish community for the rest of her life.”

More on this story at The Times of Israel.

(Image Credit: via The Times of Israel)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
Report indicates dramatic spike in anti-Semitic incidents in Canada in 2014
  • The 1,627 reported incidents for the year represent a 28% increase over 2013, with harassment comprising 84% of reports, vandalism 15%, and violence 1% of reported activity.
  • Ontario had the most reports of anti-Semitism (960) followed by Quebec and Atlantic Canada (259).
  • Major spikes coincided with Israel’s campaign in Gaza and the December holiday season, both of which are consistent with previous spikes.

“In 2014, ‘a clear pattern emerged. It has become too easy to deny anti-Semitism, as long as it is reframed under the legitimizing veil of anti-Zionism. … The landscape for spreading anti-Semitic messages has grown exponentially, so it is only reasonable to expect the actual number of incidents to have increased along with it.’”

More on this story at The Times of Israel.

(Image Credit: Gershon Elinson/Flash90, via The Times of Israel)

Gender, Religion + Belief
Zionist religious leaders call for separate gender-segregated accommodations for observant students in Israeli universities
  • Citing the desire to preserve modesty in their academic environments, conservative advocates are attempting to get secular higher education institutions to create separate, gender-segregated learning spaces for students from the Zionist and ultra-Orthodox communities.
  • Organizers have discussed building a “purchasing group” model, gathering students into groups based on field of study in the hopes that universities would “bid” on them, introducing pressure to include gender-segregated classrooms.
  • Although the attempt may signal a new, much-welcomed openness to university studies by ultra-Orthodox communities, higher education officials say that any attempt to create gender-segregated education at non-religious universities would be terminated.

More on this story at Haaretz.

(Image Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz/Haaretz)

Religion + Belief
Maharashtra state government issues show-cause notices to 10 Mumbai schools classified as “minority schools”
  • The notices have arrived as officials claim the schools have not enrolled any minority students in the last three years in flagrant violation of the 51% admissions quota required for the special designation.
  • Schools designated as “minority schools” receive special government assistance with infrastructure.
  • Four of the ten schools are designated for either the Christian and Parsi communities, with the rest identified in association with the Jain community.
  • Maharashtra has 2,490 educational institutions with minority status designations.

More on this story at The Hindu.

Age, Religion + Belief
Pope Francis establishes new department investigating child abuse cover-ups within the Catholic Church
  • The Pope approved the proposals increasing bishop accountability submitted by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, head of the special advisory commission convened to investigate sexual abuse by Church leaders.
  • The unit will be housed within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which defends the Church against heresy.
  • The new measures follow increased international calls for policy changes in the Vatican’s approach to the sexual abuse of minors, including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee Against Torture.

More on this story at Deutsche Welle.

(Image Credit: Deutsche Welle)

Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities
Gay Christian activist prompts some evangelical leaders to reexamine their anti-gay stances
  • As churches struggle to contend with rapidly growing acceptance of LGBT individuals, Matthew Vines approaches religious leaders on a theological level about the durability of their opposition.
  • Vines has spoken with prominent organizations like Focus on the Family and at the high-profile evangelical conference Q Conference about the spiritual damage done by absolutist stances on homosexuality.
  • His strategy is to provide context for biblical assertions and identify potential allies within the church setting.

“God intended marriage to be about more than ‘plumbing,’…Marriage ideally should be about permanent, mutual, self-giving, self-sacrificing love.”

More on this story at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Monica Almeida/The New York Times)

Religion + Belief
All India Muslim Personal Law Board to launch campaign against mandatory suryanamaskar and yoga in Indian schools.
  • Citing incompatibility of Muslim beliefs and yoga practices like sun salutations, the executive council has decided to launch a nationwide campaign.
  • The decision comes as the government plans to observe International Yoga Day on June 21.

More on this story at The Hindu.

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities
Turkey’s parliamentary elections sees AKP lose majority, pro-minority Kurdish HDP win representation for the first time, and numerous victories for minority candidates.
  • While the AKP won the largest parliamentary share with 41%, HDP crossed the threshold of representation with around 13% of the vote, winning 80 seats in the parliament.
  • While the HDP has largely been defined by the Kurds it represents, it also opened up to all those marginalized by the party in power, including women, religious minorities, LGBT citizens, and other ethnic minorities.
  • The new parliament will see a record 96 women and its first Yazidi and Roma MPs, and the HDP also put forth the first openly gay candidate for office.
  • The momentum for the HDP grew out of 2013’s Gezi Park demonstrations, where protesters rallied against the government’s perceived encroachment on the country’s secularism.

“Turks and Kurds are well ahead of the political leaders of the country, and they have a lot of expectations of the democratic process that they have well bought into…This is a very impressive outcome. It shows that Turkey is going through an important political maturing process, and that an increasing number of people are interested in a pluralistic society.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian)