India temple stirs controversy for ‘piercing’ children’s bodies
Source: BBC News A Hindu temple ritual in which boys aged between five and 12 years are pierced with metal hooks is stirring controversy in India after a senior police […]
Rwanda closes ‘700 unsafe, noisy churches’
Source: BBC News About 700 churches have been closed down in Rwanda for failing to comply with building regulations and for noise pollution. Most of them are small Pentecostal churches. […]
Vatican investigator in Chile hears more sex abuse complaints
Source: Reuters BY Antonio De la Jara SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who is in Chile investigating accusations that a bishop had covered up the sexual abuse of minors, […]
Swiss government: Pope Francis to visit Geneva this summer
Source: Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss government spokesman says Pope Francis will visit Geneva in June. Federal Council spokesman Andre Simonazzi says details of the June 21 visit […]
Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre reopens after spat
Source: Associated Press By NEBI QENA JERUSALEM (AP) — The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem reopened early on Wednesday after Israeli officials suspended a plan to impose taxes […]
Afghan leader’s offer to Taliban is a last-ditch gamble for peace
Source: The Guardian BY Simon Tisdall A bold plan to draw the Taliban into a binding peace process looks like a last, desperate gamble by Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan’s embattled president, to […]
Afghanistan’s Ghani offers talks with Taliban ‘without preconditions’
Source: Reuters BY Hamid Shalizi, James Mackenzie KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group on Wednesday as part of a proposed […]
Afghan peace talks a difficult proposition
Rahimullah Yusufzai | Published — Thursday 1 March 2018 Though the Afghan government has offered unconditional peace talks to the Afghan Taliban in the past, President Ashraf Ghani was more specific with this week’s announcement as he mentioned a number of steps Kabul would take once prospective negotiations begin and […]
Prince William to visit Palestinian Territories, Israel this summer
AFP | Published — Thursday 1 March 2018 LONDON: Prince William will be the first senior British royal to make an official visit to the Palestinian Territories and Israel, […]
New York to pay Muslim women forced to remove hijabs
New York: The city of New York has agreed to pay $180,000 (Dh661,000) to three Muslim women forced by police to remove their headscarves to have mug shots taken, officials said Wednesday. Each of the women is to receive $60,000 after the settlements were finalized in a Brooklyn federal court […]
Erdogan has released the genealogy of thousands of Turks – but what is his motive?
In 2003, the Armenian newspaper Agos, whose editor Hrant Dink was assassinated outside his office in 2007, reported that the Turkish government was secretly coding minorities in registers Robert Fisk […]
Rouhani says Iran ‘ready’ to talk to Arab neighbours
By AFP – Feb 28,2018 – JORDAN TIMES Tehran, Iran — President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said Iran is ready to discuss regional security issues with its Gulf Arab neighbours […]
Faithful return to Jerusalem holy site as Christian protest ends
By AFP – Feb 28,2018 – JORDAN TIMES A general view of the Edicule of the Tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old […]
Trump and Netanyahu — ‘birds of a feather’ getting together
Feb 28,2018 -JORDAN TIMES – Michael Jansen Donald Trump’s December 6th decision to shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and his announcement last week that the ambassador […]
Hundreds gather at church for blessing ceremony featuring AR-15s
NEWFOUNDLAND, Pa. — Hundreds of crown-wearing worshipers clutching AR-15 rifles drank holy wine and exchanged or renewed wedding vows in a commitment ceremony at a Pennsylvania church on Wednesday, prompting […]
Holi Festival 2018: How the thwarting of a Hindu demon king led to the colourful celebration
Source: Telegraph UK Holi, a traditional Hindu festival which celebrates the beginning of spring as well as the triumph of good over evil, begins tomorrow. It is best known around […]
Book: Light from the East: how the science of medieval Islam helped to shape the Western world
cosmosmagazine.com: NON FICTION Light from the East: How the science of Medieval Islam helped to shape the Western world, by John Freely I.B. Taurus (2015) In their frustration and disgust at the barbarity of the modern day Islamic extremists, many commentators in the West, groping for a context in which to […]
Everyone seems to be speaking for God. Heaven help us.
Source: The Washington Post By Courtland Milloy Columnist It seems as if God is everywhere now, but I’m not always sure who or what people are referring to when they talk about […]
What is a Cult?
Source: Huffington Post By J. H. McKenna, Ph.D. The word ‘cult’ is never benign in religious terminology as it is in the world of art, where Johnny Stonenoggin filmster extraordinaire […]
How many Jews live in the U.S.? That depends on how you define ‘Jewish.’
Source: The Washington Post By Emily Guskin February 23 Email the author Hillel students take photos of the 300-year-old Torah scroll that was given to the University of Pittsburgh Hillel Jewish student organization. […]