Turkish-German Pact: EU Split by Merkel’s Refugee Plan
By Horand Knaup, Peter Müller, René Pfister and Christoph Schult On a recent windy Saturday morning, António Rocha heads out to sea off the north end of the Greek island of Lesbos in accordance with his mission: securing the maritime border between Greece and Turkey. Rocha, a 52-year-old officer with the Portuguese […]
HRW urges Indonesia to lift ban on Ahmadis
Jakarta. International human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch urged President Joko Widodo’s administration to lift a ban on the Ahmadiyah religious community placed by local authorities in Subang, West Java. http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/hrw-urges-govt-lift-ban-ahmadis-subang/ The New York-based watchdog said Subang district officials and Muslim clerics issued a letter that bans all Ahmadiyah activities […]
Is West Virginia Going to Pass a “Get of Jail Free” Bill?
Source: Slate What with New Hampshire primaries and Zika scares and Syria deals, you might have missed that it was also a big week for “religious liberty.” In West Virginia, […]
On This Day in History Galileo in Rome for Inquisition and the Conflict Continues
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times On this day in 1633, Feb 13, Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome […]
Religion must be practised based on local context: Masagos
Source: Channel Newsasia In an exclusive interview with current affairs programme Bicara, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli discusses the threat of terrorism and the role of the Government in religious and racial issues. SINGAPORE: Religion must be practised in context and Muslim scholars here understand […]
A religion course for the Internet age
Source: Harvard Gazette Harvard Divinity School senior lecturer Diane Moore has modest goals for her upcoming online course, “World Religions Through Their Scripture.” She merely wants to increase religious understanding, […]
Can a Religion Be Bad?
Source: Huffington Post By Swami Tyagananda Monk. Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston. Hindu chaplain at Harvard and MIT. Latest book, “Walking the Walk: A Manual of Karma Yoga” (2013) People can be […]
Polluted air causes 5.5 million deaths a year new research says
Source: BBC More than 5.5 million people worldwide are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, according to new research. Most of these deaths are occurring in […]
Religion may explain why people are so weirdly cooperative
Source: arstechnica The level of altruism that humans display is an anomaly in the animal world. Most species don’t interact peacefully with strangers every day or build large, stable societies […]
Teaching about religion in a children’s museum
Source: RNS INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the largest children’s museum in the world, may be a place for fun, but it has also addressed difficult subjects, including […]
The Pope, the Donald, and the wall between them
Source: CNN (CNN)Imagine this split screen: On one side is Donald Trump, repeating his campaign pledge to build a big wall between the United States and Mexico. On the other […]
Prince Ali condemns tactics of Fifa rivals
Prince Ali of Jordan at the Geneva Press Club on Thursday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Published: 11 Feb 2016 15:35 GMT+01:00 Fifa presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al Hussein in Geneva condemned the tactics of his main election rivals on Thursday, raising ethical questions about their efforts to secure block support […]
After 1,000-year split, pope and Russian patriarch embrace in Cuba
Reuters International FEB 13, 2016 – 02:24 By Philip Pullella and Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) – Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill embraced and kissed on Friday in a […]
As refugees flood into Europe, Switzerland cuts development aid
DEVELOPMENT AID By Katy Romy FEB 12, 2016 – 11:00 How should Switzerland be helping developing nations? (Keystone) Switzerland is cutting international development spending, sparking protest from the political left and humanitarian organisations. While Europe is in the throes of a migration crisis, the effectiveness of aid is up for […]
Here’s How Syria’s Regime Is Profiting From People Under Siege
In the besieged Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, regime officials line their pockets by charging exorbitant amounts for exit fees, tolls, and international aid while residents starve and suffer. posted on Feb. 11, 2016, at 3:34 p.m. Borzou Daragahi BuzzFeed News Middle East Correspondent Sarah Dadouch BuzzFeed Contributor Reporting FromIstanbul, […]
Meet Hijarbie: Barbie with a Muslim makeover
Posted: Feb 09, 2016 9:25 PM JST (USA TODAY) – Just days after Mattel announced that it was giving Barbie a makeover, adding features such as wider hips and fuller […]
Indonesian bishops question religious harmony survey
While government says all is well, prelates say more can be done An Ahmadiyya congregation in South Jakarta, Indonesia, hold a Friday prayer service in their small mosque. Local residents have previously targeted the community with threats and harassment. (Photo by Ryan Dagur) Ryan Dagur, Jakarta, Indonesia February 12, 2016 While […]
On Darwin Day, 5 facts about the evolution debate
Source: Pew Research Center By David Masci, who is a senior writer/editor focusing on religion at Pew Research Center. Today is the 207th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, a day now […]
Fruit and veg goes digital in South America
Source: BBC A Colombian start-up with no former experience in retail is aiming to shake up the way people buy groceries online. Tech firm Grability has developed Rappi, a smartphone […]