A Malaysian court ruled on March 10 that non-Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God, in a major decision in a divisive issue for religious freedom in the Muslim-majority country. The High Court decision squashed a 35-year-old government ban on the usage of Allah and three otherContinue Reading
India was categorised as a “Tier 2 country” in last year’s listing. But the State Department notification, now issued, does not name it among countries of particular concern. Last year, the US religious commission noted that religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities underContinue Reading
The world has seen wars over religious freedom. But India seems to be regressing with the implementation of various “anti-conversion” bills as it carries out the agenda of the government in power. Religious freedom is a relatively recent phenomenon. Most countries across the centuries gave their citizens no such allowance.Continue Reading
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s intervention led to Pakistan escaping sanctions for lack of religious freedom and India stopped from being listed on a Special Watch List, said US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback. “There were several recommendations that the Secretary [Pomoeo] did not follow,Continue Reading
Christians and Muslims throughout the world experienced harassment in more countries than any other religious groups in 2018. It’s a pattern that has remained consistent since 2007, when the Pew Research Center began tracking the level of government restrictions on religion. Christians and Muslims are the two largest religious groupsContinue Reading
June 19, 2020: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has issued a report recommending a “binding agreement” between the United States and Pakistan, with the goal of encouraging Pakistan to improve its treatment of religious minorities. Laws against blasphemy in Muslim-majority Pakistan have led to death sentences forContinue Reading
Washington, Dec. 2, 2018: Ultranationalism is the chief reason behind the growing number of countries ranked worse than before on guaranteeing citizens their religious freedom, according to Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need. One example was India’s “Hinduistic nationalist approach,” Heine-Geldern said, “which leads toContinue Reading
Beijing: A mostly Muslim county in western China has banned children from attending religious events over a winter break, an education bureau said in a notice posted online, as authorities step up control of religious education. School students in Linxia county in Gansu province, home to many members of theContinue Reading
Washington: Declaring that religious freedom is “under threat,” President Donald Trump has vowed to repeal a rarely enforced IRS rule that says pastors who endorse candidates from the pulpit risk losing their tax-exempt status. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives ofContinue Reading
NEW HAVEN, CONN.: Religious freedom continues to enjoy strong backing from most Americans, a new survey says. “Majorities of Americans – regardless of party – have embraced religious freedom and have rightly rejected the false notion that it is something negative,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of ColumbusContinue Reading
