(ANALYSIS) On Feb. 15, 2015, both were among the men beheaded by Islamic State soldiers on a beach in Libya. All 21 — 20 Egyptian Copts and a Ghanan who professed his Christian faith — were soon declared martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Read More(OPINION) Christians in the Middle East and other places (like Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh) have also had to endure for decades (or even hundreds of years) living in territories occupied by different Islamic groups.
Read MoreThe ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq has had a devastating impact on Yazidis. The Islamic State group has specifically targeted Yazidis, resulting in mass killings, sexual slavery and forced displacement. The conflict has created a humanitarian crisis for the community, with more than 250,000 Yazidis living in refugee camps and struggling to rebuild their lives.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Tragic reports about the killing of Nigerian Christians have become all too common. And the recent account of a Catholic priest being shot and burned alive in his church just before Christmas was particularly gruesome — in that same incident, 40 worshippers, including children, also lost their lives.
Read MoreThis week U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced a list of countries that the U.S. government considers “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations. Nigeria is notably absent, despite attacks so frequent that many Christian ministries have stopped serving some rural communities.
Read More(Opinion) Afghanistan still has major issues when it comes to religious freedom. Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom said, "People are being hunted down and beaten and are threatened with death if they don't betray members of their families who are considered apostates" by the Taliban.
Read More(REVIEW) The latest Hollywood blockbuster “Dune,” a space opera based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name, is essentially a philosophical thought experiment that asks, How would Islam adapt and change thousands of years into the future on a distant desert planet? By projecting into the future, the film highlights our present reality.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As the Taliban and the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate are taking over the country, the International Criminal Court says it will investigate crimes as they happen for better monitoring and evidence collection. The move may also trigger quicker action and response from international actors after atrocities happen.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in starts with the deadly explosions that rocked the Kabul airport as the U.S. military attempts to evacuate thousands. Besides the Afghanistan news, catch up, as always, on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) I want to place a spotlight on the important work of Christian groups across Afghanistan over the years, the little mention they have received by the secular press, a recent story that illustrates both the plight of Afghan refugees and the Catholic converts now living outside the country who have been crucial in helping people get out.
Read More(OPINION) Aug. 22 marks the U.N.-designated International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. While the day was established as a direct response to the atrocities perpetrated by Daesh (ISIS) against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, similar acts of violence continue to this day globally.
Read More(OPINION) Members of Congress have abdicated their war powers over the past 20 years, resulting in endless wars that have devastated millions of people’s lives. Now, lawmakers must rectify their mistakes – and those of their predecessors – by repealing the 2002 Iraq AUMF and reasserting their constitutional war powers.
Read MoreThe government of Mozambique claims that religious fundamentalism rather than its own failures is the primary cause of a fast-escalating conflict that has killed over 2,500 people and displaced another 700,000. In March, the U.S. began training Mozambique defense forces in counter terrorism. But some journalists, researchers and clergy on the ground say that this narrative only serves the authoritarian government, accused of torturing and killing critics.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As Joe Biden prepares to enter office, religious freedom advocates are searching for signs that his administration will maintain the delicate institutional framework built during the Trump administration. Without a commitment from the president-elect, they fear it could all evaporate.
Read More(ANALYSIS) External forces from the Middle East are exploiting ethnic tensions and threatening peace between Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia.
Read More(OPINION) Middle Eastern Islamic scholars are behind mass atrocities committed by Muslims against other Muslims in Northern Nigeria, according to a Nigerian former university imam analyzing the conflict in a forthcoming report.
Read More(OPINION) The Oct. 16, 2020 terrorist beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty has galvanized France and led to increased international tensions. French President Macron has portrayed the conflict not as a lone terrorist attack but as a war between Islamists and France that is a conflict of ideologies.
Read MoreA New Delhi-based Sikh organization is sponsoring dozens of Afghan Sikhs to settle in India after the March terror attack on a Kabul gurudwara, a Sikh temple. Although Sikh has ancient history in Afghanistan, Sikhs now make up only a tiny minority in the country, while the Indian government welcomes Sikhs, whose faith formed from Hinduism.
Read MoreThe Republican National Convention ended with a bang, literally, as fireworks lit up Washington to blasts of ‘God Bless America’ and ‘Hallelujah.’ President Trump talked about American exceptionalism and the God-given right to life of the unborn in his nomination speech. Franklin Graham, criminal justice reformer Alice Johnson, her life sentence in prison pardoned by Trump, and Carl and Marsha Mueller, whose daughter Kayla was killed by ISIS, also spoke.
Read More(OPINION) Islam is caught in an ideological civil war, irreconcilable visions of the faith on each side. Do Muslim centrists have a chance to overpower these views?
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