Turkey plans new global Islamic university

Turkey plans new global Islamic university
In an aggressive move to position itself as the intellectual center of the Muslim world, Turkey has announced plans to open an Islamic university similar to Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the oldest and most respected center of Islamic learning. Ankara’s announcement comes amid years of legal stonewalling for Turkey’s Christian minorities to . . . Read More

Bail granted for pastors nearly mobbed for sharing their faith in Bangladesh

Bail granted for pastors nearly mobbed for sharing their faith in Bangladesh
Two Bangladeshi pastors have been released on bail today after having been arrested and nearly mobbed by about 200 Muslims who gathered to attack a Christian meeting they were leading in northern Bangladesh. Around noon on Nov 9, in a village in the northern district of Lalmonirhat, locals were outraged . . . Read More

Analysis: Distinction between ‘moderate Islamists’ and ‘militant extremists’ is misleading for Western governments

Analysis: Distinction between 'moderate Islamists' and 'militant extremists' is misleading for Western governments
  The fight against Islamic State is now a top-priority of the international community. Islamic State was seriously underestimated, not only by the US. It took the international community so long to acknowledge the threat of Islamic State and to confront them, that they now seem already rather well settled . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian couple brutally killed by mob for alleged ‘blasphemy’

Pakistani Christian couple brutally killed by mob for alleged 'blasphemy'
A Pakistani mob beat to near-death a Christian and his pregnant wife for her alleged ‘blasphemy’, then threw them both into the large kiln where they both worked as bonded laborers. The incident happened on Tuesday 4th Nov, some 60 kilometers from Lahore, the capital of Punjab in central Pakistan – . . . Read More

Turkish public education system to offer class in Christianity for first time

Turkish public education system to offer class in Christianity for first time
The Turkish education system’s mandatory religion classes are not fair to students who do not follow the country’s majority Sunni Islam and must amend its policies, according to a recent verdict of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). As Turkey is a signatory of the European Convention on Human . . . Read More

Understand concept of ‘infidel’ to understand risks of Islamic radicalization

Understand concept of ‘infidel’ to understand risks of Islamic radicalization
Iraqi Christian children driven out of their homes by IS. Photo taken at a refugee camp in Erbil on September 16.World Watch Monitor   In recent history, genocides have often been accompanied by the preparatory dehumanization of victims. In 1994, in Rwanda, for example, the Hutu interhamwe labelled the Tutsis . . . Read More

Tanzanian teacher murdered in church, pastor and wife on Zanzibar attacked by extremists

Tanzanian teacher murdered in church, pastor and wife on Zanzibar attacked by extremists
Pastor Crodward Edwar (centre) at a press conference about the Bukoba murderHarakati News blog   Unknown attackers killed a Christian man by machete and injured another in Bukoba in northwest Tanzania on Thursday, Oct. 9, according to sources. This followed another recent incident on Zanzibar island in which a pastor . . . Read More