Tag: Religious freedom

German ambassador makes rare criticism of China over religious freedom

June 28, 2017 China Beijing, Catholics, China, Churches, Crosses, Education, House churches, Peter Shao Zhumin, Religious freedom, Wenzhou, Zhejiang

The German ambassador to China has made an official request that the Beijing government release Peter Shao Zhumin, the bishop of Wenzhou, reports Asia News. It is thought to be the first request of this kind made to China in 10 years. In his official statement on his embassy’s website . . . Read More

For Egypt’s Copts, if it isn’t extremism, it’s sectarianism

June 21, 2017 Egypt Islamic State, Minya, Religious freedom

Last Friday (16 June), the Coptic community in Saft el-Khirsa, 180km south of Cairo, woke up to find their three-storey community centre had been broken into and sealed off by police, and their furniture, rugs and religious icons were lying on the street outside. The building had been allocated to . . . Read More

Vietnam’s bishops say new religion law ‘not considered a human right’

June 8, 2017 Vietnam Catholics, Communism, Hanoi, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Religious freedom

Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh (UCAN)

Senior Catholics in Vietnam have issued a statement to high-ranking communist officials criticising the country’s new religion law, due to come into effect in January 2018, reports UCANews. The Law on Belief and Religion – the first ever law on religions since Vietnam was re-unified under communist rule in 1975 . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘Conservative attitudes can be passport for misogyny’

June 8, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Belgium, Boko Haram, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Pakistan, Punjab, Religious freedom, Trauma, Women

Women are often subject to discrimination and rejection due to social, legal and cultural norms, especially in patriarchal societies. (Photo: Open Doors International)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said that sometimes “[religiously] conservative attitudes are a passport for misogyny, while at other times they are simply inherited attitudes”. His comment came two days after a consultation about Christian women under pressure for their faith, where speakers noted that women living in highly . . . Read More

In Kurdistan, signs of diminished freedoms for Christians

June 1, 2017 Iraq Kurds, Religious freedom, USA

Christians of different denominations, most of them refugees from Iraq's Nineveh Plain, celebrate the Return Festival in Erbil, Iraq, in November 2016.

As bad as the past two years have been for the Christians and other religious minorities of northern Iraq, their torment by the so-called Islamic State could have been much worse if they had not been able to obtain refuge in next-door Kurdistan, Iraq’s semi-autonomous region in the north. “Even . . . Read More

US Commission urges Trump administration to prioritise international religious freedom

May 18, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Abune Antonios, Andrew Brunson, Central African Republic, China, Donald Trump, Eritrea, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Iran, Mike Pence, Myanmar, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

An influential US government commission that monitors religious freedom around the world is urging President Donald Trump and his new administration to take concrete steps to make advocacy of universal religious rights a priority in American foreign policy. “Our foreign policy should not simply be about US self-interest – you know, . . . Read More

US watchdog adds Russia to its list of worst oppressors of religion

April 27, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Bahrain, Religious freedom, Russia, Taliban, USA

Religious freedom is in retreat worldwide, and for the first time Russia is among the world’s worst oppressors, according to America’s most prominent and influential scorecard on the issue. The annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, released 26 April, puts its case plainly in its opening . . . Read More

Religious intolerance increasing, says Pew annual report

April 25, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Egypt, Europe, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia

Europe is seeing an increase in government's engaging in harassment and use of force against religious groups. This is partly caused by a surge in migration.

A report released earlier this month by the Pew Research Center shows an increased intolerance towards religion by governments and societies alike in 2015. According to Pew’s annual report, restrictions on religious activities increased in 2015, as did harassment relating to religion. The global study, which included 198 countries, found . . . Read More

No solution for Vietnam’s persecuted Montagnard-people

April 5, 2017 Vietnam Asylum seekers, Cambodia, Montagnards, Refugees, Religious freedom, Thailand, UN, Vietnam

The Montagnard-people are persecuted because of their faith but getting asylum in neighbouring countries is difficult. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The number of Montagnard-people fleeing their native Vietnam, because of persecution of their Christian faith, is growing, reports Al Jazeera. They initially end up in surrounding nations like Cambodia and Thailand, where they face a stateless future as their refugee status is not recognized. Thailand and Cambodia are not signatories . . . Read More

360° view of forgotten war in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

March 16, 2017 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Hassan Taour, Nuba Mountains, Petr Jašek, Religious freedom, Sharia, South Kordofan, Sudan, Trauma

News agency IRIN has produced a video that offers a 360° view of the situation of the people of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, a state in southern Sudan. (To experience a 360° view, play video, then “move” view by hovering your mouse.) The Nuba people, living on the border with . . . Read More

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