White House: Under Biden, faith-based office bookended by COVID-19, war in Gaza

ADELLE M BANKS and JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, report on the work of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Biden’s presidency…
Malala Yousafzai urges Muslim leaders to back gender apartheid legal push

Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders on Sunday to back efforts to make gender apartheid a crime under international law, and called on them to speak out against Afghanistan’s Taliban over its treatment of women and girls. At a summit on girls’ education in Muslim communities attended by international […]
In the US, 119th Congress adds two Hindus, two nones, remains mostly Christian

United States RNS A new Pew Research Center report on the religious composition of the 119th session of Congress, convening on Friday for the first time, reveals that the majority of its members are Christian. The “Faith on the Hill” report draws on data gathered by CQ Roll Call, a publication that compiles congressional data […]
Most US congregations avoid discussing politics, new study shows

United States RNS Despite the incessant tracking of evangelical Christian, Latino Catholic, Muslim and other religious groups through the recently ended election season, a study released on Election Day by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research showed that most congregations are politically inactive, with nearly half actively avoiding discussing politics at their gatherings. The Hartford […]
Essay: We’re ignoring the power of religion to resolve conflicts

URIEL SIMONSOHN, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says religion is here to stay so, rather than dismissing it as a hindrance to peace, we should consider it a potential catalyst for reconciliation…
Azerbaijan: As COP29 begins, some voice concerns over religious freedom in host nation

ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN, of Religion News Service, reports on questions about human rights and religious freedom violations in the former Soviet republic…
Frustration deepens two years after UN report on China abuses

Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Human-rights groups and the United Nations are using Saturday’s two-year anniversary of a landmark UN report to call for action on the document which said that China may have committed crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released the report on 31st August, 2022, […]
The Taliban publish vice laws that ban women’s voices and bare faces in public

Islamabad, Pakistan AP Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public under new laws approved by the Supreme Leader in efforts to combat vice and promote virtue. The laws were issued Wednesday after they were approved by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said. The Taliban had […]
Pakistani pilgrim bus overturns, killing 28, injuring 23 in Iran

Dubai, United Arab Emirates Reuters A bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims overturned in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people, state media reported on Wednesday. The accident took place late on Tuesday in the central Iranian province of Yazd and was caused by a technical defect in the bus braking system, according to […]
Most suspects in a 2023 anti-Christian rampage in Pakistan are still at large, a rights group says
Multan, Pakistan AP Most of the suspects in a rampage last year against minority Christians in eastern Pakistan over alleged blasphemy are not in custody and authorities have failed to deliver justice to the victims, a human rights group have said. “More than 90 per cent of the suspects of the attack in Jaranwala, in […]