An Indian rationalist exposed a religious “godman” who claimed he could perform miracles in front of the public with a challenge the priest couldn’t take on.
The Taliban has stopped the distribution of contraceptives in two of Afghanistan’s major cities, claiming that their use by women is part of a conspiracy by Western countries to control the Muslim population.
Three religious reformers were put on trial in Bahrain for allegedly questioning the foundations of Islam, further deepening divisions between the country’s Shia majority and its ruling Sunni royal family.
The three accused are members of Tajdeed, a local Shia cultural and religious organization that advocates for open discussion of religion. Its members have questioned Islamic jurisprudence and the opinions of Islamic legal scholars, a taboo in much of the Muslim world, where political and religious authorities often endorse and enforce doctrine.
A new national survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution on February 8th reveals that around two-thirds of white evangelicals in the US and most Republicans are sympathetic or adhere to Christian nationalism.
An Israeli woman was arrested last Sunday after conducting a protest where she stripped down to a bathing suit at the Western Wall in response to a bill that could criminalize immodesty at the holy site.
The 35-year-old woman’s name was not released to the public, but she was identified as a central Jerusalem resident. According to reports, the woman removed her clothes after entering the women’s section of the Western Wall with her two-piece swimsuit and sneakers remaining.
At Delhi's Jantar Mantar, various Hindutva groups organized events where calls for killing Muslims and Christians were made on February 5. Reports claim that disrespectful and violent comments about minority communities were also made in different stages.
On January 29, an umbrella body of several Hindu organizations held a protest rally against "Love Jihad" and religious conversions in Mumbai.
Many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders attended the rally, including the Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar, MP Manoj Kotak, MP Gopal Shetty, and the former MP Kirit Somaiya. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was also seen participating in the rally with several Shiv Sena leaders.
After Pakistan blocked Wikipedia for three days over accusations of not removing allegedly blasphemous content, the online encyclopedia is up and running again.
On February 3, the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that manages the popular crowd-sourced online directory, announced via Twitter that Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority blocked Wikipedia and its other projects.
In light of the recent events involving the burning of the Quran by far-right activist Rasmus Paludan, a senior Malaysian official suggested criminalizing Islamophobia and demanded a “firmer” response from Muslim countries towards such incidents.
