After Tajikistan banned the use of hijab last June, with the country’s president calling it an “alien garment,” the Muslim-majority, Central Asian nation is set to tighten its rules on Islam, with the ex-Soviet republic forbidding Tajik women from wearing “black clothes” and Tajik men from sporting long or bushy beards.
For the first time in Australia’s history, a mother was jailed under the country’s forced marriage law after she allegedly coerced her daughter into a marriage that led to her murder.
An Afghan mother forced her daughter into marriage. Six weeks later the 21-year-old ended up dead https://t.co/OTiE7qiulp
Protests and riots erupted in Israel after the country’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the Israeli government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish men for military service, ending the exemption for ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the country’s military for the first time since the country was founded in 1948.
An openly lesbian Lebanese stand-up comic and LGBTQIA+ rights activist is facing criminal charges from Lebanon’s Islamic religious authorities on May 9th after her sketch about Muslim Friday prayers went viral and sparked controversy online.
A well-known Hindu nationalist organization went to court to prevent two lions named after a 16th-century Mughal emperor and a Hindu deity from sharing a zoo enclosure in the state of West Bengal.
Hindu nationalists go to court over lion named after Muslim emperor in India https://t.co/EevKjGvU4i
Lawmakers in a small Indian state have voted to approve a landmark civil code that will unify personal laws for marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption for Hindus, Muslims, and other religious communities, including legislation that will require couples living together to register with the government or face punishment.
From a Mughal-era mosque that was razed by radical Hindu nationalist militants more than three decades ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a newly constructed and highly anticipated Hindu temple that was built in the former mosque’s place, drawing both support and criticism from various groups and sectors of Indian society.
NPR: India's Modi inaugurates a long-promised but controversial Hindu temple in Ayodhya https://t.co/47r8d9zlj4
Egypt has recently unveiled its decision to ban the niqab, a type of Islamic religious garment worn by women, at schools, sparking a debate in one of Africa’s largest Muslim-majority countries.
"Females always pull the short straw."
Egyptians talk to Al Jazeera about the recent government decision to prohibit students from wearing niqab https://t.co/OhPSgafG81
Since the rise of Israel’s most right-wing government in its history, which included ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties in its alliance, many activists and ordinary Israelis are worrying about the rise of sex segregation in many areas of public life.
Growing Segregation by Sex in Israel Raises Fears for Women’s Rights https://t.co/A11e7lZdWW
Religion has continuously declined worldwide in the 21st century, including in the United States. There are different ideas as to the factors that contribute to this decline. However, a recent paper suggests that automation in the form of artificial intelligence and robotics is a primary driver in the current downward trend of global religiosity.
