Documentary: Prisms of Light
From the film’s website: Are people spiritual because they need a crutch, or do they sense something others don’t? A film director with a burning question goes to India, where almost two million Westerners travel as spiritual tourists each year. Are they running away from something, or towards something? A Swedish Tai Chi teacher […]
Europe bishops slam Saudi fatwa against Gulf churches
Paris, France – Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticised Saudi Arabia’s top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed.
Council member addresses Bektashi Sufi symposium, Albania
Council member & Chair of our Europe & Middle East region, Rev. Drs. Wytske Dijkstra, was invited to attend & address on behalf of IARF a symposium of the Bektashi Sufi Order in Tirana, Albania, in commemoration of their late leader Haji Reshat Bardhi Dedebaba (1935–2011). The audience included the Prime Minister of Albania and other government ministers, civil servants, and representatives […]
Kolkata unrest over Kali image
In its Monday edition, The Telegraph English language daily carried a morphed picture of a naked woman holding an image of the goddess Kali in front of a cricketer — believed to be a Pakistani — bowing before it. The newspaper had taken the picture from the Twitter account of a reader. However, its […]
India on USCIRF watch list again (2012)
India, March 21, 2012: The US government panel that monitors global religious freedom has once again listed India among countries that require close monitoring due to religious freedom violation. USCIRF Identifies World’s Worst Religious Freedom Violators
Latest report of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
25 March 2012 The 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council has just ended. You can read here a statement made by Heiner Bielefeldt, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, during the interactive dialogue, and also download his latest (2012) Report presented to the Council.
Russia regrets proposed ban of Hindu holy text in Siberia
State prosecutors in Tomsk seek to ban the Russian translation of the Bhagavad Gita, contending it is an extremist religious text that should be on a blacklist that includes Hitler’s Mein Kampf. http://wwrn.org/articles/36643/
US Conservatives’ Selective Religious Outrage
During the period in which Obama has been in office, we have indeed witnessed an assault on religious freedom unprecedented in recent history. http://wwrn.org/articles/36976/
Aussie Muslims Forced to Remove Face-veil
Muslim women in Australia’s most populous state will have to remove their face-veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under new stricter identity check laws. Those who refuse would not have their document authenticated and could also face a fine of $220. http://wwrn.org/articles/36980/
RFYN statement to UN’s International Year of Youth
“The role of youth in the progress of Afghanistan” Work by Afghan members of our youth network (‘RFYN’) submitted for: High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Youth @ UN Headquarters, New York25-26 July 2011 RFYN contribution to UN High-Level Meeting (PDF, 3 pages) Illustrated article “The role of youth in the progress of Afghanistan” […]