A federal judge in West Virginia ruled that the state’s corrections agency cannot force an atheist inmate to participate in a religiously-affiliated substance abuse program to be eligible for parole.
Charleston-based US district court judge Joseph Goodwin decided after Andrew Miller, an atheist and secular humanist imprisoned at the Saint Marys Correctional Center and Jail, filed a lawsuit against the West Virginian state government last April for allegedly forcing Christianity on incarcerated people and failing to accommodate his requests to honor his lack of belief in God.
When Christopher Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer was released worldwide, it sparked a new Internet phenomenon called Barbenheimer after being screened with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie on the same date, and it also reignited debates on whether the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II were justifiable and necessary.
A 21-year-old Indian Muslim man suffered severe injuries and trauma after experiencing violent religious coercion in the district of Bhilwara in the northern state of Rajasthan on July 8th. This incident reflects the ongoing religious violence between the country’s Hindu and Muslim communities.
British-American social media personality Andrew Tate has long been controversial for his misogynistic commentary and when he was arrested along with his brother Tristan in Romania for human trafficking. Now, the former kickboxer and social media influencer stirred new controversy online after openly calling for the Islamization of the United Kingdom.
As the much-anticipated Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie in the titular role stirred political controversy and was banned in Vietnam for a scene showing a map that seemingly depicted the “nine-dash line” used by China for its claims on the South China Sea, the Greta Gerwig-directed film found itself in another scandal, this time a religious one after an American pastor called for holy judgment over its LGBTQIA+ content.
A Filipina drag performer stirred controversy after a viral performance at a local bar where she dressed up as Jesus Christ and danced to a remixed version of a Filipino-language Catholic Mass worship song, sparking a heated debate on where to draw the line between “expression” and “mockery”, especially in a country like the Philippines, where around 79% of the population identify as Catholic.
With artificial intelligence like Midjourney and ChatGPT improving and evolving each day despite many issues, many people see new developments that can make this new technology even more powerful.
Indians have also jumped on the AI trend and developed chatbots independently. But unlike ChatGPT, which can help you create a 500-word essay in just a few seconds, or Midjourney, which can help you create artwork with just a few prompts, these Indian chatbots take the form of the Hindu god Krishna, trying to provide spiritual guidance and answer questions related to religion.
Leaving one’s religion can be difficult and more challenging for some people than others. Such is the case of the Ex-Muslims of Kerala (EMU) members, an organization formed by former Muslims living in the southern state of Kerala in India.
In northwestern Nigeria, an angry mob killed a man after accusing him of blasphemy on June 25th, triggering outrage from human rights groups who raised concerns about the growing threat against religious freedom in the region.
Six months after a far-right Swedish-Danish activist and politician enraged the entire Muslim community by publicly burning the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, another Quran-burning stunt occurred in the capital, this time during the celebration of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
