Atheist Bloggers Told to Stop Criticizing Religion

By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

For the last decade, Patheos, a multifaith media platform that hosts commentary from writers of different religions and the religiously unaffiliated, has been going in a concerning direction. According to departing bloggers and their manager, Dale McGowan, the nonreligious channel has been steered away from criticizing religion.

Another Indian Hate Site "Auctions Off" and Abuses Muslim Women

By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

On New Year's Day, 2022, an app called Bulli Bai uploaded hundreds of photos of Muslim women in India to be “auctioned off,” in an attempt to degrade and harass them. Some of the women on the app are journalists and politicians.

Taliban Pours 3,000 Liters Of Liquor From Raid into Canal

By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

On New Year's Day, 2022, the twitter account for the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), an intelligence agency controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, posted a video of a raid where law enforcement agents arrested three people and seized 3,000 liters of an alcoholic substance just to be dumped into a canal in Kabul.

Research Reveals Most Banned Religions

A Pew Research Center annual study identified 41 independent states that imposed different restrictions on religious groups and organizations. According to the study, government restrictions limit religious expressions by targeting an entire faith, social movements, and political organizations with religious ties.

Council of Europe’s Hijab Campaign Faces Backlash

The Council of Europe (COE) pulled out ads for a campaign aimed at countering discrimination against European Muslim women who chose to wear head coverings. The Council of Europe is an inter-governmental human rights group with 47 member states. CoE also took down its Twitter post related to the campaign.

Afghanistan’s (Actual) Last Jew Flees Country

In September, Zebulon Simentov, a man who claimed to be the last Jew in Afghanistan, left the country. He claimed that he was the remainder of a centuries-old community and charged reporters who wished to interview him. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Simentov might not be the last Jew in Afghanistan.

Leaked Documents Show Facebook’s Role in Hate Speech in India

The Associated Press and other news organizations obtained copies of redacted documents presented by the former Facebook data scientist. These were the same documents presented to the United States Senate subcommittee hearing.

Quran App Removed from Apple’s Chinese App Store

Quran Majeed, a popular Quran app, was removed by Apple from their App Store in China. Other religion-related apps were also removed, including the Bible App by Olive Tree. Apple Censorship first reported the series of targeted takedowns on the religiously inspired apps on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.

Spanish Archbishop Apologizes for Sexy Music Video Filmed in Cathedral

On the afternoon of October 8, Friday, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Toledo in Spain released an apology for the “improper use of a sacred place.” The statement released by the archdiocese on behalf of Archbishop Francisco Cerro Chaves responds to a music video shot in the 13th century Toledo Cathedral.

New Report: Top Christian Facebook Pages Controlled by Foreign Trolls

The MIT Technology Review obtained a Facebook internal data-research report in 2019. According to the report from 2019 running up to 2020, the top pages that create content for Christian and African American audiences were run by troll farms. The separate pages creating different ranges were managed by the same troll farms based in Kosovo and Macedonia.