On Monday, November 29, a mob of violent Muslim protesters burned a police station, including four police posts in Peshawar, northeast Pakistan. Police officers repelled the mob's attempt to take a mentally unstable man accused of desecrating the Quran.
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.
In early September, a photo of a controversial billboard appeared on Twitter. The sign pictured former President Donald Trump next to prophetic words partially quoted from Isaiah 9:6, which compared him to Jesus. The scripture referenced by the sign, however, is inaccurate.
Critics quickly identified the bible misquotes in the sign after the photo made its way to Twitter. The verse quoted is from Isaiah 9:6 rather than Romans 8:17. The words are easily recognized as prophesizing the return of Jesus.
One of the special interests listed in the profile of Harvard’s new Chief Chaplain is “meaning and purpose beyond religion.” A very striking deviation from the century-old tradition of religious guidance usually expected of a chaplain. 400-years in the making, Harvard, an institution whose original mission was to educate religious ministers, has elected its first openly atheist chapel minister.
On July 26th, the U.S. Court of Appeals held the lower court’s decision to deny a web designer’s petition to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado. There have been many other court rulings in the United States deciding if a business that denies service to LGBTQ+ people is considered prejudice or exercising their right to religious freedom.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, in an interview with RTL radio in February 2021, commented on the proposed Anti-Separatism Bill. Darmanin describes the bill as tough but necessary, calling it “an extremely strong secular offensive.” The bill passed the lower house of the French parliament on Friday, July 23, 2021. Darmanin sponsored the bill with the support of his party, La République En Marche.
According to a recent survey by the Pew Research group, every 2 in 3 Indians express strong opinions on interfaith marriages and would actively like to stop them. The survey result indicates that most Indians like to believe that India is tolerant of other religions while they themselves oppose interfaith relationships.
In January 2021, Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 55 to amend Article IX of the Constitution of Tennessee. Article IX has three sections that bar church ministers, atheists, and people who participate or aid a duel from holding any office in the civil department of the state.
A Texas federal court received a petition from Braidwood Management, Inc. to provide a religious exemption that will allow them to discriminate against LGBTQ+ staff.
