On February 25th, a gay Malaysian man won a breakthrough court battle against Salengor’s Islamic ban on sex “against the order of nature,” drawing the LGBTQ community one step closer to wider acceptance of gay rights in a predominantly Muslim country.
A Hindu man in Malaysia created a video, that has since gone viral on social media, explaining how he is converting his Muslim wife to Hinduism. This revelation triggered much of the Muslim community in Malaysia.
Later, a second video surfaced, this time from the Hindu man’s wife. In this video, she explained how she is a citizen of Indonesia and has since completed her journey of renouncing her faith in Islam while living there.
According to Iranian media, the Women's Alpine ski team traveled to Italy for the World Championships without their coach, Samira Zargari. Under Iran's Sharia laws, husbands may stop their wives from leaving the country. Zargari's husband barred her from attending the championships with her team.
Roy was an American citizen of Bangladeshi provenance and a critic of religious extremism. He was publicly assaulted by machete-wielding assassins who butchered him to death as he and his wife were leaving a Dhaka book fair in February 2015. His wife, Rafida Ahmed, suffered head injuries and lost a finger.
The frontman of Behemoth, an extreme metal band in Poland, was found guilty of “offending religious feelings" after he shared an image of himself in September 2019 standing on a photo of the Virgin Mary. The Warsaw court convicted Musician Adam “Nergal” Darski within only a few days of the charges being brought against him.
Among white evangelicals, over 25 percent still believe in “QAnon” conspiracy theories. This may suggest some people experience difficulty abandoning one conspiracy theory when they believe whole-heartedly in another.
Police recently arrested five people for making death threats against the French teenager who said Islam is a ‘shit’ religion in a viral video.
Mila, the teenage girl (her last name is kept private), previously defended her intense atheist beliefs on French television after she offended Islam. During one outburst, she said the Quran is ‘full of hate.’
Nothing says "my religion isn't shit" like threatening teenage girls for saying otherwise.
After many years of trying to obtain a “no religion, no caste” certificate, Sneha Parthibaraja was finally certified on February 5th.Sneha, a 35-year-old lawyer from Vellore, became India’s first citizen to have a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate.
Two gay men fled to Russia after escaping alleged torture in Chechnya. On February 3rd, they were seized by Russian police and taken back to Chechen police.
Human rights activists commend Indonesia’s decision to mandate public schools to allow students autonomy when choosing their attire. The schools’ practice of forcing women to wear religious clothing is now banned as of February 3rd.
