Category Archives: Religion

Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal

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Hundreds of women sentenced for practices such as studying the Qur’an, dating back as far back as 60s and 70s, analysis of Chinese police files shows

Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur female religious leaders are estimated to have been arrested and imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2014, with some elderly women detained for practices that took place decades ago, according to an analysis of leaked Chinese police files.

There is growing evidence of the abusive treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population of the north-west Chinese region of Xinjiang, with their traditions and religion seen as evidence of extremism and separatism.

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Man who threw Molotov cocktails at Ohio church gets 18-year prison term

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Aimenn Penny, 20, had firebombed the church in Chesterland in protest of a planned drag brunch and children’s story hour

An Ohio man, who had allegedly been a member of a neo-Nazi ‘white lives matter’ group, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for firebombing a church that planned to host drag events, the US justice department announced on Tuesday.

After making and throwing two Molotov cocktails at the Community Church of Chesterland in Chesterland, Ohio, on 25 March 2023, Aimenn Penny was arrested on federal charges for using fire to commit a federal felony, malicious use of explosive materials, and possessing a destructive device.

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Breslau 1941: clandestine photos tell of the Holocaust’s upheaval and terror

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Images taken secretly some 80 years ago are being published for the first time to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

A remarkable series of photographs of Jewish families being forced to leave their homes in Germany in the middle of the second world war has been published for the first time, following a chance discovery.

The images are a striking new testament to the sudden upheaval and terror of the Holocaust and were taken secretly by an amateur photographer. He is believed to have wanted to pass down the scenes he was witnessing, despite the risk to himself. They show groups of people gathering outside a restaurant near the railway station in the Silesian city of Breslau, now Wrocław in Poland. Jewish men, women and children of all ages were held here for a few days before deportation by train. Almost all are certain to have been killed just a few days later in a documented shooting in Lithuania. Others were killed at a later date in Poland.

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‘It can explode at any second’: fear at the Israeli market town split between two communities

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War has led to a crisis in relations in Lod – the town that both Arab and Jewish residents call home

From a distance the market looks like a scene of communal harmony. Jewish and Arab Israelis inspect the piles of pomegranates, oranges, pears and carrots. Israeli flags flap in the winter breeze from the balconies of shabby apartment blocks. A hundred metres away, a synagogue, mosque and Greek Orthodox church share a car park.

The reality is very different. The tension in Lod, a town of 80,000 in the centre of Israel, is palpable. Other than at prayer time, the mosque bolts its metal gates shut. So too do the synagogue and the church. Everybody in the town, which is home to both Jewish and Arab Israelis, is very aware of what might happen if the growing anger, fear and grief among both communities prompted by events of the last four months get out of hand.

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Saudi Arabia to allow first alcohol sales in 72 years, dividing opinion

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Shop will be open only to non-Muslim diplomats – but some fear it is first step to wider availability of alcohol in teetotal kingdom

The news that Saudi Arabia will allow its first alcohol shop has citizens and foreigners alike mulling one question: is this a minor policy tweak, or a major upheaval?

Sources familiar with preparations for the store disclosed details of the plan on Wednesday, as a document circulated indicating just how carefully leaders of the teetotal Gulf kingdom will manage its operations.

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‘The Lord told us to’: US pastor says he stole $1m from Christians to remodel home

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Couple are charged with creating and selling their cryptocurrency, known as ‘INDXcoin’, to Christian community in Denver, Colorado

A Colorado pastor who is charged with stealing more than $1m from his Christian community in a cryptocurrency scheme has admitted to the fraud but argued that God instructed him to carry it out.

Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, are charged with creating and selling their cryptocurrency, known as “INDXcoin”, to Christians based in their home town of Denver, Colorado, allegedly telling would-be investors that the Lord had told him people would become rich if they invested, the state’s division of securities announced in a press release on Thursday.

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Modi inaugurates Hindu temple on site of razed mosque in India

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Narendra Modi hails controversial opening as fulfilment of ‘dream that many have cherished for years’

More than three decades after a mob of militant Hindu radicals razed a mosque to the ground in the Indian town of Ayodhya, the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has inaugurated the new Hindu temple that will stand in its place.

For some, the inauguration marks a hugely significant religious moment. Many Hindus believe Ayodhya to be the birthplace of the popular deity Lord Ram and the building of the temple, after over a century of disputes, has been heralded as Ram returning to his rightful place, and India freeing itself from the chains of past religious occupation.

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‘War hurts our hearts’: silent multi-faith peace walk held in London

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Hundreds follow route to Parliament Square in solidarity with people affected by Israel-Gaza conflict

Without flags, placards or chants, hundreds of people joined a silent multi-faith peace walk in London on Sunday in response to the Israel-Gaza war.

Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists walked side-by-side from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and back in solidarity with people affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

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Israel’s actions in Gaza are not genocide, says UK’s chief rabbi

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Sir Ephraim Mirvis says use of the term is moral inversion designed to ‘tear open the still gaping wound of the Holocaust’

The chief rabbi has said using the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza is an “increasingly frequent, disingenuous misappropriation of the term”.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the use of the term was a “moral inversion, which undermines the memory of the worst crimes in human history” and was designed to “tear open the still gaping wound of the Holocaust”.

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‘Sexual pleasure a gift from God’ but avoid porn, Pope Francis advises

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Pontiff thought be be responding to conservative critics after sexually explicit book by cardinal resurfaces

“Sexual pleasure is a gift from God” but Catholics must avoid pornography, Pope Francis has said.

The pontiff made the remarks during a catechesis devoted to the “vice of lust” at his general audience in Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday.

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Suspected Kenyan cult leader to be charged with terrorism after 400 deaths

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Prosecutors say they intend to charge Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects with murder and terrorism

Kenyan prosecutors have said they intend to charge a suspected cult leader and dozens of other suspects with murder and terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers, after a court warned it may have to free him.

The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his followers to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus” in a case that shocked the world.

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Russian Orthodox priest faces expulsion for refusing to pray for victory over Ukraine

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Church court says Aleksiy Uminsky broke his oath by refusing to recite ‘Prayer for Holy Rus’, which church has made compulsory at services

A prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine.

In a verdict published on Saturday, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath. The decision was forwarded for approval to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian church who strongly backs President Vladimir Putin.

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Netflix pulls Indian film after backlash from rightwing Hindu groups

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Annapoorani: the Goddess of Food criticised for depiction of deity and member of vegetarian caste cooking and eating meat

Netflix is embroiled in a backlash in India from rightwing Hindu groups over a film accused of offending religious sentiments for its depiction of a deity and a member of a traditionally vegetarian caste cooking and eating meat.

Annapoorani: the Goddess of Food, a film made in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, tells the story of a young woman of the privileged Brahmin caste, whose father cooks food in a Hindu temple, and her aspirations to become one of India’s best chefs.

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‘Meloni’s response left me stunned’: the Italian priest taking on the mafia

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Maurizio Patriciello has had police protection since a bombing near his church in Caivano, Naples, but he vows to keep fighting crime

Father Maurizio Patriciello is running late. “I’m waiting for my bodyguards,” he says by text message.

He is neither a celebrity nor a politician but a parish priest in Caivano, a desolate, crime-ridden town on the outskirts of Naples. He has been living under police protection ever since a bomb, accompanied by the message “get out of our way”, exploded by the gate of his church.

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Shia LaBeouf mulls plan to become deacon after Catholic confirmation

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Actor, 37, received sacrament on New Year’s Eve and Capuchin friar Alexander Rodriguez says he wishes to be a deacon ‘in the future’

The Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf is seeking to becoming a Catholic deacon after receiving the sacrament of confirmation on New Year’s Eve.

A California-based chapter of the Capuchin Franciscans, a Catholic religious order, shared the news in a Facebook post on Tuesday alongside photos of the 37-year-old actor smiling next to several of the organization’s members.

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Vatican: same-sex couples ruling is not endorsement of homosexuality

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New practice does not endorse homosexuality but is not heretical, Catholic church says amid opposition from some bishops

The Vatican has stressed that allowing priests to bless same-sex couples is not an endorsement of homosexuality, but neither is it blasphemous, after some Catholic bishops reacted negatively to the measure announced last month.

Pope Francis approved a ruling in December allowing priests to bless unmarried and same-sex couples so long as the blessing was performed without any type of ritualisation and did not give the impression of the church’s approval of the relationship.

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Italian priest struck off for calling Francis an ‘anti-pope usurper’

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Priest in Tuscany compares Francis unfavourably with Pope Benedict in New Year’s Eve address shared online

An Italian priest has been struck off after calling Pope Francis an “anti-pope usurper” in his New Year’s Eve homily.

Father Ramon Guidetti’s speech to the congregation at St Ranieri church in Guasticce, a hamlet in the Tuscan province of Livorno, was a tribute marking the first anniversary of the death of Francis’s predecessor Benedict XVI.

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Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns

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Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capital

Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press.

In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled “Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel” that had been published in 2019.

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‘Sorrow and silence’ in Bethlehem as Christmas festivities are cancelled

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The streets are usually thronged with tourists and pilgrims but this year the town is mourning the dead of the Gaza war

In the days leading up to Christmas, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said that one particular Bible verse kept running through his mind.

“When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem she gave birth to the Lord in a manger because ‘there was no room for them’,” he told about 5,000 people during the Christmas Eve midnight mass service in the Palestinian town where Christians believe Jesus was born.

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Indian Christians find comfort and joy in church communities across Britain

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And churches used to dwindling congregations are delighted to see numbers boosted by worshippers of all ages

Father Happy Jacob has a reason to be cheerful. When he started St Thomas’s Indian Orthodox Church in Liverpool in 2002, his congregation numbered about 60 families, and stayed at that level for almost two decades.

Then, a few years ago, things began to change. “We have seen a massive increase in families coming to the church,” says Jacob, 48. At his last count, there were 110 families, with worshippers including NHS workers, international students and about 100 school-age children.

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