Category Archives: Religion

Dismay as Louisiana lookback law for child sexual abuse victims struck down

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Court rules 4-3 to overturn law that had allowed victims to file civil suits over sexual abuse that took place decades ago

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sexual abuse victims, the Louisiana state supreme court has struck down a law that had allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over molestation that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling from a court whose members are elected.

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Landmark report calls for removal of LGBTQ+ discrimination exemptions for Australia’s religious schools

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Law Reform Commission says schools shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate against staff and students on basis of sexuality, gender identity or relationship status

Blanket exemptions allowing religious schools to discriminate against staff and students on the basis of sexuality and gender identity should be repealed, a key report to the federal government has recommended.

The long-awaited report from the Australian Law Reform Commission, released on Thursday, says the institutions should be allowed to preference staff in line with their beliefs so long as its proportionate and “reasonably necessary” to maintaining a community of faith and isn’t unlawful under existing discrimination laws.

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Archbishops of Canterbury and York warn against new extremism definition

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Clerics say Michael Gove’s anti-extremism strategy risks targeting Muslims and may threaten freedom of speech and peaceful protest

The archbishops of Canterbury and York have joined the growing list of critics of the government’s new extremism definition, which they have warned risks “disproportionately targeting Muslim communities” and “driving us apart”.

Michael Gove will present his new counter-extremism strategy on Thursday, which he says will target organisations that undermine British democracy.

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US delegation leaves Saudi Arabia early over kippah row

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United States Commission on International Religious Freedom cuts visit short after rabbi told to remove Jewish head covering

A US delegation on religious freedom said on Monday it cut short its visit to Saudi Arabia after one of its members was asked to remove his Jewish head covering, or kippah.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said its delegation was near Riyadh visiting Diriyah, a historic town and Unesco world heritage site, when the commission’s chair, the Orthodox rabbi Abraham Cooper, “refused their requests that he remove his religious head covering”.

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India enacts citizenship law criticised as ‘discriminatory’ to Muslims

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Citizenship amendment act grants Indian nationality to refugees who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist, but not Muslim

The Indian government has enacted a divisive citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims, just weeks before prime minister Narendra Modi heads into a general election.

The law, known as the citizenship amendment act (CAA), was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation proposed by the Modi government after it explicitly made religion the basis on which people could become Indian citizens.

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Ramadan in Gaza: ‘We used to adorn our street, now everything around us is bleak’

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Displaced families prepare to spend holy month in Rafah amid food shortages and fear of attack

Seventy days after they were forced to leave their house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Hanaa al-Masry, her husband and their six children are preparing for Ramadan in their new home: a dilapidated tent. Here, there will be no decorations, no joyous family meals and no reading of the Qur’an under the lemon and orange trees in the garden.

The Muslim holy month – a time for friends and family as well as religious contemplation, prayer and fasting – starts on Monday and will be like none that anyone in Gaza can remember.

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Pope criticised for saying Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia

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Francis’s failure to condemn Moscow as aggressor decried as ‘shameful’ and ‘incomprehensible’

Pope Francis has been criticised after saying Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Some politicians and commentators in Europe reacted with anger after the pontiff appeared to stay silent on Russia’s crimes as aggressor in the invasion, which has killed tens of thousands, and placed the onus on Ukraine to make peace.

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‘Waiting for the storm’: Israelis and Palestinians fear difficult week as Ramadan starts

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Key site is al-Aqsa mosque on what Jews call the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Peaceful access for Muslims could send a message of calm

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing themselves for a tense and ­potentially violent week, with no sign of a ­ceasefire likely in Gaza and calls from Hamas for protest marches around the Islamic world to mark the start of Ramadan on Monday.

Earlier this month, a halt to hostilities before the Muslim holy month looked possible, but hopes have dimmed since indirect talks in Cairo ended without progress last week.

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‘I’m Jewish and feel totally safe marching for Gaza’: London protesters defy Sunak’s ‘extremist’ slur

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Marchers on Saturday came from wide range of backgrounds as rightwing press characterises city as ‘no-go zone for Jews’

As on previous Saturdays in the past six months, there were two marches taking place in London yesterday. The first, a gathering of tens of thousands of full-throated, flag-waving supporters of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza gathered at Hyde Park Corner at noon, and shuffled peaceably and patiently in the sunshine in the direction of the American embassy at Vauxhall, over the river.

The second march was taking place mostly in the imaginations of right-wing commentators and politicians who increasingly choose to see these displays of solidarity with the Palestinian cause only as a provocation and a threat. Following the prime minister’s Downing Street address on 1 March which represented these gatherings as representative of “forces trying to tear apart” our democracy, the latest figure to loud-hailer that version of reality was the government-appointed commissioner for countering extremism, Robin Simcox, who argued on Friday the marches were “a permissive environment for radicalisation”, leading to a hysterical Daily Telegraph front-page headline that read: “London is now a no-go zone for Jews”.

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Mormons hoping to build first new temple in UK for 30 years

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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seeking permission to build temple in Sutton Coldfield

The first new Mormon temple in the UK for 30 years is to be built in Sutton Coldfield as a venue for “sacred ceremonies” and in pursuit of an “ultimate goal” to have temples dotted around the UK.

The large white edifice will feature a 314ft spire and an imposing entrance arch. Planning permission has yet to be granted, but the church hopes construction will begin this year and take up to three years to complete.

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£1bn to heal C of E’s historic slavery links is not enough, Black faith leaders say

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Amount proposed is described as ‘just a start’ to rectify the ‘evil’ of enslavement

The £1bn fund proposed to address the Church of England’s historic links to slavery would “just be a start up” to rectify the “evil” of enslavement, Black faith leaders have said.

A report by an oversight group led by descendants of enslaved Africans found the £100m earmarked for the Church’s new investment fund is “not enough” and instead proposed for £1bn to be raised for a “broader healing, repair and justice initiative.”

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Wedding photographer at centre of row with vicars calls for truce

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Rachel Roberts and more than 900 photographers had signed petition about clergy obstructing their work

A wedding photographer at the centre of a row with vicars that has sparked an intervention by a former archbishop has called for the two camps to put aside their differences and work in peaceful harmony.

Last week more than 900 wedding photographers signed a petition started by photographer Rachel Roberts, who urged vicars to “improve” their working conditions after complaints that some clergymen and women had been making it difficult to take photos inside church premises.

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British Muslims believe more should be done to improve interfaith relations

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Majority think Britain is a good place for opportunities and freedom to practise their faith, poll finds

Most British Muslims believe more should be done to improve relations between the UK’s different religious communities, according to a research forum on faith.

The Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) looked at the attitudes and social contributions of British Muslims living in the UK. The survey found 71% of British Muslim respondents believed more work should be done to improve relations between different faith groups, and just 22% believed the right amount was being done.

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Africa’s largest mosque inaugurated in Algeria after years of delays

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Prayer room of Great Mosque of Algiers, beset by political wrangling and cost overruns, accommodates 120,000 people

Algeria has inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.

Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the world’s tallest minaret, measuring 265 metres (869ft).

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C of E reviews guidance for clergy supporting asylum seekers

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Move comes as church faces scrutiny from politicians over conversions of asylum seekers to Christianity

A review into guidance for clergy on supporting asylum seekers is under way as “a matter of urgency”, the Church of England’s parliament has heard alongside a claim of “buck-passing” between the government and the church.

The church has recently faced scrutiny from politicians over conversions of asylum seekers to Christianity, with a Conservative MP even suggesting taxpayers are being “scammed” by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, on the issue.

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Pastor says Welby would not meet him if he spoke at Palestine rally with Corbyn

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Archbishop said he could not meet Bethlehem Lutheran Munther Isaac if he shared platform with former Labour leader, Isaac says

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, cancelled plans to meet the Bethlehem-based Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac, saying he could not meet him if he shared a platform with the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a pro-Palestinian rally, the pastor has said.

Isaac, the pastor of the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran church in Bethlehem, who has been highly critical of Israel in Gaza, saw his Christmas sermon go viral when he said if Jesus Christ was born today it would have been under the rubble.

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Westminster Abbey agrees ‘in principle’ to return sacred tablet to Ethiopia

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Carved wooden tabot has been at Abbey since British forces looted it at Battle of Maqdala in 1868

Westminster Abbey has agreed “in principle” to returning a sacred tablet to the Ethiopian Orthodox church, igniting a debate around restitution claims made by the East African nation.

The tabot – a blackened flat piece of wood featuring a carved inscription that symbolically represents the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments – has been at the Abbey since British forces returned with it from the Battle of Maqdala, where it was looted in 1868.

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Hindu nationalists go to court over lion named after Muslim emperor in India

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Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosure

An Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West Bengal after reports a lioness named Sita had been put with a lion called Akbar.

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‘Places of the living’: bishop of Norwich calls for churchyards to be rewilded

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Graham Usher urges Church of England to look into this ‘often very ancient land’, as it prepares to vote on increasing biodiversity

Churchyards should be rewilded to increase biodiversity and to make them “places of the living, not just the dead”, a Church of England bishop has said.

Local parishes are responsible for about 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of churchyards in England. The C of E also owns about 34,000 hectares of farmland, mostly let to tenant farmers, and 9,300 hectares of forestry.

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C of E refutes claims of ‘conveyor belt’ of asylum seeker fake conversions

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Suella Braverman and a former priest accuse church but Justin Welby says its role has been mischaracterised

The Church of England has refuted a claim that it operated a “conveyor belt for asylum seeker fake conversions”, saying parish records disproved the eye-catching allegation.

Churches have been at the centre of a storm over “fake conversions” in the past week after it emerged that Abdul Ezedi, the Afghan man suspected of a chemical attack on a woman and two children in Clapham, was granted asylum on his third attempt after converting to Christianity. Police said on Friday that Ezedi was believed to be dead.

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