Islam

Grief over Gaza and qualms over US election add up to anguish for many Palestinian Americans

By Mariam Fam — September 12, 2024
(AP) — “Without stopping U.S. financial support and military support to Israel, this will not stop,” said Ghada Elnajjar who in 2020 campaigned for Biden. “I’m a U.S. citizen. I’m a taxpayer ... and I feel betrayed and neglected.”
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A Pakistani religious leader is tried in his absence for allegedly threatening Geert Wilders

By Mike Corder — September 4, 2024
SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — “Every day you get up and leave for work in armored cars, often with sirens on, and you are always aware somewhere in the back of your mind that this could be your last day,” Geert Wilders, leader of the party that won last year's general election in the Netherlands, told the court.

Montgomery County, Maryland, was most religiously diverse US county in 2023

By Aleja Hertzler-McCain — August 30, 2024
(RNS) — Beyond the religiously unaffiliated, which represent slightly less than 2 in 10 (17.8%) residents, the largest religious group in the county was Black Protestants, who make up 10% of the population. 

Bangladesh’s Hindu-Buddhist-Christian council pushes for secular state

By Rishabh Jain — August 29, 2024
(RNS) — Amid a government shake-up and rising violence against minorities, an interfaith council is pushing for the country to remove Islam as the state religion.

Taliban reject UN concerns over laws banning women’s voices and bare faces in public

By Associated Press — August 29, 2024
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Wednesday issued the country’s first set of laws to discourage vice and promote virtue. They include a requirement for a woman to conceal her face, body and voice outside the home. They also ban images of living beings, such as photographs.

Harris-Walz campaign hires the Rev. Jen Butler, longtime activist, to lead faith outreach

By Jack Jenkins — August 28, 2024
(RNS) — A familiar face among Washington’s faith-based activists, Butler said she brings ‘a broad set of relationships that I think can help, very quickly, pull a broad coalition together’ in a foreshortened Harris campaign.

The suspect in the Germany attack was motivated by Islamic State group ideology, prosecutors say

By Daniel Niemann and David Mchugh — August 28, 2024
SOLINGEN, Germany (AP) — The attack comes amid debate over immigration before regional elections on Sept. 1 in Germany’s Saxony and Thuringia regions where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to do well.

In the face of Palestinian suffering, interfaith groups offer a protective presence

By Yonat Shimron — August 27, 2024
(RNS) — An interfaith delegation to Israel aims to provide support and accompaniment to Palestinians facing home demolitions, dislocation and violence from West Bank settlers.

Pakistan flies home the injured and the bodies of 28 Shiite pilgrims killed in a bus crash in Iran

By Munir Ahmed — August 26, 2024
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan brought home Friday the bodies of 28 Shiite pilgrims killed in a bus crash in Iran this week while heading to Iraq for a pilgrimage. A Pakistani military aircraft also flew back 23 pilgrims injured in the accident, officials said. Earlier in the day in Iran, officials handed over the bodies […]

In Chicago, ‘Little Palestine’ adds its voice to roar of the Democratic convention

By Reina Coulibaly — August 23, 2024
CHICAGO (RNS) — With the DNC happening in their backyard, many residents came straight from work or school to participate in the protests.

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

By Yonat Shimron — August 22, 2024
(RNS) — The DNC has so far denied a request to allow Americans to hear the stories of Palestinian people in Gaza whose lives have been upended by Israel’s massive military.

Parallel to DNC, a Chicago interfaith vigil mourns the loss of life in Gaza

By Bob Smietana and Reina Coulibaly — August 21, 2024
(RNS) — Activists who have been protesting at the Democratic National Convention over the war in Gaza took time out to mourn and draw strength from their varying faiths.

Faith abounds at the Democratic National Convention, but don’t be surprised

By Jack Jenkins — August 20, 2024
(RNS) — Trump staffers have called the left ‘godless,’ but this year’s DNC painted a very different picture.
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