Islam
Marijuana ministries * Chicken blood * Chocolate snakes: July’s Religious Freedom Recap
By Brian Pellot — July 31, 2015
Cannabis churches are billowing out across America. Chicken huggers are suing to keep ritual bird blood off Brooklyn’s sidewalks. And a South African prophet is being prosecuted for turning congregants into snakes and snakes into chocolate.
Omar Sharif wasn’t the only Muslim actor famous in America. Here are 5 others
By Kimberly Winston — July 10, 2015
(RNS) Sharif was one of a growing list of actors who are religiously or culturally Muslim.
At Ramadan, an online petition for female Quran reciters
By Ken Chitwood — June 29, 2015
(RNS) Searching for a recitation from a female "qariah" or reciter, Jerusha Lamptey, assistant professor of Islam and ministry at Union Theological Seminary, found none.
3 religions, 3 approaches to forgiveness in the aftermath of evil
By Lauren Markoe — June 25, 2015
(RNS) The forgiveness in Charleston and Boston has startled and moved people. But it has also provoked skeptics who wonder why -- in the face of little, late or no remorse -- victims have pronounced these violent young men "forgiven."
Asian holiday added to New York City’s school calendar
By Reuters — June 24, 2015
The Lunar New Year joins a slate of Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy days when public school students will have a day off to celebrate.
Beer fest in Muslim region of China angers Uighur exiles
By Reuters — June 22, 2015
A spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, condemned the event as "an open provocation to the Islamic faith."
At Ramadan, more companies accommodate Muslim employees
By Julie Poucher Harbin — June 19, 2015
(RNS) More companies are making efforts to accommodate the religious needs of their Muslim workers. But some businesses are going the extra mile to host events that celebrate the monthlong fast.
Why Muslims in Alaska will fast 9 hours more than Muslims in Cape Town (and what 1 scholar is doing about it)
By Tom Heneghan — June 16, 2015
(RNS) Ramadan begins on the longest day of the year, but for some Muslims living in Northern Europe and Canada, it's even longer. A British Muslim scholar says those Muslims don't have to suffer.
After death threats, Bangladeshi atheist relocates to US
By Kimberly Winston — June 2, 2015
(RNS) Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi gynecologist, novelist and poet, made the move after death threats from al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, which claimed credit for the killing of another Bangladeshi atheist last month.
At Middlebury College, Muslim chaplaincy is a husband and wife affair
By Julie Poucher Harbin — June 1, 2015
(RNS) Beau Latif Scurich and his wife, Naila Baloch, are the first married couple to share a full-time Muslim chaplaincy position at a U.S. college.
No images of Prophet Muhammad — or any issue ads — will run on D.C. transit
By Reuters — May 29, 2015
To legally avoid running an anti-Muslim group's proposed ads, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has now banned all political, religious and advocacy ads.
Anti-Muslim group wants cartoon of Prophet Muhammad in a D.C. transit ad
By Reuters — May 28, 2015
It won the top prize at her group's "Drawing Mohammad" contest in Garland, Texas, before two men armed with assault rifles wounded a security guard in the parking lot.
Indonesia urged to drop virginity tests for female police, military recruits
By Reuters — May 14, 2015
(Reuters) Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, last year admitted it conducted virginity tests on women trying to join the police or military even though the World Health Organization says the test has no scientific validity.
BREAKING: Vatican recognizes State of Palestine
By Kim Hjelmgaard — May 13, 2015
The treaty, not yet signed, makes clear the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.
‘Halal in the Family’ bashes Muslim stereotypes with laughs
By Kimberly Winston — May 6, 2015
(RNS) It's "All in the Family" meets "The Cosby Show" with a focus on issues confronting Muslim-Americans. And while most teaching-tool efforts are dull, this one is funny in a late-night comedy club kind of way.
