Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- The Economist: Syria’s tragedy could poison inter-faith, Muslim-Western and Muslim-Christian relations.
- Mongolia has stated its intention to refuse any future visits by the Dalai Lama, after his recent visit caused protests and a failure to cooperate by the Chinese government.
- A formerly outlawed Jewish community in Uganda has just built a new synagogue.
- Religion Clause: Congress has just approved multiple provisions strengthening the International Religious Freedom Act.
- After a deadly attack at Berlin’s Christmas markets this week, security has tightened at Christmas markets all over Europe.
- CNN: Malaysia’s Foreign Minister said this week that Malaysia’s treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority threatens to undermine the region’s security and stability.
- This week, Switzerland’s highest court blocked a ban on a state-funded Islamic center at the University of Fribourg.
- The Russian Orthodox Church has expanded its influence on public policy under President Putin – both promote traditional family values and a stronger Russian national identity.
- NY Times: After an off-duty Turkish police officer gunned down Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, while shouting jihadist slogans, President Erdogan attributed the assassination to his political rival, Fethullah Gulen.
- A resident of Maine, who is a practicing Pagan minister, has won the right to wear horns for his state-issued ID, as a form of religious expression.
a site of contestation and negotiation among different groups, including the Korean Choson court, the Japanese colonial government, representatives of different religions, and Korean and Japanese societies. It considers the complex religious landscape as well as the intersection of historical and political contexts that shaped the religious beliefs and practices of imperial and colonial subjects, offering a constructive contribution to contemporary conflicts that are rooted in a contested understanding of a complex and painful past and the unresolved history of Japan’s colonial and imperial presence in Asia. Religion is a critical aspect of the current controversies and their historical contexts. Examining the complex and diverse ways that the state, and Japanese and colonial subjects negotiated religious policies, practices, and ministries in an attempt to delineate these “imperial relationships,” this cutting edge text sheds considerable light on the precedents to current sources of tension.
differences, what can we learn about the interaction between religion and migration? Do faith-based organisations play a role within the refugee regime? How do religious traditions and perspectives challenge and inform current practices and policies towards refugees? This volume gathers together expertise from academics and practitioners, as well as migrant voices, in order to investigate these interconnections. It shows that reconsidering our understanding and approaches to both could generate creative alternative responses to the growing global migration crisis. Beginning with a discussion of the secular/religious divide – and how it shapes dominant policy practices and counter approaches to displacement and migration – the book then goes on to explore and deconstruct the dominant discourse of the Muslim refugee as a threat to the secular/Christian West. The discussion continues with an exploration of Christian and Islamic traditions of hospitality, showing how they challenge current practices of securitization of migration, and concludes with an investigation of the largely unexplored relation between gender, religion and migration. Bringing together leading and emerging voices from across academia and practice, in the fields of International Relations, migration studies, philosophy, religious studies and gender studies, this volume offers a unique take on one of the most pressing global problems of our time.