Religion - Page 2

Nigeria: Boko Haram extreme group back and stronger?

Nigeria: Boko Haram extreme group back and stronger?

Authorities in Nigeria are yet to identify suspects following the Christmas season massacre across the country that has claimed over 38 lives in a...
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European artists depict religious figures as African

Over the centuries, European artists depicted a variety of religious figures as African. The most famous examples: Christmas art of the Three Kings, or...
Somalia: Battle for control of capital intensifies as rebels join forces

Somalia: Battle for control of capital intensifies as rebels join forces

The Somali government’s control of a major part of the capital city Mogadishu may be short-lived as the merging of two of the major...
What has commonsense got to do with it?

What has commonsense got to do with it?

I have seen too many things that are so hard to say: A woman with severe high blood pressure, who against her doctor’s advice,...
Uganda: A pastor’s quest for the blacklisting of gays

Uganda: A pastor’s quest for the blacklisting of gays

Already a sensitive issue, homosexuality in Uganda is becoming a taboo subject. In recent months, many organizations have sprung up to stop what they...
Pope Benedict XVI and condoms, yes, but…

Pope Benedict XVI and condoms, yes, but…

Is the Catholic Church changing its discourse on the use of condoms as a means to fight against HIV-AIDS? Pope Benedict XVI's book, Light...
Nigeria’s mass deportations to root out extremism ahead of polls?

Nigeria’s mass deportations to root out extremism ahead of polls?

The Nigerian government has embarked on massive deportation of illegal immigrants from Chad, Cameroun and Niger due to suspicion that Islamist sects in Nigeria...
Africans, the Catholic church and an unequal reward

Africans, the Catholic church and an unequal reward

Twelve African cardinals will elect the next Pope. Benedict XVI last Wednesday promoted four Africans to the rank of Cardinal electors. The move is...
Homophobia:  The violence of intolerance

Homophobia: The violence of intolerance

Seth Walsh was thirteen years old when he walked into the garden of the home he shared with his family in Tehachapi, California last...
Egypt: A foretaste of secularism through the Baha’is?

Egypt: A foretaste of secularism through the Baha’is?

In March 2009, the Supreme Court in Egypt dismissed an appeal that sought to prevent implementation of a lower court ruling the year before...
Egypt: A Muslim and Coptic Christian tug of war versus civil liberties

Egypt: A Muslim and Coptic Christian tug of war versus civil liberties

Religious events in Egypt have lately taken a new direction. It is an open secret that the minority Copt Christians in the northern African...
Algeria: A disturbing trial of Christians over Islamic Ramadan fast

Algeria: A disturbing trial of Christians over Islamic Ramadan fast

Two Christian construction workers appeared in court for not observing the Ramadan, the month of Muslim fast, on August 13. While most are dumbfounded,...
Somalia: Islamist militia takes over Horn Afrik and GBC radios

Somalia: Islamist militia takes over Horn Afrik and GBC radios

Islamist militants in Somalia have taken control of major independent radio stations in their bid to infiltrate the Somali public with extreme Islamic propaganda...
Rape in Mecca: Algerians seethe with anger

Rape in Mecca: Algerians seethe with anger

The alleged rape and murder of a young Franco-Algerian girl in Mecca has set Algerian public opinion ablaze. An investigation was opened on Thursday...
Beneath the Islamic beards and burqas

Beneath the Islamic beards and burqas

The most striking scene in Nick Broomfield's powerful 2007 film Battle for Haditha is not one of violence but a simple love scene. A...
The crescent: Islam’s accidental symbol

The crescent: Islam’s accidental symbol

A self-proclaimed fundamentalist movement gave Moroccan pharmacists one month to dismantle the bright green crosses representative of the pharmaceutical industry in many countries around...
Uganda organizes prayer week ahead of 2011 elections

Uganda organizes prayer week ahead of 2011 elections

Uganda Electoral commission has today declared that there will be week of national prayers for the 2011 presidential and general elections. The Electoral Commission has...
Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla inexorably Moroccan?

Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla inexorably Moroccan?

The aging population of Ceuta and Melilla and the exceptional fertility rates of its inhabitants of Moroccan descent are reversing the demographic trends in...
Rage over Saudi ban on Mecca pilgrimage for Moroccan women

Rage over Saudi ban on Mecca pilgrimage for Moroccan women

Rage, incomprehension, accusations... Moroccan and foreign bloggers have multiplied attacks against Saudi Arabia after their decision, in early August, to ban young Moroccan women...
September 11, Terry Jones and the Koran

September 11, Terry Jones and the Koran

After having repeatedly changed his mind, the American pastor Terry Jones has finally laid his plans, to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday...
Morocco’s Al Adl wal Ihsan: The King’s Islamist canker

Morocco’s Al Adl wal Ihsan: The King’s Islamist canker

The families of seven members of the Islamist movement Al Adl wal Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality) announced on September 1 that they had filed...
Nigeria: Extreme Islamists preparing to strike again?

Nigeria: Extreme Islamists preparing to strike again?

Extreme Islamist group Boko Haram has re-emerged in northern Nigeria, where members have attacked a police station in the state of Bauchi, in an...
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Planned Quran-burning could endanger troops

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration...
Ramadan: Advice on getting through it in good shape

Ramadan: Advice on getting through it in good shape

Keeping a rein on your appetite yet staying in good form … this is the difficult balance that millions of Muslims need to strike...
Egypt President Hosni Mubarak warns of Iran

Egypt President Hosni Mubarak warns of Iran

Egypt president Hosni Mubarak has expressed concern at Iran’s rising nuclear mission, insinuating that the country’s nuclear capacity threatens to cause unrest in the...
Ramadan and crime: What Algerian authorities tried to hide

Ramadan and crime: What Algerian authorities tried to hide

The holy month of Islamic fasting, Ramadan as an important element in the control of vice is being scrutinized after a study, published in...
Al Qaeda in Yemen

Al Qaeda in Yemen

On Wednesday the Washington Post reported that CIA sources now believe that Yemen-based group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), now represents a...
Somalia: Al-Shabab in ‘the end of the aggressors” war

Somalia: Al-Shabab in ‘the end of the aggressors” war

Al-Shabab have begun their 'new massive war' against the UN-backed Somali government, killing 32 people; including parliamentarians in a hotel assault close to the...
Ghana: Reverend Minister raises the Politico-religious bar

Ghana: Reverend Minister raises the Politico-religious bar

Until two Sundays ago, Ghanaians lived with the delusion that politics can be separated from the other institutions of society, such as religion and...
Nigeria: Arms cargo to epicenter of religious tension seized

Nigeria: Arms cargo to epicenter of religious tension seized

Nigerian security officials may have salvaged a bloody religious war following the arrest of a cargo of arms and ammunition being smuggled into the...