Stories about Religion from March, 2007
India: On the shariah
Indian Muslims on the shariah, law, state and culture. “I firmly believe that in this present day world shariah laws cannot be enforced on people because Muslim society in general has diverted away from religion. Concepts which invite death punishment in Islam are now acceptable in many cultures, like live...
Bangladesh: On Hizbut Tahrir
Rezwan on the Hizbut Tahrir. “Hizbut Tahrir, a global student organization which is very active among UK (including Bangladeshi community there) established their base in Bangladesh a few years ago. They could so far infiltrate in many high profile public and private Universities of the country and could motivate many...
Jamaica: African/Brazilian Connection
Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot covers Joel Gondim's presentation “Color, Identity, and Candomblé in Brazil,” in which he explores how the African connection to Brazil manifests itself in food, music, and religion.
Bahrain: West Respects Muslims More
“I find it really amusing that the laws and teachings of the Islam are respected and abided by as basic human rights more in the West than they are within the Islamic world itself,” writes Bahraini blogger emoodz.
Russia: Lenin, A Collector's Item
“Thus, what is so fascinating about the cult of Lenin is the efforts of an atheist regime to create a kind of religion for political control,” writes Darkness at Noon in a lengthy post about his own very impressive collection of the Soviet busts of Lenin and a recent ordeal...
Zimbabwe: taking gospel too far!
Is putting your hands up in the air illegal in Zimbabwe?: The Media and Information Commission (MIC) whose business it is to accredit newspapers and journalists think some gospel music producers have taken the gospel too far. According to The Standard newspaper, Geoffrey Chaparadza who was involved in the production...
India: Women Sufis
Indian Muslims on women sufis in and from Delhi. “Among the other early women mystics are Umm Haram whose tomb is in Cyprus, Rabia bint Ismail of Syria, Muadha al Adaiyya of Syria, Nafisa of Mecca, Zainab and Ishi Nili of Persia. These women made major contributions to the vitality...
Arabisc: In Keeping with Fashion, Algerian Blogger Sued
An Algerian official has today filed a case against blogger Abdulsalam Baroudi, accusing him of libel for an article he posted on his blog. This will be the first time a blogger is sued for his online writings in this North African country. Baroudi is unruffled and says he has...
Africa: Bloggers Differ on Reparations and Apology for Slavery
The Slave Trade Act was passed in England 200 years ago. The act ended slave trade in the British empire. A number of events such as art exhibits, lectures, church services, and parades have been taking place all over the world to mark this day. In England, Prime Minister Tony...
The Israeli Blogs-Looking for an Advocate
Hello Everyone! Today I am guest authoring for the Israeli blogs…a section of the Middle East that doesn't get covered very much here at Global Voices. It isn't because we aren't interested…we are, and it isn't because the Israeli blogs aren't fun and fascinating…because they are (and I will show...
Egypt: Free Kareem Rallies and What Kareem Wrote
A call has gone out for a second round of worldwide rallies to pressure the Egyptian government to free detained blogger Abdulkareem Nabeel Sulaiman, a 22-year-old former Al Azhar University student, who has been sentenced to four years in prison for articles he wrote on the Internet. On February 22,...
The Oldest Blogger in the Balkans
In the evening, Radmilo Ristic, a 74-year-old retired high school professor, likes to attend theater plays, gallery openings, literary nights, round-table discussions and other similar events that take place around Kragujevac, the city in Central Serbia. When Ristic comes back home, instead of the traditional paper and pen, his computer...
Iran:American spiritual leaders in Iran
There is an interesting link in Khorshidkhanoum blog about a program on PBS site. We watch producer Jamila Paksima revisits her birth country of Iran with American spiritual leaders hoping to promote dialogue on such explosive issues as nuclear proliferation, the Iraq war, and the holocaust.You can watch it here.
Iraq: Under Islamic Law?
Iraqi blogger Omar, who writes in award winning blog Iraq The Model, writes about the future of an Islamic state in Iraq. “In fact the correlation between the two main extremist groups is some sort of catch 22, though it really isn't. it might be believed that the attacks of...
Egypt: Speaker Woes
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia gives us her two cents on what she thinks of the list of speakers who attended a conference on Secular Islam in Florida, US. “I don't know how the organizers of the Summit of were thinking, it seems that they chose all the outcasted and hated personalities...
Eastern Europe: Edward Lucas Roundup
The Economist's Edward Lucas posts his pieces on East European churches; Solzhenitsyn; Chechnya; Poland's relations with other EU members; color revolutions and foreign funding.
Panama: Semana Santa Recipes
Melissa de Leon reminds readers that “in Panama and the rest of Latin America, Holy Week and Lent are among the most important dates on the calendar.” Here's a great introduction to the importance of Holy Week in Latin America along with some tasty recommendations for what to cook.
Uzbekistan: Mosque and State
Registan.net discusses how the government of Uzbekistan is using the state-sanctioned Islamic religious establishment to back its policies and ideology.
India: New Year Celebrations
New Year in March you ask? Well, yes in certain parts of India it the start of a new year since they follow a different calendar and not the Gregorian calendar that the western countries follow. Ugadi, Gudi Padwa are some of the names for the New Year celebrations in...
Sudan: ICC on War Crimes in Darfur, USS Cole, Funky Hairstyle & More
There has been quite a lot of action in the Sudanese blogosphere during the past 3 weeks. We'll start with the International Criminal Court‘s announcement which named 2 suspects accused of committing war crimes in Darfur. The Sudanese Thinker was surprised when he saw the picture of one of the...
Mauritius: the abortion debate
Christina Meetoo's take on the abortion debate in Mauritius. “On the whole, their discourse is basically geared towards instilling a feeling of guilt in people, specially women. And today, Mgr Piat in L’Express declares that the State should not be neutral on that issue, claiming that the government should protect...