· August, 2007

Stories about Religion from August, 2007

Tunisia: A new Mohammed cartoon crisis ?

Tunisian blogger A.L.G.Y of Cos-maux-polis is wondering whether a new Mohammed cartoon crisis is brewing. She explains that drawings of a man with the body of a dog wearing a turban were published in a local Swedish newspaper on August, 18th. As protests are underway in Pakistan and Iran, she...

Egypt: Complaining for Change

Something I love about Egyptian blogs is our tendency to complain. Firstly because we're Egyptian and its our nature and secondly because we have so much to complain about. Among our complaints this week: international scandals, intellectual persecution, the Egyptian Legal system (or lack thereof), the question of beauty and as usual, religious persecution rounding out the group, writes D.B. Shobrawy.

Palestine: Gul for Turkey

Fayyad from Palestinian blog Kabobfest writes about Abdulla Gul‘s election as Turkey's president. “Ironically, some secular extremists in Turkey, too (have) issue with the fact the Gul’s wife, Hayrunisa, wears a hijab, which is banned from all Turkish public institutions, and (for) some reason terrifies some, especially when Mrs. Gul...

Azerbaijan: Radical islam

  30 August 2007

Christine Quirk received a reader's comment to one of her earlier posts (GV reported) about the imaginary threat of radical political Islam in Azerbaijan. The commentator is a well-known Azeri Imam, who thanks the blogger for bringing up important issues. In turn, Quirk lists those players who benefit from the...

Oman: One Ramadhan Please!

Omani blogger Sleepless in Muscat hopes all Islamic countries will mark the beginning of Ramadhan on the same day. “Hopefully, this time around we would stick to one date across the whole Arab & Islamic world instead of fooling ourselves and then stating that we ‘never saw the crescent’,” he...

Kyrgyzstan: Threat of Islamisation?

  29 August 2007

Some Kyrgyzstani bloggers are worried about the threat of Islamisation in their country, while others do not share their concerns. This debate was the result of an commission's decision to allow Muslim women to wear hijabs for their passport photographs.

Cambodia: An Honest Monk

  28 August 2007

Ly Sochiet describes a visit to a Pagoda with his friends and meeting a monk who refused to take offering money from him and his friends.

Iran:”Pray that Ahmadinejad Dies”

Hamed Talebi in his blog,Moslem Reporter, writes[Fa] that Ghodratollah Alikhani, a deputy in Iranian Parliament, told people in a village that “Pray God that Ahmadinejad (Iranian president) dies, then your problems will be solved.”

Uruguay: Taxes on Churches

  27 August 2007

From Uruguay writes about the Brazilian Pentecostal churches and its practice of relocating to old theaters in Uruguay. There are additional questions regarding the church's tax exemption status.

Bahrain: Thoughts on Sectarianism

Bahraini blogger emoodz shares with us this thoughts on sectarianism in this post I am translating from Arabic today. From a discussion over lunch, Mohammed Al Maskati discusses sectarianism and its impact on society, ending his treatise with a question with no answer: Will we Arabs ever wake up?

Trinidad & Tobago: A Case for Condoms

  24 August 2007

“The reality is that people are having sex, illicit or otherwise, with frightening proportions in our country being infected with HIV and other STIs.” Ramblings and Reason makes a case for educating youngsters about being sexually responsible.

Egypt: Blogging for Civil and Religious Freedoms

The struggle for personal freedoms is ongoing in Egypt and the nation's bloggers continue to demand the liberty of citizens. Whether it be religious freedom or freedom from the wrath of a brutal police state, Egypt is speaking out against the inhumane treatment of her citizens this week. Plus a veteran blogger gives us a rare look into the inner workings of Egypt's most historic remaining cities.