The recent ban on wearing a full-face veil in public in Denmark is another step within the European Union that infringes on the rights of citizens to express their identity and faith as they see fit. It is an unnecessary restriction of Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This BBC…
The All Faiths Network finds the recent European Court of Justice decision allowing companies to prohibit workers from the “visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious signs” as potentially providing an excuse for employers to discriminate, ironically, under the pretence of non-discrimination. It simply does not give enough importance to the right to manifest…
Large gaps in education levels persist, but all faiths are making gains – particularly among women, according to a new research released this week by the Pew Research Center. “Jews are more highly educated than any other major religious group around the world, while Muslims and Hindus tend to have the fewest years of formal…
Reports in the Guardian and elsewhere have highlighted concerns over holocaust denial websites that have succeeded in manipulating search results to gain prominence. Typing the partial phrase ‘did the holo’ into Google brings up several suggestions which lead to holocaust denial websites. Previous auto-completes which included the suggestion ‘are jews evil’ for the partial phrase…
Human Rights Without Frontiers has issued it’s 2015 report on minorities under oppression. The report covers 15 religious or belief minorities, including general information on the minority, their teachings, controversies and analysis of the roots of the political repression. Information about the imprisonment of minority members country by country is detailed. The minorities include: Ahmadis, Atheists, Baha’is, Buddhists, Catholics, Coptic Orthodox, Erfan-e…
Should there be limits to freedom of speech? Does freedom of speech include the freedom to express hatred? Should lines be drawn only at the point where speech actively incites violence? Do laws intended to prevent the spread of hatred by limiting freedom speech do more harm than good? Your views are important and we would…
Research published by the Pew Research Centre suggests women are more likely to attend religious services in Christian countries, but men are more likely to be present in Muslim and Jewish countries and communities. “In the United States … women are more likely than men to say religion is “very important” in their lives (60% vs. 47%)”, says…
The US State Department has released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2014. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein explained the purpose of the report and significant trends it reveals: “In far too many countries people face daunting, alarming, growing challenges on account of their beliefs. In countries where once proud traditions of multi-faith cooperation, positive…
According to a study published in the journal “Demographic Research”, social scientists’ prediction that religion will become a part of history is proving to be incorrect. The study shows that people who are not religious (including atheists and agnostics, as well as those who say their religion is “nothing in particular”) made up 16.4{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115} of…
A new survey from WIN/Gallup finds that 63{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115} of people say they are religious, with Australia and Europe amongst the lowest figures. China is the least religious country with twice the amount of convinced atheists than any other nation (61{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115}) followed by Hong Kong (34{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115}), Japan (31{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115}), Czech Republic (30{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115}), and Spain (20{286427c60984e496d8f2e542e7d21c54ddb5734529e6fb3e21d1c17283afa115}). Thailand is the most religious…
