Government restrictions on religion around the world were highest in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in the period before the Arab Spring uprisings, a new study has found, underscoring a factor that fueled hostilities in the region and led to the rise of political Islam after the revolts. The study, by the Pew…
Findings from the 2012 Chicago Council Survey of American Public Opinion September 10, 2012 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Fewer Americans are concerned about international terrorism as a “critical” threat to the United States than at any point since September 11, 2001, according to the 2012 Chicago Council Survey released today. While a majority is still worried, the intensity of…
News Agencies – September 7, 2012 The Canadian Harper government has closed the Canadian Embassy in Iran and ordered all Iranian diplomats in Canada to leave the country. The move effectively severs ties with the Islamic Republic after years of increasingly tense relations marked by accusations, warnings and sanctions. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in…
News Agencies – 10 July 2012 An Iranian court has granted Frenchman Dany Laurent custody of his two children after a bitter battle that lasted nearly six years. Laurent, from the eastern French city of Besançon, was reunited with his children nearly two weeks ago after they were kidnapped in 2006 and taken to…
The Shiite scholar Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari is regarded as one of the Iran’s most influential Muslim reformist thinkers. In an interview with Jan Kuhlmann, he explains why there is no inconsistency between Islam and democracy. You have stated that Islam is a religion and not a political programme. Many other Islamic scholars, however, say that…
