The Catholic theologian and philosopher Heiner Bielefeldt talks in this interview about legitimate criticism of religion on the one hand and racist Islamophobia on the other hand. Bielefeldt claims that as long Islam is in line with the German Basic Law – and theologically figures out how to do so – there should be no…
The director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, expressed concern today at the outcome of the referendum held in Switzerland on Sunday on the ban of the construction of minarets. “A blanket prohibition of minarets is not consistent with OSCE commitments on freedom of religion or belief…
A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in the UK after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after…
The European Court of Human Rights has thrown out the human rights complaints of French parents who deemed it wrong their children were excluded from public schools because of their conspicuous religious signs (i.e. their hijabs and turbans). Instead, the European Court claimed that that it supported the law for it seeks to protect children…
For the first time, the Islamic Sharia Council has granted access to a newspaper to observe the entire sharia legal process in Britain. Over several weeks, the author was allowed to witness the filing of complaints, individual testimony hearings and the monthly meeting of imams, or judges, where rulings are handed down. Sharia has been…
