Polish church defends religious teaching against new government curbs
Poland's Catholic bishops have urged schools to continue offering religious teaching after government attempts to restrict it were blocked by the Constitutional Tribunal following church appeals.
Imprisoned in Egypt, Christian convert on hunger strike
A Christian convert in Egypt who has been imprisoned for more than two years for publicly speaking about his conversion has declared a hunger strike, prompting religious freedom advocates to increase their calls for his release.
The Nicaraguan government has extinguished the legal status of more than 25 Catholic organizations, including religious orders such as the Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians, another diocesan Caritas chapter, and lay Catholic groups, as part of an attack on civil society with the closure of 1,500 nongovernmental organizations.
A deepening polarization in Canadian society and increased vandalism against houses of worship has led to an interfaith call for the federal government to provide more robust protection of religious institutions.
A lawsuit launched last August against the Quebec government by pastor Art Lucier and Harvest Ministries International (HMI) was, according to their lawyer, never about the money.
Poland's bishops have warned of growing conflict with anti-clerical politicians if they press ahead with plans to remove public crosses and curb religious education in the traditionally Catholic country, as church leaders across Europe also cautioned against the "marginalization" of Christianity.
We ignore religious freedom ‘at our own peril’
Different kinds of persecution are top of mind in political and media circles, but what receives little attention is Christian persecution, said John McKay.
Bloc bills are an ‘attack’ on people of faith
The president of a global Christian persecution watchdog is sounding the alarm over multiple bills tabled by Bloc Québécois MPs calling for repeal of religious speech protections outlined in the wilful promotion of hatred and anti-Semitism sections of the Criminal Code.
Nun arrested at Toronto bank protest
Nine religious leaders, including a Catholic nun, were arrested by Toronto Police following a “pray-in” at a downtown RBC branch April 9.
If Christians are oppressed, ACN can be found
Between them, Regina Lynch and Philipp Ozores have served over five decades with the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), and this year alone will help oversee 5,000 projects to aid suffering Christians worldwide.
Pew Research finds increased bureaucratic targeting of faith
Government restrictions involving religion in 198 countries is at its highest point since Pew Research began tracking such numbers in 2007.
U.S. bishops identify liberty concerns
A new annual report by the U.S. bishops’ conference identifies five top threats to religious liberty in the United States, including a federal regulation it says could impose mandates on doctors to perform objectionable procedures and threats to the Church’s service to people who are migrants.
Editorial: No one so blind as the watchdog
The Canadian Human Rights Commission must at least log marks for audacity by attacking Christmas and Easter as “obvious examples” of religious intolerance following the Oct. 7 Hamas hate slaughter in Israel. Even in the wake of the most barbaric outbreak of religious “intolerance” afflicted on Jews since the Holocaust, after all, the CHRC created a media flutter with its recent “Discussion Paper on Religious Intolerance.” To do so, it singled out the two main Christian holidays as prime causes of “present day systemic religious discrimination.”
Editorial: Take a democratic stand now
The federal government’s ideological assault on the integrity and traditions of the Canadian Armed Forces chaplaincy is a matter for democratic resolution either by approval (boo! boo!) or, preferably, overturning.
Chaplain General pauses ban on religious language for Nov. 11
Canada’s military ordinariate is pleased that the Chaplain General has put a temporary pause on the new Public Reflection Policy that would have prohibited overtly religious language by chaplains at Remembrance Day ceremonies.