International Religious Freedom News

Glasses Off:

1. United Methodist Church Now a Legal Entity in Albania (Sep. 4)
2. Fourth Eritrean Tortured and Killed for Religious Beliefs (Sep. 7)
3. India: Anti-Conversion Bill Fails in Chhattisgarh State (Sep. 7)
4. Chechnya: Female Civil Servants Forced to Wear Islamic Headscarf (Sep. 10)

Grozny, Chechnya
Reuters reports that Ramzan Kadyrov, the current president of Chechnya, has issued a new edict requiring all female civil servants to wear an Islamic headscarf, saying that women were the root of all crime in the region, as their current clothing choices “invited” men to have sex with them. The new law is in violation of Russian laws which aim to keep the state separate from religion, and has raised fears that Kadyrov will try to turn Chechnya into a “private fiefdom”.

5. Kazakhstan: Presbyterian Church Investigated for “Treason” (Sep. 11)
6. India: Judge Rules that Bhagavad Gita Should Be National Religious Doctrine (Sep. 12)

Uttar Pradesh, India
AsiaNews reports that S.N. Srivastava, a judge for Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court, recently ruled that the Hindu poem Bhagavad Gita should stand as a national religious doctrine, and that the state must recognize it as such. This would include teaching the poem to members of non-Hindu faiths, which has sparked protests from members of minority religions in the area. Though the poem is a “part of Indian culture, it cannot be seen as a religious text for all faiths,” according to the chairman of the Global Council of Indian Catholics. Judge Srivastava has previously intervened in religious matters, declaring earlier this year that Muslims in the region were not to be considered a religious minority, and as such were ineligible for education subsidies.

Feature:
Ex-Muslims in Europe hope to offer adequate support for others who choose to renounce their religion, from the Associated Press

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