By Christopher Vondracek | The Washington Times Two congressman — a Maryland Democrat and the Republican Chair of the Freedom Caucus — have introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning “blasphemy” laws, a move cheered by religious ... Full Article

By the Catholic Herald In the decade from 2007 to 2017, religious freedom declined around the world. That is the conclusion of a major new study by the Pew Research Center published last week. Pew found that 52 governments were imposing ... Full Article

By Hannah Beech, Dharisha Bastians and Kai Schultz | The New York Times JAKARTA, Indonesia — The deadly attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday highlighted how easily religious coexistence can be ripped apart in a region where secularism is weakening ... Full Article

By Associated Press HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — Gunmen presumed to be Muslim insurgents stormed a Buddhist temple in southern Thailand, killing two monks and wounding two others, police said Saturday. The Friday night attack in Narathiwat ... Full Article

By Courtney Grogan | Catholic News Agency Islamabad, Pakistan – While the world awaits the fate of Asia Bibi, who remains in hiding in Pakistan following the acquittal of her death sentence for blasphemy, religious freedom advocates are ... Full Article

By Christian Solidarity Worldwide A mother of two was jailed for 18 months on 24 August under Indonesia’s controversial blasphemy laws, following an incident in which she was alleged to have insulted Islam. On 22 July 2016 Meiliana, a ... Full Article

By Niniek Karmini | Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization has criticized the blasphemy conviction and imprisonment of a Buddhist woman who complained that the call to prayer from her neighborhood ... Full Article

By Apriadi Gunawan | Jakarta Post A Chinese-Indonesian woman of the Buddhist faith in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, faces a possible 1.5-year prison sentence after she was charged with blasphemy for saying that the azan (the Islamic call to ... Full Article

By World Watch Monitor A wealth of research shows that a society’s level of religious freedom is linked to its levels of critical social indicators, such as prosperity, stability and peace, the chairman of the US Commission on International ... Full Article

By Christian Today The United Nations is failing to protect religious freedom and guard against the rise in anti-conversion laws, a damning report launched next week claims. Several Indian states, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan have all passed laws ... Full Article

By Christian Today While many countries are increasingly denying religious freedoms, especially bad acts of religious persecution are more likely to draw global protest 20 years after the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, a US federal ... Full Article

By Reuters BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese officials are engaging in a “takeover” of one of the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries with a plan to put Communist Party officials in charge of its administration, Human Rights Watch ... Full Article

By Stoyan Zaimov | Christian Post A major report on religious persecution worldwide has exposed the hostilities that Christians and other religious minorities suffer, revealing that as much as 80 percent of the world’s population lives ... Full Article

By Derek Welch | World Religion News The Chinese government has recently declared a ruling over a Tibetan Buddhism center. The ruling has rendered all authority from the center’s executive committee powerless. The Larung Gar Buddhist Learning ... Full Article

By Molly Lortie | Tibet Post International Dharamshala — Sources in Tibet have reported that Chinese authorities have further imposed restrictions to religious freedoms by denying students, teachers and faculty a holiday during Sakadawa, the ... Full Article

My Mark Woods | Christian Today British parliamentarian Baroness Berridge has urged the importance of freedom of religion as part of building peace and social cohesion. Writing on the Politics Home website to mark Commonwealth Day, Berridge, who ... Full Article

By World Watch Monitor Thanks to its promotion by figures from Hollywood (Richard Gere) and Silicon Valley (Steve Jobs), Buddhism in the West presents a ‘peaceful’ face. Yet Christians in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, as well as other ... Full Article

By: Christian Solidarity Worldwide Chinese Buddhist leader Wu Zeheng (also known as Shi Xingwu) and approximately 18 of his followers remain in detention after police searched residences at Yinshi Yayuan complex in Zhuhai City, Guangdong ... Full Article

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there has been a steady rise in attacks on Christians, Buddhists and Muslim minorities. Many of these were carried out by Islamist militants, it added. The government says religious harmony is ... Full Article