Author archives: Faith Matters

Pittsburgh synagogue victims include 97-year-old, pair of brothers
October 28, 2018 By Faith Matters

Pittsburgh synagogue victims include 97-year-old, pair of brothers

A 97-year-old woman, two brothers in their 50s and a married couple in their 80s were among the 11 worshipers shot dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath prayers in the deadliest attack ever on America’s Jewish community, officials said on Sunday. The names of the dead were released a day after a gunman, armed […]

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Celebrity Jewish-Arab wedding stirs mixed feelings in Israel
October 26, 2018 By Faith Matters

Celebrity Jewish-Arab wedding stirs mixed feelings in Israel

A surprise celebrity wedding bridging Israel’s Jewish-Muslim divide drew mixed public reaction on Thursday in a country where such inter-marriage is extremely rare. Wednesday’s nuptials of Tsahi Halevi, an Arabic-fluent Jewish actor, and Lucy Aharish, a Muslim anchor on a top Hebrew news show, followed a four-year romance that, friends said, they had kept secret […]

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In Indonesia, transgender women find haven in Islamic boarding school
October 26, 2018 By Faith Matters

In Indonesia, transgender women find haven in Islamic boarding school

Shinta Ratri, the matron of an Indonesian Islamic boarding school, corrects the pronunciation of a group of fellow Muslims as they chant the phrase “only one God” in Arabic and prepare to pray together. Nothing unusual in that, except that these worshippers, gathered in a cramped residential neighbourhood of the city of Yogyakarta, are all […]

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Oxford Islamic scholar Ramadan admits to ‘sex games’, denies rape
October 26, 2018 By Faith Matters

Oxford Islamic scholar Ramadan admits to ‘sex games’, denies rape

Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies, said on Monday he had engaged in “sex games” with two women in France who accuse him of rape, but said the “submissive-dominant” relationships were consensual. It is the first time in the near one-year long case that the Oxford University professor, who has taken a […]

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Imminent Release of Anjem Choudary is a Mistake Which Will Have Community Impacts
October 14, 2018 By Faith Matters

Imminent Release of Anjem Choudary is a Mistake Which Will Have Community Impacts

Convicted criminal Anjem Choudary who was found guilty of telling British citizens to join ISIS, is to be released this week. He will be living in a tax-payer funded safe house in North London and we have learnt that he will be living within reach of his wife and family, so that his human rights […]

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Challenge to Extremist Groups is Still Missing in the UK
October 12, 2018 By Faith Matters

Challenge to Extremist Groups is Still Missing in the UK

We have been systematically and methodically documenting the rise of extremist groups affecting the United Kingdom and there have been more complex and increasing risks from countries in Europe where far right extremism is on the rise. However, Islamist extremism in the form of groups such as Tehreek-e-Labaik, who are based in Pakistan, is becoming […]

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German far-right party draws backing from small group of Jews
October 9, 2018 By Faith Matters

German far-right party draws backing from small group of Jews

Leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have been rebuked for belittling the significance of the Nazis and criticizing a Holocaust memorial, but this has not stopped a small group of Jews from throwing their support behind the party. On Sunday they formed Jews in the AfD, a political group based in the western […]

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Pope asks to pray to “repel the attacks of the devil who wants to divide the Church”
October 7, 2018 By Faith Matters

Pope asks to pray to “repel the attacks of the devil who wants to divide the Church”

Pope Francis on Sunday (October 7) asked faithful to pray to St. Michael the Archangel, “to repel the attacks of the devil who wants to divide the Church” during his weekly Angelus at the Vatican. The leader of the 1.2 billion Catholics ordered a “thorough study” of all documents in Holy See offices concerning disgraced former […]

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Congolese doctor, Yazidi activist, champions in fight against rape in war, win Nobel Peace Prize
October 7, 2018 By Faith Matters

Congolese doctor, Yazidi activist, champions in fight against rape in war, win Nobel Peace Prize

Denis Mukwege, a doctor who helps victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State, won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. They were honoured for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon […]

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Israel: Ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate Simchat Torah holiday in Jerusalem
October 2, 2018 By Faith Matters

Israel: Ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate Simchat Torah holiday in Jerusalem

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men on Monday danced with scrolls of the Torah, celebrating the religious holiday of Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah) in one of Jerusalem’s oldest neighbourhoods. During the year, every Saturday in synagogue, devout Jews read a portion of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Simchat Torah marks the […]

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