ELODIE INTROIA WRITES – Religious violence has flared in Myanmar for more than a year. Now a disturbing neo-Nazi-like movement has emerged that aims to contain the rights of minority Muslims. The man critics say is behind the effort: Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu. Wirathu’s 969 Movement has been widely described as…
Tag: Islam
MALAYSIA: Time to Say Good-bye?
MARLENA NIP WRITES – The Malaysian elections are fast approaching and judging from current public opinion polls, it looks like Malaysian citizens are shoving the national party out the door. This could be a historical election if the opposition party is able to take the reigns on Malaysian politics. The…
BANGLADESH: Blasphemy No Longer Allowed
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Rest easy, readers. The Bangladeshi government has been busy clearing the cyberworld of blasphemous content. The Daily Star reports a group of “Muslim Clerics” submitted a list of bloggers they believe are responsible for alleged insults to Islam made online. The list was handed to a…
MALAYSIA: Building a Bridge Between Christianity and Islam
A bridge is being built between the Christian and Islamic worlds to bring more unity between the two. And what better place to start this process than Malaysia, one of the most Islamic, and also peaceful, nations in the world? Pope Benedict XVI has recently appointed American Archbishop Joseph Marino,…
TOM PLATE: The Islamic Challenge for America
Syndicated columnist and LMU professor Tom Plate writes — Within days, President Barack Obama is set to visit Southeast Asia and this is a very good thing. The region is becoming more significant by the month. U.S. policy is said to be in the process of ‘pivoting’ to Asia after…
MALAYSIA: Saudi Arabian Columnist Repatriated
Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced that columnist Mohammad Najeeb A. Kashgari is to be repatriated to his home country, Saudi Arabia. Kashgari, a 23 year old journalist, posted several tweets insulting Islam on the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. At the request of the Saudi Arabian government, the columnist had been…
RIYADH and ROME: Grand Mufti and the Pope Together on Social Media
These days, Islam and the Catholic Church appear to agree on at least one thing: religious assertions on Social Media outlets should be treated with considerable skepticism—and indeed may be the source of serious religious error. For example, in his recent sermon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul…
FROM DUBAI’S GULF NEWS: Getting a Line on the Man In Line for Saudi Arabia
The Persian Gulf is abuzz over what giant Saudi Arabia will be like under the rule of the new heir Crown Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, according to the Gulf News, a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai. The future of Saudi Arabia seems as enigmatic as the man who will lead it.