TOPIC

Religion

Religion
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Religion. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
A photo of cows that Muhammad Salman Al Farisi shared on Facebook to illustrate his post. His comments about women were immediately condemned as “demeaning” and “outdated”. Photo: Facebook/Salman Al Farisi Muhammad
Malaysia

Malaysian politician under fire for comparing women to cows

The PAS official defended his bizarre cattle analogy as ‘art of the Malay language’, even as his own coalition joined the criticism of it.

Malaysia

‘Deeply regressive’: sanitary pad protest stirs outrage in Malaysia

Israel-Gaza war

Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as 33 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo preaches friendship to nearly 1 million at Holy Year youth festival

32 million young Catholics from around the world are expected to take part in the pilgrimage to Italy’s capital for the jubilee celebration.

Pope Leo XIV greets worshippers at a prayer vigil during the Jubilee of Youth at the Tor Vergata field in Rome on Saturday. Photo: Vatican Media/AP
Syria

Syria’s elections: a path to inclusion or continued conflict?

A deepening humanitarian crisis and minority grievances complicate Syria’s bid for a centralised state, 14 years after its civil war began.

videocam
Middle East

Swedish jihadist jailed for life over Jordan pilot burned alive in Syria

Osama Krayem is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
India

2 dead after monkeys snap wire, trigger India temple stampede

The incident occurred after some people at the temple ‘came in contact’ with the electric wire, causing panic, a health official said.

View of Ausaneshwar Mahadev Temple in India’s Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district. Photo: Google map
India

India expels Muslims to Bangladesh before state polls

Bengali Muslim evictions reveal rising anti-immigrant sentiment, criticised as politically motivated and discriminatory.

DR Congo

34 killed in attack on DR Congo church by Islamic State-backed rebels

Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, said volunteers are preparing to bury the victims in a mass grave.

Middle East

Syria’s Druze grieve amid sectarian violence with Bedouin tribes

Hundreds were killed in Syria’s Sweida province, where government forces were sent to quell clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes.

People hold a Druze flag, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, on Friday. Photo: Reuters
India

6 dead, dozens injured in north India Hindu temple crowd surge

Crowd surges are not uncommon in India, where massive groups often congregate at religious sites, overwhelming local infrastructure and security.

Kanwariyas, devotees of Hindu god Shiva, gather to collect holy water from the river Ganges for the ‘Kanwar Yatra’ pilgrimage during the sacred month of Sawan, at the Har Ki Pauri Ghat in Haridwar on July 16. Photo: AFP
Crime

2 wounded in Greece bomb blast that targeted prison guard’s home

The guard was unharmed after about 3kg (about 6.6 pounds) of explosives went off outside his apartment building’s front door.

The Philippines

Philippines debates jailing adult children for parental neglect

A senator's controversial bill proposes up to six months' imprisonment or hefty fines for those who fail to support elderly parents.

Japan

Revival of terror? Japan fears death cult founder’s son poised to ‘seize power’

A woman widowed by the 1995 Tokyo sarin attack warns the founder’s son is poised to rebuild the notorious cult and its deadly ambitions.

videocam
Followers of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult chant before a portrait of cult leader Shoko Asahara in Tokyo, Japan, in 1999. Photo: Reuters
India

Indian brothers wed same woman in ancient ritual, defying legal ban

Polyandry, where a woman has multiple husbands, is illegal in India but allowed in some regions to preserve ancient traditions.

In a rare public ceremony, Sunita Chauhan married two brothers, Pradeep (left) and Kapil Negi in Himachal Pradesh earlier this month. Photo: Handout
India

Skeletal remains force India to probe Dharmasthala mass burial claims

Hundreds of secret burials linked to Dharmasthala, Karnataka, have come to light as a whistle-blower eyewitness seeks protection.

Pope Leo XIV

Pope visits observatory, calls Buzz Aldrin to mark 1969 US moon landing

The American pontiff spoke with the famed Apollo 11 astronaut, reflecting on human ingenuity and the ‘mystery and greatness of Creation’.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Pakistan

Pakistan arrests 11 after viral video of couple shot dead in ‘honour killing’

The couple were killed on the orders of a tribal council in Balochistan last month for marrying against their families’ wishes, police said.

videocam
Shahid Rind, spokesman for the Balochistan provincial government, speaks to journalists about the killing of a couple in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday. Photo: EPA
Thailand

How Thai monks use sacred saffron rituals to save trees

The monks in Thailand’s Chaiyaphum province wrap saffron robes around endangered trees to ‘ordain’ them and protect them from being cut down.

Thailand

Sex, blackmail and millions: monk scandal erodes trust in Thai Buddhism

The grubby affair has sparked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood and soul-searching across society about the role of religion.

videocam
South Korea

South Korea raids Unification Church as Kim Keon-hee’s corruption probe widens

It is ‘extremely rare’ for South Korean law enforcement to raid the church’s headquarters, the head of a religious research institute says.

videocam
Former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee, seen here with her husband ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol, is facing a widening corruption probe. Photo: EPA-EFE
Malaysia

Police in Kelantan detain over 20 for ‘gay party’, condoms and HIV pills found

More than 100 men were believed to have attended the first such event uncovered in Kelantan, according to local police.

Malaysian police have detained more than 20 men during a raid of the first ever “gay party” in Kelantan. Photo: Shutterstock
Israel

Israel PM Netanyahu’s fate in the balance as another party quits government

A row over mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men has left the prime minister’s ruling coalition with a razor-thin majority.

Middle East

Syria begins withdrawing troops from Sweida after deadly clashes, Israeli strikes

Clashes in Druze heartland have left over 300 people dead and prompted a wave of Israeli strikes on Syria’s capital.

Thailand

Thai police arrest woman accused of extorting Buddhist monks in sex scandal

Police allege she lured monks into sex and extorted money, resulting in the disrobing of nine senior clergy, raising concerns about temple finances and celibacy.

Thai police arrest woman for extorting monks, exposing temple financial misuse. The scandal has prompted calls for stricter oversight of monk conduct. Photo: Shutterstock
Israel

Israeli ultra-Orthodox party leaves government over conscription bill

United Torah Judaism to leave Knesset due to a dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.

Lawmakers attend a session of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem on Monday. Photo: AP
Syria

Attacks on Syrian security forces sent to quell sectarian fighting leave 18 dead

Intense clashes resumed in Sweida on Monday, local news reported. Israel said it struck tanks in a town in the same province on the same day.

Thailand

Thailand defrocks 6 monks as sex and blackmail scandal engulfs Buddhist clergy

Authorities say a prominent temple abbot fled to Laos after a woman threatened to expose their affair if he did not pay her US$240,000.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement