religion

India's New Laws Against 'Love Jihad' Give Hindu Conservatives Power To Halt Weddings

4:55pm September 15, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

In India, Hindu nationalists have passed laws making it harder for interfaith couples to marry. The laws have increased a stigma and emboldened extremists to interrupt weddings.

A New Law In India Is Making It Harder For Interfaith Couples To Get Married

5:53pm September 14, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

In India, new laws forbid brides or grooms from converting to their spouse's religion. The idea is to halt forced conversions. But they've led to attacks on interfaith couples.

Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, at Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts on Sunday. Francis is opening his first foreign trip since undergoing major intestinal surgery in July, embarking on a four-day, two-nation trip to

Pope Francis Makes Veiled Critique Of Anti-Migrant Policies In Hungary Visit

10:05am September 12, 2021

by The Associated Press

Pope Francis urged Hungary on Sunday to "extend its arms towards everyone," in a veiled critique of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's anti-migrant policies.

At the region's biggest hospital, Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene, 97% of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated and all of the intensive care unit beds are filled.

Idaho's Hospitals Are Overwhelmed, But Many Locals Remain Skeptical Of Vaccines

7:58am September 12, 2021

by Nate Hegyi

At least 10 hospitals in the state started rationing care for everyone because they're filled with COVID-19 patients. But there's deep distrust of authority.

Bishop Megan Rohrer speaks to the press before their installation ceremony at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on Saturday.

Religion

Transgender Bishop Steps Into Historic Role In The Evangelical Lutheran Church

9:57pm September 11, 2021

by The Associated Press

The Rev. Megan Rohrer will lead one of the church's 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada.

Ali Malik, 37, with his sons Muhammad Binyamin, 9, and Layth Noah, 5. Malik is part of a class action lawsuit against the FBI alleging religious discrimination and violations of surveillance laws.

For Many American Muslims, The Legacy Of 9/11 Lies In The Battle For Civil Rights

11:47am September 11, 2021

by Leila Fadel

A Southern California community grapples with the legacy of being secretly surveilled by the FBI. Twenty years later, the matter is a legal fight that has reached the Supreme Court.

How Surveillance Programs Developed After 9/11 — And How Those Targeted Pushed Back

5:12pm September 10, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Ahmed Mohamed, legal director at the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, about the surveillance of Muslim communities after 9/11.

Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Portal Welby and Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, shown at a meeting of prayer in the Basilica of St. Francis in 2016, are asking for climate action.

Pope Francis And Other Christian Leaders Are Calling For Bold Climate Action

8:33am September 10, 2021

by Eric McDaniel

The world's most prominent Christian leaders issued a rare joint statement calling for government climate action. What that will look like in the U.S. is unclear.

Afghan girls play cricket on school grounds in Kabul in 2010. At the time, Afghanistan was set to select its first national women's cricket team. But a Taliban official now reportedly says women won't be allowed to play it and other sports.

Afghan Women Will Be Banned From Playing Sports, A Taliban Official Says

6:41pm September 08, 2021

by Bill Chappell

"Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed," a senior Taliban official reportedly said.

The main entrance to the campus of the Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband, India, where the Deobandi strain of Islam was founded in the 19th century. Among its more recent adherents are the Taliban.

The Taliban's Ideology Has Surprising Roots In British-Ruled India

9:07am September 08, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

The Taliban's ideology has distant links to India. Scholars say Afghanistan's new leaders might listen to clerics in the birthplace of Deobandi Islam, though the clerics deny ties with the Taliban.