Author: Martin Vennard

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8446662.stm

Bolot, a young evangelical preacher in Kyrgyzstan, says he has already been arrested twice since setting up a new church.

He says he is the victim of a new law on religion, which critics say severely restricts religious freedoms and is forcing some groups underground.

Under the law, new religious groups have to have at least 200 members before...

Author: Adam Nossiter

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/world/africa/20nigeria.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Armed with guns, machetes, torches, and bows and arrows, Christian and Muslim antagonists in central Nigeria’s religiously volatile city of Jos have been fighting for three days in sporadic clashes that have left dozens dead, witnesses and local news a...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: United Press International

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/01/19/Muslims-Tenn-incident-a-hate-crime/UPI-94181263923435/

Vandalism at the site of a proposed mosque in Tennessee should be investigated as a hate crime, Muslim-American leaders say.

A sign marking the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was spray-painted with the words, "not...

Author: Cindy Carcamo

Source: The Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/news/muslim-229902-muslims-station.html

The first English-only Muslim radio station of its kind in the Western world plans to devote an entire show Wednesday to address what the owner calls an "avalanche of anti-Islam comments" in reaction to an OCRegister.com story about the station's Irvine debut.

"We didn't expect so much negative...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Oklahoman

http://www.newsok.com/anchorages-first-halal-grocery-opens/article/feed/124794

On an icy winter day when the sun barely rose higher than the peaks of the Chugach Mountains, one store in a sleepy strip mall near the airport was abuzz with activity. The hand-lettered cardboard sign outside told the story: Alaska's First Halal Grocery.

Inside, owner Lamin Jobarteh...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8465694.stm

Plans to build Britain's biggest mosque in east London have collapsed.

The Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamaat wanted to create a place of worship close to the Olympic site which could have accommodated 12,000 people.

Newham Council said planning permission for land in Abbey Mills expired in 2006 and a January deadline...

Author: Rachel Zoll

Source: The News-Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/US-Shiites-tentatively-make-a-home-in-America-326354.php

Sayyid Haider Bahar al-Uloom paces before his students seated in two neat rows — men in one, women in the other. They meet each week in a small but growing office in an old storefront downtown, its shelves...

Author: Robert F. Worth

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/middleeast/19syria.html

As darkness falls over the vast Syrian desert and the first winter stars emerge, a trail of modern-day pilgrims is slowly climbing the stone steps of this remote cliff-top monastery.

They are a motley crew of religious seekers and backpackers from a dozen countries, some hoping for divine wisdom, others merely...

Author: Mary Garrigan

Source: Rapid City Journal

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/article_ed9bd4fe-0224-11df-8958-001cc4c002e0.html

It’s always hard for Baktash Aazami to think about the religious persecution that Baha’i believers suffer back in his native Iran, but Tuesday was an especially difficult day for him and other Baha’i in the Black Hills.

“It’s really...

Author: Kevin Wiatrowski

Source: Tampa Bay Online

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/17/na-local-coptic-christians-protest-persecution/

A fatal shooting last week in southern Egypt drew hundreds of Coptic Christians to the streets of Tampa in protest Saturday afternoon.

Members of Coptic churches from Clearwater, Tampa and Sarasota attended the rally. People waved posters...

Author: Edward Cody

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011503775.html

France, which regards itself as the cradle of human rights, is moving to impose legal restrictions on Muslim women who wear Afghan-style burqas or other full-face veils.

The restrictions, likely to apply to many public places, come in response to resentment in France and other...

Author: Carrie Coppernoll

Source: The Oklahoman

http://www.newsok.com/islamic-council-discusses-needs-of-oklahoma-muslims/article/3432562#comments

Muslims gathered Friday night to discover ways to build stronger relationships with the non-Muslim community.

The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations hosted a town hall meeting to address concerns of the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Washington Post

Wire Service: AP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/16/AR2010011600848.html

Vandals threw a rum bottle at a mosque in the first attack on a Muslim house of worship after almost a dozen similar assaults on churches in Malaysia the past week, police said Saturday.

Police have dismissed the attacks as...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AFP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jXIQ9JvnslGT10QTKUHdgEFW562Q

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" at the arrests Saturday of Coptic Christians heading to show support for fellow Copts killed and injured in Egypt earlier this month.

"The United States is deeply concerned by today's arrests of...

Author: Luigi Sandri

Source: Ekklesia

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/11030

Pope Benedict XVI has called for the Roman Catholic Church to be given legal recognition in Muslim-majority but politically secular Turkey, which has faced criticism of its treatment of religious minorities as it seeks to become a member of the European Union.

Receiving Kenan Gürsoy, the new Turkish ambassador to the Vatican, on 7 January 2009, Pope Benedict said that Catholics...