Despite the fact that the United States and 44 other nations signed a pledge in 1998 to return Nazi art to rightful heirs, some museums are backtracking on that pledge, according to the New York Times. In some cases, museums argue that the statute of limitations has passed.  In other cases, museums try to beat claimants to the courthouse and try to get themselves declared as the rightful owner. “At stake,” notes the New York Times, “in this emotional debate are... Read more

In 2000, Switzerland voted to ban the construction of new minarets, in April of this year France introduced a law to ban the burqa. Now, in Dearborn, Michigan, officials introduced an ordinance to curb the use of garages as hangouts. Is this another attempt to single out Muslim Americans? With over 100,000 Arab-Americans, Dereborn is the largest Arab-American community in this country and outside the Middle East.  Many Arab-Americans in this community convert their garages into social hangouts where, according... Read more

The animosity between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar is so strong that even the government award of a mobile telephone contract to a firm in Qatar led to a boycott within hours, according to the NY Times. The leader of the Buddhist 969 movement wanted to know why the government awarded the contract to a Muslim firm.  The 969 group has boycotted Muslim shops in the past, lynched more than 200 Muslims, and forced more than 150,000 Muslims from their... Read more

California will celebrate the contributions of Hinduism in October, declaring it Hindu Awareness and Appreciation Month, according to the Indian Express.  It notes that there are over 370,000 Hindus in California and the Hindu American Foundation is planning several events for the month. Swami Vivekananda first introduced America to Hinduism in the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.  Thanks to Michael J. Altman for tweeting the link. Read more

The photo above is part of an interesting infographic about how Muslim women are portrayed in the media. The infographic argues that the media portrays Muslim women as “voiceless, submissive, passive, and oppressed victims instead of the powerful and creative leaders they are.”  The International Museum of Muslim Women (IMOW) storified a tweet chat about Muslim women and the media which you can find here. Read more

Muhammad Assaf of Gaza performs “I want it that Way” by the Backstreet Boys. Historian Juan Cole writes about it in his blog, Informed Consent. He writes that Palestinian cities “went wild with celebrations” after the winner was announced. Here is the story from the Guardian. Read more

Roxana Saberi, an American journalist was arrested in Iran four years ago and accused of espionage. She was sentenced  to eight years in an Iranian prison.  That sentence was eventually reduced to 2 years and then after a hunger strike and a judicial review, she was released after 101 days. In prison, she developed a relationship  with two Bahá’í leaders, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabad,  who were serving 20 year sentences. The Bahá’í religion is not recognized in Iran and... Read more

Christian leaders from all over converged on Birmingham, Alabama to mark the key events of the civil rights movement fifty years go. In the video clip below from PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,  historian Taylor Branch, explains why 1963 was a “tipping point” in the civil rights movement. Read more

PBS News Hour Special correspondent Kira Kay shows how the violence between the Buddhists and Muslims is tearing the fabric of democracy in Myanmar. Here is another story from the NY Times called Extremism Rises Among Myanmar Buddhists. Read more

[<a href=”//storify.com/Ggcoe/twitter-in-education” target=”_blank”>View the story “Twitter in Education” on Storify</a>]  [<a href=”//storify.com/Ggcoe/twitter-in-education” target=”_blank”>View the story “Twitter in Education” on Storify</a>]Jerry Bluemengarten and Sean Junkins, a technologist in the Myrtle Beach, SC schools discuss the value of  Twitter in the slideshow below. (I collected the tweets into a program called Storify and saved it as a slide show.)[View the story “Twitter in Education” on Storify Read more