More trouble for Myanmar Muslims. Authorities in the western state of Rakhine in Myanmar imposed a two-child limit on Muslims. The New York Timessays that it is the only such ban in the world on a religious group and is sure to increase tensions between Buddhists an Muslims in Myanmar. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is predominantly Buddhist and does not recognize Rohingya Muslims as one of its 135 recognized ethnic groups. They see them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. According to... Read more

The map above shows the locations of mosque attacks in England since the murder of an off- duty soldier in London last week. Faith Matters, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing extremism and interfaith and intra-faith tensions, said they had received 162 calls since last week about incidents and reported at least 8 mosque attacks. The New York Times reports that other organizations and the British government are calling for calm –“Many of Britain’s political and religious leaders have appealed for... Read more

Students and faculty at Pennsylvania’s Villanova University created these awesome virtual 3D tours. There are six in all (which I found on Open Culture) and include Basilica of St. Peter, Basilica of Paul Outside-the-Walls, Basilica of St. Mary Major, and The Pauline Chapel. I’ve seen 3D tours of the Sistine Chapel but not the others. If you look at the St. Peter Basilica, you can click on different numbers to view specific areas like the nave or the pieta or... Read more

Often viewed as gypsies, the roughly 12 million Roma are probably the most oppressed and excluded minority in Europe. According to the Open Society Foundation, some of the challenges they face include: “illiteracy, infant mortality, unemployment, segregation in education, hunger and malnutrition, squalid housing without plumbing or sanitation,and substandard health care.”  Consequently “they have the shortest life expectancy in Europe.” Open Society is trying to change that through litigation, education funds, summer camps, involvement with the World Bank, health care... Read more

Muslims, especially in Europe and Asia, are facing  more violence and tougher restrictions on dress, according to this report from OnIslam.   Much of the story here comes from a recent report on religious freedom from the US Department of  State. Secretary John Kerry says  that it “… shines light on the challenges people face as they seek nothing more than basic religious freedom and the right to worship as they wish.” Read more

The Wesak festival is the most sacred Buddhist ceremony held every year in a hidden valley in Tibet. It celebrates the story of how the Buddha gained enlightenment and allows those seeking enlightenment today to think about the meaning of that path. Buddhists celebrate it in different ways in different counties. In Thailand, for example, the BBC says that people make special lanterns and in some ceremonies even release caged birds. In China, one might see dancing dragons during Wesak... Read more

Haroon Moghul’s Ted Talk about the early development of Islam and American history is both excellent and entertaining.  Haroon Moghul is an associate editor at Religion Dispatches and a PHD candidate at Columbia and believes that Americans don’t know enough about Islam and that lack of knowledge may keep them form understanding the spread of democracy in the Middle East. Read more

Washington Post Reporter, Michelle Boorstein, profiles Buddhist meditation guru, Tara Brach, in this Washington Post report, that includes a photo gallery. Brach is one of the most popular meditation teachers in the Washington metropolitan area. Her talks are saved as pod-casts and downloaded almost 200,000 times each month. Some Buddhists critics think that she secularizes meditation too much in an effort to appeal to a broader audience. In any case, Brach seems to demonstrate the popularity of meditation.  Sean Corn is another teacher who... Read more

Does economic freedom indicate a greater tolerance for race? This is the question that two Swedish scientists set out to answer. They did so by using something called a “World Values Survey.” The idea, according to the Washington Post is this: “the more frequently that people in a given country say they don’t want neighbors from other races, the economists reasoned, the less racially tolerant you could call that society.” The scientists did not include all the data from the... Read more

Maz Jobrani is an Iranian-American comic and one of the founding members of the Axis of Evil comedy tour. In this funny 10 minute clip on Ted Talks he pokes fun at stereotypes and challenges prejudice. I am covering Islam in my religions class and beginning to look at Muslim culture today and showed it to the students who found it entertaining. Here’s a story from NPR about the comedy tour and here is a New Times review of the... Read more