TheRepublic.com - Religious strife News

Wis. Sikhs plan rites, run in memory of tragedy

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:50:42 -0400

MILWAUKEE - Members of the Sikh temple where a white supremacist gunned down six worshippers last year plan to mark the anniversary by holding religious observances and a 6-kilometer run to fund scholarships in the victims' names.

Myanmar court convicts 2 Muslims over violence

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:53:07 -0400

YANGON, Myanmar - A court in Myanmar has found two Muslim women guilty of sparking a recent outbreak of sectarian violence, one of them by bumping into a Buddhist novice monk.

Kurds fight for place in Syrian civil war

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:17:09 -0400

BEIRUT - Taking advantage of the chaos of the civil war, Syria's Kurdish minority has carved out a once unthinkable degree of independence in their areas, creating their own police forces, even their own license plates, and exuberantly going public with their language and culture.

Myanmar monks end meeting with call for peace

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:44:53 -0400

HMAWBI, Myanmar - A meeting of more than 200 Myanmar Buddhist monks on how to solve deadly communal conflicts that have pitted majority Buddhists against Muslims declared Friday they seek peace and accused the media of tarnishing their religion's image.

Israel's PM opens historic exhibit at Auschwitz

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:24:35 -0400

OSWIECIM, Poland - Standing in front of a former prisoner block at the infamous Auschwitz death camp, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the world Thursday of not doing enough to stop the Holocaust and said Israel can only rely on itself to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.

Man pleads guilty in anti-Muslim NYC cabbie attack

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:32:12 -0400

NEW YORK - A baby-faced college student will serve 9 1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges he attacked a New York City taxi driver from Bangladesh during an anti-Muslim tirade inside a cab.

Iraqi Shiite fighters' Syria role raises tensions

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:41:58 -0400

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Shiite fighter's family is urging him to stop risking his life by traveling to Syria, saying he's done his part defending the holy shrine of Sayida Zeinab outside Damascus. Abu Mohammed al-Moussawi isn't listening.

Mass honors bomb victim on day he would turn 9

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:08:58 -0400

BOSTON - The youngest victim of the Boston Marathon bombings was honored Sunday at a Roman Catholic Mass on what would have been his ninth birthday.

Korean War vet takes dive to religious statue

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:30:16 -0400

MIAMI - It was a reunion 51 years in the making.

Hezbollah entry in Syria fans Shiite-Sunni fires

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:38:53 -0400

CAIRO - The Egyptian cleric was in a fervor. With Hezbollah's Shiite fighters helping Bashar Assad crush Syrian rebels, he wanted to sound the alarm to Sunnis across the Middle East: "Now is the time for jihad."

AP Interview: Sabra: Syria war becoming sectarian

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:52:53 -0400

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The leader of Syria's main opposition group on Friday warned that the involvement of Hezbollah is transforming the war in Syria into a sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, and says peace negotiations aren't possible as long as Hezbollah and Iran are fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's regime.

Defense suggests victim fatally shot himself

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:44:39 -0400

SACRAMENTO, California - A defense lawyer suggested a man who was fatally shot at a Sacramento Sikh sports festival five years ago may have fired the fatal bullet himself.

Radical monks, prejudice fuel Myanmar violence

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 01:43:29 -0400

LASHIO, Myanmar - When a huge mob of Buddhist thugs crawled on the roof of Ma Sandar Soe's shop, doused it with gasoline and set it ablaze, the Buddhist businesswoman didn't blame them for burning it to the ground despite seeing it happen with her own eyes.

Man pleads not guilty in Calif. attack on Sikh man

Thu, 30 May 2013 16:02:05 -0400

FRESNO, California - A transient has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and elder abuse charges in connection with an attack on an 82-year-old Sikh man outside a Sikh temple in Fresno.

Tale of 2 converts shows Egypt's sectarian divide

Thu, 30 May 2013 15:07:11 -0400

ASSIUT, Egypt - In one case, an Egyptian Christian man stabs his wife after she converts to Islam with the support of hard-line Islamists. Then after surrendering to police, he dies in mysterious circumstances, falling from a court building window.

Reports: UK prisons alerted after hostage taking

Wed, 29 May 2013 07:39:07 -0400

LONDON - British prison officers have been warned to be on the lookout after a hostage drama blamed on extremist Muslim inmates, British newspapers reported Wednesday, a sign of simmering tension a week after an off-duty soldier was killed in a frenzied attack on a London street.

Fighting in Syria, Hezbollah charts risky course

Wed, 29 May 2013 02:47:42 -0400

KAFR KILA, Lebanon - The giant posters of Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon's wars with Israel still dot the picturesque landscape of southern Lebanon, the few remaining reminders of some of the epic battles that once made the Shiite guerrilla group and its leader Hassan Nasrallah heroes in the Arab world.

Suu Kyi opposes 2-child limit for Myanmar minority

Tue, 28 May 2013 15:52:06 -0400

YANGON, Myanmar - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Islamic leaders expressed dismay over decisions by authorities in western Myanmar to restore a two-child limit on a Muslim minority group, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists and follows accusations of "ethnic cleansing."

Community outreach key to Obama counterterror plan

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:03:50 -0400

WASHINGTON - Within hours of the Boston Marathon blasts, government officials and Boston Muslims called each other to offer assistance, calls that were the fruits of years of cultivating such relationships in an effort to ultimately prevent the very type of attack Boston experienced April 15.

US criticized over response to Indonesia attacks

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:33:55 -0400

WASHINGTON - The U.S. expressed concern Thursday over increased attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia, but human rights groups accused Washington of downplaying the problem as it looks to forge stronger relations with Jakarta.

Imprisoned Ohio Amish may skip high school classes

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:55:11 -0400

CLEVELAND - Amish imprisoned in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio have been granted a religious freedom exemption from a requirement to attend high school equivalency classes behind bars.

Myanmar Muslims jailed for killing Buddhist monk

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:46:27 -0400

MEIKHTILA, Myanmar - A Myanmar court sentenced seven Muslims to prison Tuesday - one of them to a life term - in the killing of a Buddhist monk amid deadly sectarian violence that was overwhelmingly directed against minority Muslims but has not led to any criminal trials against members of the country's Buddhist majority.

State Dept: Reports of anti-Semitism increase

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:02:41 -0400

WASHINGTON - The State Department appointed a special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism Monday as a new report documents a global increase in incidents of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.