Religion Archives – Page 2 of 20

Hindu Weddings Add Pro-Girl Anti-Feticide Vow

By Sakuntala Narasimhan ● Arts & Culture ● October 10, 2014

This cultural innovation is part of why 2014 will go down in Indian history as a year when society began cherishing girls and women and overcoming denigrating traditions. Reason to celebrate the U.N.’s International Day of the Girl Child on Oct. 11.

Latest in Religion

French Teen, 14, Deserts Family, Joins Islamic State

By Hajer Naili ● Arts & Culture ● September 15, 2014

Since 2012, up to 150 French women have joined the ranks of the Islamic State or Al Nusra Front. Here the family of a 14-year-old describes how her departure has left them stunned and wondering why the government isn’t doing more.

Fertility Push Viewed as Unsexy by Young Iranians

By Hajer Naili ● Health & Science ● August 5, 2014

Skeptics wrinkle their brows at the Ayatollah’s push for larger families and the government’s efforts to restrict family planning and provide incentives for childbirth. Iran’s youth want to be free, says a scholar of the Iranian women’s movement.

Queer Muslims Observe a Separate, Unequal Ramadan

By Hajer Naili ● Arts & Culture ● July 24, 2014

The LGBTQ Muslim community is gaining notice in the arts, but mainstream acceptance in their communities lags behind, particularly at mosques. “I don’t go because of that feeling that I cannot be my full self,” says one queer Muslim.

Unmarried Reshape Electorate; Hobby Lobby Case Ripples

By WeNews Staff ● Arts & Culture ● July 5, 2014

Unmarried women are becoming a powerful new voting bloc in the United States. Also this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered lower courts to rehear any cases in which companies had sought to deny coverage for any type of contraception after the Hobby Lobby case ruling.

Euro Court’s Ban on French Veil Is Biased

By Hajer Naili ● Arts & Culture ● July 4, 2014

France expresses no concern over cyclists who race naked or sunbathe naked on certain beaches, yet is concerned by women who wish not to show their skin and face? I call that a blatant double standard.

Court Sets 2 New Rules of Engagement on Abortion

By Wendy Murphy ● Crime & Law ● July 1, 2014

First buffer zones, then Hobby Lobby. After these back-to-back negative Court rulings, the pro-choice side needs to fight speech with speech and find a corporation to fight corporations.

Ex-Hijabis Reflect on Decision to Remove Veil

By Hajer Naili ● Uncategorized ● June 21, 2014

“I used to think that wearing a scarf on my head was my highway ticket to paradise,” says one woman. But then she found it weighing her down with role-model pressures. For Ramadan, she and two others reflect on a personal nexus of culture and religion.

Mosques Relegate Women’s Prayers to the Basement

By Hajer Naili ● Uncategorized ● April 3, 2014

A social media project launched last year asks Muslims to compare the space their mosques offer women and men. Its founder says that every mosque she’s visited in the United States, Canada and Europe has a side or back entrance for women.

In Iran, Keep Your Eye on Jump in Female Literacy

By Nina Ansary ● Uncategorized ● March 29, 2014

The Islamization of society in Iran may have been designed to resurrect the image of the time-honored Muslim woman. But the single-sex schooling it brought about shows signs of enormous success and may have had an opposite and hugely empowering effect.