Friday, October 4, 2024

This Week in Religion - How the Taliban use violence to repress women

Lead story

A man with a gun stand next to a long line of women who are covered from head to toe in a hijab.

Editor's note:

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have issued over 100 increasingly restrictive decrees that violate women’s rights. The most recent is the ‘vice and virtue law,’ which prohibits women from even speaking, singing or praying aloud in public.

According to Tufts University Fletcher School scholars Dyan Mazurana and Sima Samar, the law imposes the “most repressive and discriminatory measures” so far, which attempt to literally erase women from public view. Afghanistan’s morality police violently enforce the edicts, and protestors can be tortured, killed and even raped.

Mazurana and Samar write that there is perhaps no other country that violates women’s right to the extent the Taliban do, while reminding the international community that it’s not a problem of Afghan women alone − protecting human rights and human dignity falls to each one of us.

A banner with a headshot of Kalpana Jain and the text "Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion & Ethics Editor, The Conversation U.S., Director, Global Religion Journalism Initiative"
 

Religion News

After Hurricane Helene, faith groups ramp up disaster relief

Before the storm hit the US, the Salvation Army and Southern Baptists were already on their way to lend a hand. Faith-based groups make up more than half of the disaster relief organizations in the United States. By Bob Smietana/ Religion News Service

Mormon faith pushes ahead with global temple building boom despite cool reception in Las Vegas

A historic building boom of big, bright Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temples — beacons to the faithful with steeples pointing heavenward around the world — is meeting resistance in some parts of the U.S., including Las Vegas. By Ken Ritter and Hannah Schoenbaum/The Associated Press

Donald Trump recently reissued his loyalty test to religious Americans, saying Jews and Catholics can who don’t vote for him “need their head examined.” If he's defeated, Trump added, Jewish people would bear blame for that result. By David Crary and Holly Meyer/The Associated Press 

Volunteers stand at a table during a voter registration event. There are also people filling out forms laid out on the table.

Conservative Christians were skeptical of mail-in ballots. Now they are gathering them in churches 

Conservative Christian leaders in California and elsewhere are urging congregations to get involved in ballot gathering or ballot harvesting — the practice of collecting ballots and dropping them off at county offices. Conservatives have been critical of the practice in past elections, but are now embracing the practice, which they believe could make a dent in states that are more competitive. By Deepa Bharath/The Associated Press

Despite Vatican's evasions on ordination, women demand answers at upcoming synod

Pope Francis' Synod on synodality allowed for unprecedented discussions on the future of women in the church. Now coupled with the decline in the number of priests, the demand for women deacons seems to have gathered an irresistible momentum. By Claire Giangravé/ Religion News Service

 

Commentary and Analysis

Conversations on religious freedom are key to democracy, but they are missing from the discourse this election year, writes a scholar who studies the role of religion in politics. By Corey D. B. Walker for The Conversation

On both sides of the aisle, when it comes to evangelicals, there is a distinct approach to voting that needs reexamination. By Kaitlyn Schiess/ Religion News Service

New developments, including the increasing diversity of faith communities and the advent of worship through streamed services, have rendered the IRS definition of a church outdated. By Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer for The Conversation

The Requerimiento, a 16th-century document, sheds light on the deeper ideas and laws that the Spanish used to take over the New World. By Diego Luis for The Conversation

 
A line of motorcyclists.

Motorcyclists arrive at the parking lots around the Roman Catholic holy shrine of Fatima to attend the IX Pilgrimage of the Blessing of Helmets, which draws tens of thousands of pilgrims, in Fatima, Portugal, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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