The head of the German Protestant Church has called for Islam to be taught in all state schools in order to prevent young Muslims from being drawn into radicalisation.
Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, who leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church, said teaching “extensive” Islam classes in German schools would give Muslim students the chance to adopt a critical approach to their own religion.
Read More
The United States said on Monday it was deeply concerned by the arrest of a Vietnamese human rights lawyer and called on Hanoi to release all prisoners of conscience.
Rights activist Nguyen Van Dai, who was badly beaten this month by unknown attackers, was arrested last week for anti-state “propaganda,” the latest incident in what rights groups are calling an alarming crackdown on government critics.
Read More
Thousands of social media users said they have had their faith in humanity restored thanks to an Ontario student who chose to spend 30 minutes soothing a man with special needs and holding his hand while on a bus in Hamilton.
Many have called Godfrey Cuotto’s gesture an act of kindness and tolerance, noting how rare it has become to hear of someone sensitive enough to care about people with disabilities.
Read More
Just months after the University of California was criticized for its “recognizing microaggressions” handout, the University of California Board of Regents will be considering a policy to make the university system “free from acts and expressions of intolerance.”
Eugene Volokh of the Washington Post reports the UC Regents Committee on Education Policy will be meeting to discuss a “statement of principles against intolerance.”
Read More
Ananya Azad is no stranger to assassination attempts. The prominent Bangladeshi blogger’s father, Humayun Azad, wrote a scathing critique of Islamist fundamentalism in 2003 entitled Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad (Blessed Be the Sacred Land, the title of Pakistan’s national anthem). A year after it was published, Humayan was seriously injured in a street attack by assailants wielding machetes.
Read More