Interfaith:   Home  /  Archive for 2008

November 7, 2008

Catholic-Muslim Forum a success

by David Masters

Landmark interfaith talks held this week at the Vatican have been successful, according to Muslims who attended.
Muslims at the Catholic-Muslim Forum said they were ’satisfied’ with the outcome, noting especially the creation of a permanent interreligious committee to promote peace and resolve conflict.
Christians and Muslims at the event issued a joint call for religious freedom, […]



November 4, 2008

MPs seek to improve Muslim-Jewish relations

by David Masters

A cross-party group of Muslim and Jewish MPs will be touring Britain’s universities to promote better interfaith relations between students.
The group of MPs - dubbed the Coexistance Trust - will meet with Muslim and Jewish societies on campuses around the UK in an effort to improve understanding between the two faiths.
Societies in Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, […]



November 3, 2008

Christian Science Monitor moves exclusively online

by David Masters

After over 100 years of publication as a newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor is to move to an exclusive online format.
This makes it the first national newspaper in the US to give up printing.
A weekly print magazine will compliment the daily news available online.
The newspaper was set up in 1908 by Christian Scientist Mary Baker […]



October 31, 2008

Atheist advert smashes fundraising records

by David Masters

A fundraising campaign to pay for ‘There’s probably no God’ adverts on the side of London buses has smashed its target by 2,500%.
The British Humanist Association wanted to raise £5,500 to pay for the commercials,
but following media coverage donations came in so fast that the total was raised in just ten hours.
Justgiving, the website who […]



October 29, 2008

Sharia family law legally binding in UK

by David Masters

The government’s justice minister has confirmed that decisions made according to Islamic law can be ‘rubber stamped’ as legally binding in the UK’s courts.
Sharia law, a set of rules and principles which Muslims live by, is not legally binding in Britain.
However, justice minister Bridget Prentice has said that divorce rulings passed by a Sharia council […]



October 27, 2008

New Buddhist Academy for Tibet

by David Masters

A Buddhist academy is to be built in Tibet, with construction already underway.
The $11.7 million project will be funded by China’s central government in Beijing.
Covering 17.4 hectares, the academy will include libraries, lecture rooms, and buildings for religious activities.
The first phase of construction is expected to be complete in 2010.
In addition to studying religion, students […]



October 24, 2008

‘British Schindler’ meets the Queen

by David Masters

The Queen today met a man known as ‘Britain’s Schindler’ during her visit to Slovakia.
Ninety-nine year old Sir Nicholas Winton helped to rescue hundreds of Jews from the hands of the Nazis before World War Two broke out in 1939.
As a 29 year old stockbroker in 1938, Winton visited Czechoslovakia for a holiday.
Upon arrival, he […]



October 23, 2008

Soldier fined for anti-Sikh attack

by David Masters

A soldier has been fined £280 in an Edinburgh court for trying to remove the turban from a Sikh’s head in a Scottish nightclub.
Twenty-nine year old Fiji national, Ratu Yavala, had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq when he attacked the Sikh man.
He called the man he attacked a racist name and […]



October 22, 2008

Afghan journalism student faces life in prison

by David Masters

A journalism student in Afghanistan has had his death sentence reduced to 20 years in prison after his case was heard by the Afghan appeal court.
Twenty-four year old Afghan national, Sayed Perwez Kambashkh, was sentenced to death for allegedly downloading an article from the internet that questions the tenets of Islam.
The article, which questions Islam’s […]



October 21, 2008

Sony Playstation game offends Muslims

by David Masters

Sony has stopped a computer game from being released after fears that the game’s content would offend Muslims.
The game, called Little Big Planet, uses background music that recites phrases from the Qur’an.
Millions of copies of Little Big Planet have been recalled from warehouses.
The game will now be reprogrammed so that the song including verses from […]