On Sunday, the Swiss voters have almost backed a ban on wearing full-face coverings in public places. The decision has been hailed by the supporters as a defensive wall against radical Islam. But the decision has been branded as one of the discriminatory ones by the opponents.
Geneva: Switzerland votes Sunday on whether to ban full facial coverings in public places, despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets.
Polls indicate a slim majority support the move, in a vote that comes after years of debate following similar bans in other European countries -- and in some Muslim-majority states.
"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...." ~ Ephesians 4:1ESV
PAKISTAN: Two Christians Charged with Blasphemy
Sources: International Christian Concern, Pakistan Christian Post, Agenzia Fides
Accused Haroon Ayub Masih (back) and attorney Aneeqa Maria (right). Photo: The Voice Society via Morning Star News
Two Christian men were reading the Bible aloud at a public park in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 13th when they were confronted by opposing Muslims. According to reports, Haroon Ayub Masih and his friend Salamat Mansha Masih were approached by Haroon Ahmad and his friends, who told the evangelical believers to stop what they were doing. Haroon Ayub and Salamat then offered them a Christian book titled, Water of Life.
An Egyptian prosecutor ordered on Monday for Coptic rights activist Ramy Kamel to be held under provisional detention on charges of joining a terrorist organisation and spreading false news, his lawyer said.
Kamel is a prominent Coptic Christian activist and founder of the Maspero Youth Union, a human rights organisation founded in the wake of the 2011 revolution against longtime President Hosni Mubarak.
He has been outspoken in his criticism of the Egyptian state’s failure to stem sectarian violence against Christians in southern Egypt.
When family, friends and members of Minya's Coptic community gathered in church on Friday, tensions and grievances had been building for two days.
Grief was overwhelming, but anger too. Two days earlier, on 24 February, 31-year-old Copt Adel Lofti was stabbed to death by a police officer. His relatives and the wider community expect impunity to prevail after yet another example of police brutality.