Muslims around the world are expected to grow at twice the rate of other groups over the next 20 years before leveling off, a new Pew report says; in the U.S., they’re expected to meet rough parity with Jews by 2030. The U.K. has new numbers that say fewer than 1/3 of Christians actively practice the faith, compared to more than 2/3 of Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus.
Remember Michael Enright, the drunk college kid who stabbed a NYC cab driver because he was Muslim? He was indicted on hate-crimes charges, and faces trial on March 30. And who could forget Ted Haggard — he says he’s bisexual, but perfectly content only having sex with his wife.
A group of Hawaii lawmakers, still not happy that the state Senate ended its daily prayers (the first in the nation to do so), held their own prayer circle before the start of business (AP photo, top left).
Some 400 rabbis want Rupert Murdoch to crack down on Nazi imagery — specifically, Glenn Beck‘s Nazi imagery — on Fox. Lest we get in the habit of linking to TMZ, a Jewish hockey player has sued the Anaheim Ducks for alleged anti-Semitic bullying.
A 59-year-old American missionary died in Mexico after being shot by gunmen in a truck. A vocal gay rights activist who campaigned against efforts to institute the death penalty for homosexuality in Uganada was killed in his home, the BBC reports.
Religion Dispatches looks at Romania‘s new “witch tax,” which they call “a fascinating study in how the forces of modernity and globalization are shaping an ancient tradition.”
The AP says concerns are growing that southern Sudan‘s likely secession from the Arab/Muslim north could set a worrisome precedent across the Middle East as ethnic and religious tensions split groups into separate camps within the same country. Some Sudanese, meanwhile, see secession as divinely ordained.
Nepal‘s tiny Christian minority is threatening to parade corpses through the streets if they’re not granted adequate burial grounds after they were turned away from burials near Hindu holy ground. Argentina‘s tiny Muslim minority got the OK to wear hijabs in public and in photo IDs.
