WATERTOWN, Mass. (RNS) Two relatives of Tamerlan Tsarnaev say he was influenced by an Armenian convert to Islam named Misha. Armenian Americans say it is very unlikely an Armenian would become a Muslim.
(RNS) Atheist and secular groups were divided on whether to continue with a series of protests aimed at Bangladeshi institutions after a building collapse in the capital city killed at least 244 people.
(RNS) A international consortium of nonbelievers is planning rallies Thursday (April 25) outside Bangladeshi embassies and consulates to demand the release of several Bangladeshi bloggers who were arrested on charges of blasphemy.
“How do we understand ourselves as young Muslims in America?” asks Rami Kawas. He’s camp counselor-meets-spiritual advisor for the nearly 500 young people who pray, play and hang out at the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (RNS) Leaders at a Cambridge mosque say Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev “disagreed with the moderate American-Islamic theology” of the mosque, but they never had “any hint” the brothers might be violent.
WASHINGTON (RNS) As the manhunt intensified in and around Boston, Muslim leaders hastily convened a press conference Friday to denounce the attacks and, in an attempt at damage control that has become almost routine, to urge the media not to link Islam with violent extremism.
TOLEDO, Ohio (RNS) An Indiana truck driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.4 million for setting fire to a Toledo-area mosque, a crime that the judge likened to Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings as “assaults on the American spirit.”
(RNS) No sooner had the reality of the Boston marathon bombing sunk in than Muslim activists began sending out news releases and tweets condemning whoever was responsible. It’s a familiar sprint for these groups as some were blaming Muslims for the bombings.
(RNS) A new poll shows that the Islamic political party known as the Muslim Brotherhood has soured American attitudes towards Egypt, arguably America’s most important Arab ally, since its candidate Mohamed Morsi won presidential elections there in June 2012.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (RNS) A resolution aiming to give North Carolina the freedom to defy the Constitution and establish its own religion won’t get a vote in the N.C. General Assembly, but religious minorities say it’s a dangerous sign for a majority-Christian state with a growing minority population.
