Recent remarks by senior Russian clergy reinforce a sense that Kirill, the new patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, intends to intensify his church's politically fraught mission at home and in Russia's "near abroad" -- with the apparent full blessing of the Kremlin.
Islamists and Pakistani officials have reached an agreement to impose Shari'a law in the Swat Valley and the surrounding Malakand region, in a bid to ease an uprising by militants. But observers have expressed skepticism about whether the agreement can restore peace in the volatile region.
For Iranian Shi'a, the Islamic Revolution seemed like a dream come true, pushing their faith to the forefront. Yet it subverted centuries-old traditions in which senior clerics remained largely independent of the state.
The Russian Orthodox Church has overwhelmingly elected Metropolitan Kirill as its new leader, succeeding the late Aleksy II. He is seen as a modernizer more likely than his rivals to seek a measure of independence from the state and better relations with the Vatican.
Hundreds of electors representing the Russian Orthodox Church's 165 million adherents are in Moscow to pick that resurgent institution's new leader. There was plenty of jockeying ahead of the gathering, and no one is ruling out the emergence of a surprise choice.
U.S. President Barack Obama has taken a first step toward closing the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but its likely closure opens the question of where to send detainees. For one Uzbek citizen, who has spent nearly seven years at Guantanamo, returning home is not an option.
The Year of Astronomy, kicked off by the United Nations in Paris on January 15-16, is dedicated to the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first discoveries in 1609, which led to his imprisonment by the Vatican for heresy. It provides a good occasion to note the historic links between religion and science, faith and reason.
Shi'ite Muslims turned out to mark one of their holiest days, Ashura, amid signs that the political divide has narrowed between Islam's main branches. Events in Gaza and Shi'a-led Iran could be at the heart of the change.
From Iraq to India, thousands of Christians around the world are struggling to celebrate Christ’s birth while under extreme pressure, including civil war, political repression, exile, and sectarian strife.
The case of a 26-year-old Austrian woman dramatically illustrates Islam's challenge to the principles enshrined in the world's most translated document, including the freedom of thought, conscience, and worship -- and the right to change one's religion.
Two candidates are tipped to succeed Aleksy II, suggesting a choice between a supporter of the Kremlin coalition and a man who might seek to "command the state."
An outspoken figure who backed issues that matched the Kremlin's foreign policy -- from opposition to NATO's bombing of Serbia to the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- Aleksy II had been forging closer ties to the Roman Catholic Church.
The swift action by the Kazakh lower house seemed to surprise the OSCE, which Astana is due to chair despite criticism of its record on human rights and democracy.
Indian Muslim leaders recently endorsed a religious decree by the Deobandi movement, the Taliban’s spiritual fathers, denouncing terrorism as un-Islamic. Now, the Deobandi political leader has told RFE/RL that he will convene Muslim clerics across South Asia to endorse the fatwa. Is this a turning point for the Taliban?
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is calling on world leaders to pursue interfaith dialogue and tolerance as the only way to overcome terrorism and strife among religions. Abdullah made his comments at an ongoing UN forum that has brought together leaders from some 70 countries. The effort, criticized by some, is part of a surge in Saudi diplomacy that extends from the Middle East to Afghanistan.
Roman Catholic and Muslim clerics begin a historic chapter in their relations today as the first Catholic-Muslim forum opens at the Vatican. RFE/RL correspondent Jeffrey Donovan examines the agenda of the two-day gathering, which Pope Benedict XVI is expected to address. Along with Catholic officials, representatives of Islam's eight schools of thought and jurisprudence will engage in a broad dialogue on issues including religious violence, human rights, and ways of interpreting sacred texts.
The murder in Moscow of two Catholic priests raises unsettling questions amid tensions between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian police suggest the priests were together when killed but their Jesuit order says that's impossible -- they died two days apart.
With their shared brand of severe and militant Islam, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have enjoyed a long alliance in Afghanistan. But tensions, based on differing Islamic traditions and divisions over tactics, suggest that the relationship is changing.
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has provoked accusations of anti-Semitism in the past. But as Minsk commemorates the destruction of its Jewish ghetto during World War II, the president has changed his tune.
For nearly three weeks, Roman Catholic bishops as well as Anglican and Orthodox leaders have gathered at the Vatican to debate new ways of bringing the Bible to life to people around the world. Their efforts seek to strike a balance between "literal" and "interpretive" reading of Christianity’s holy book, and are part of the pope's mission to try to "re-evangelize" a sea of nonbelievers in the Western world.
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