Discrimination against non-Muslims in Iran - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Iran The Constitution of Iran declares that the "official religion of Iran is Islam and the doctrine followed is that of "Ja’fari (Twelver) Shi’ism." The Iranian government restricts freedom of religion. Iran's religious minorities--including Baha’is, Jews, Christians, and Sufi Muslims--reported imprisonment, harassment, and intimidation based on their religious beliefs. At least four Baha’is were among those still imprisoned for reasons related to their faith, while eight Jews remained in prison. Society is accustomed to the presence of non-Muslim communities, some of which predate Islam. However, government actions create a threatening atmosphere for some religious minorities, especially Baha’is, Jews, and evangelical Christians. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Religious Demography 2 Status of Religious Freedom 3 Restrictions on Religious Freedom 4 Abuses of Religious.
Discrimination against non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy without legal protection for freedom of religion, and such protection does not exist in practice. Islam is the official religion, and the law requires that all citizens be Muslims. The Government prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The Government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however, it does not always respect this right in practice. An overwhelming majority of Saudi Arabian citizens support a fundamentalist Wahhabi Islamic state and oppose public non-Muslim worship. There is societal discrimination against adherents of the Shia Muslim minority. Religious Demography The country’s total land area is 756,981 square miles and its population is approximately 17 million, with an estimated foreign population.
Discrimination - Discrimination To discriminate means to make a distinction. There are several meanings of the word, including statistical discrimination, or the actions of a circuit called a discriminator. This article addresses the most common meaning of the word, social, racial, religious, sexual and ethnic discrimination. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Definition 2 Institutionalized Discrimination and Responses 3 Religious Discrimination 4 The Paradox of Discrimination 5 See Also 6 Footnote Definition Discrimination involves formally or informally classifying people into different groups and according the members of each group distinct, and typically unequal, treatments, rights and obiligations. The criteria delineating the groups, such as gender, race, or class, determine the kind of discrimination. Discrimination generally refers to treating one group of people less well than another on such grounds.
Dhimmi - Dhimmi Muslims refer to Jews and Christians (sometimes Zoroastrians and even Mandeans) as "People of the Book". When these people reside in states that practice Sharia law, they are called dhimmi ("protected person"). As dhimmi, they are subject to various protections and disabilities, which are called dhimma. People of other religions do not have this protected status. In the handful of Muslim countries which officially practice Sharia, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, Dhimmis are legally exempt from performing otherwise mandatory Islamic duties, but must instead pay a special tax. Most Muslim countries are legally secular and do not practice Sharia (this includes the major Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey). However, some of them still discriminate against Jews and Christians in ways related to.
Separation of church and state - France 4.2 United Kingdom 4.3 Germany 4.4 Sweden 4.5 United States of America 4.5.1 Controversies regarding separation in the United States 4.6 Other countries 5 Countries with stable state churches 5.7 Finland 6 Countries in flux 6.8 Russia 7 Religious believers who want separation 8 Believers against separation 9 Non-believers who favor legal separation 10 References 10.9 World views on separation 10.10 American court battles over separation 10.11 American activism over separation Motivations There are a number of reasons given to want a separation of church and state: The rights of the minority have historically been violated by the rights of the majority. Members of a non-majority religion often find themselves persecuted, socially shunned, and harassed. The church might harm the state. For example, religious conviction might cause the state to.
Discrimination against non-Muslims in Pakistan - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Pakistan The Islamic nation of Pakistan gives Muslims special rights that non-Muslims do not have. Non-Muslims are persecuted if they say things which offend Muslim sensibilities. When blasphemy and other religious cases are brought to court, Islamic extremists often pack the courtroom and make public threats about the consequences of an acquittal. As a result, low-level judges and magistrates, seeking to avoid a confrontation with, or violence from extremists, often continue trials indefinitely. As a result, those accused of blasphemy often face lengthy time in jail and are burdened with further legal costs and repeated court appearances. The Pakistani government does not restrict religious publishing per se; however, the it restricts the right to freedom of speech with regard to religion. Speaking.
Discrimination against non-Muslims in Sudan - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Sudan The Muslim nation of Sudan has a constitution which provides for freedom of religion; however, in practice the government of Sudan severely restricts this right. The Government treats Islam as the state religion and has declared that it must inspire the country's laws, institutions, and policies. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 U.S. attempts to promote religious freedom 2 Religious Demography 3 Status of Religious Freedom 4 Abuses of Religious Freedom 5 Physical punishments 6 War 7 Slavery 8 Forced Religious Conversion 9 Societal Attitudes U.S. attempts to promote religious freedom The U.S. Government's efforts to promote religious freedom and human rights in the country were limited by the nonresident status of U.S. diplomats during most of the period covered by this.
Discrimination against non-Muslims in Malaysia - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Malaysia The constitution of Malaysia provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government places some restrictions on this right. Islam is the official religion; however, the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam is restricted significantly. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Religious Demography 2 Status of Religious Freedom 3 Restrictions on Religious Freedom 4 Abuses of Religious Freedom Religious Demography Malaysia country has a total area of approximately 127,000 square miles, and a population of just over 23 million. According to government census figures, in 2000 approximately 60.4 percent of the population were Muslim; 19.2 percent practiced Buddhism; 9.1 percent Christianity; 6.3 percent Hinduism; and 2.6 percent Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese religions. The remaining percentages were accounted for by.
Discrimination against non-Muslims in Afghanistan - Discrimination against non-Muslims in Afghanistan Under the rule of the Taliban, and Islamist Muslim government, no freedom of religion existed in the state of Afghanistan. Due to the absence of a constitution and the ongoing civil war, freedom of religion was determined primarily by the unofficial, unwritten, and evolving policies of the warring factions. In 1999 the Taliban, the ultraconservative Islamic movement that controlled approximately 90 percent of the country, wrote a new constitution based on their interpretation of Sharia, Islamic law. Atheism was punishable by death. Conversion to Judaism or Christianity was punishable by death. The Taliban sought to impose its extreme interpretation of Islamic observance in areas that it controlled and has declared that all Muslims in areas under Taliban control must abide by.
History of Lebanon - settled over Beirut, security conditions in the south began to deteriorate. After a PLO attack on a bus in northern Israel and the Israeli retaliation caused heavy casualties, Israel invaded Lebanon in March 1978, occupying most of the area south of the Litani River. In response, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces and creating the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), charged with maintaining peace. Israeli forces withdrew later in 1978, turning over positions inside Lebanon along the border to a Lebanese ally, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) under the leadership of Maj. Saad Haddad, thus informally setting up a 12-mile wide "security zone" to protect Israeli territory from crossborder attack. In 1981 heavily armed forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Demographics of Iran - Demographics of Iran More than two-thirds of Iran's people are of Aryan origin--their ancestors migrated from Central Asia. The major groups in this category include Persians, Kurds, Lurs, and Baluchi. The remainder are primarily Turkic but also include Arabs, Armenians, Jews, and Assyrians. The 1979 Islamic revolution and the war with Iraq transformed Iran's class structure politically, socially, and economically. In general, however, Iranian society remains divided into urban, market-town, village, and tribal groups. Clerics, called mullahs, dominate politics and nearly all aspects of Iranian life, both urban and rural. After the fall of the Pahlavi regime in 1979, much of the urban upper class of prominent merchants, industrialists, and professionals, favored by the former Shah, lost standing and influence to the senior clergy and their supporters..
Iraq crisis of 2003 - As of February 2003 the United States appears to be moving towards a war on Iraq while charging that Iraq is in non-compliance with UN resolutions. The United Nations neither supports or opposes this action, nor has it made a final determination as to Iraq's compliance with said sanctions. This article provides a brief summary of the background of this situation, with pointers to articles where more detailed coverage is available. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Background 2 Escalation 3 Political responses 4 Possible Resolutions 5 2003 war and fall of Saddam 6 Timeline of Recent events related to the Iraq crisis Background The Middle East has been an unstable part of the world for many years. (See Israel, Palestinian territories, Islamism). In particular, Iraq, under the Ba'ath Party government of.
Islamism - 1.3 The Muslim Brotherhood 1.4 Islamic Jihad movements 1.5 Wahhabism 2 Modern Islamism 3 Islamist movements 4 External Links 5 Further reading History of Islamism Islamist movements developed during the twentieth century in reaction to several forces. Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and the subsequent dissolution of the Caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (founder of Turkey), some Muslims perceived their religion as in retreat, and felt that Western ideas were spreading throughout Muslim society, along with the influence of Western nations. During the 1960s, the predominant ideology within the Arab world was pan-Arabism which deemphasized religion and emphasized the creation of a socialist, secular state based on Arab nationalism rather than Islam. Governments based on Arab nationalism have found themselves facing economic stagation and disorder..
Islamic views of homosexuality - boundaries set by Allah (the Arabic word for God). Note that homosexuality, as a psychological disposition, is not technically against the Sharia, which governs the physical actions, and not the inner thoughts and feelings of Muslims. It is the physical action of same-sex intercourse that is punishable under the Sharia. The intended meaning of "same-sex intercourse" is sexual intercourse between two or more men, or sexual intercourse between two or more women. It does not mean the act of masturbation, nor does it have anything to do with nocturnal emissions, both of which are considered to invalidate wudu and require the Muslim to take a full bath or shower before his or her next prayer, but are not otherwise punishable under Sharia. The Qur'an specifically mentions that same-sex intercourse is forbidden..
Islamophobia - Islamophobia Islamophobia is fear or hatred of Muslims or Islamic culture. Given the strong association between Arabs and the religion of Islam. Islamophobia is characterized by the belief that Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy. Islamophobia often expresses itself as a form of anti-Arab racism, though not all Arabs are Muslim and the majority of Muslims are not in fact Arab. The term itself is of recent coinage, and reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multi-culturalism and identity politics. It most often appears in discourse on the condition of immigrant Muslims living as minorities in the West. However, its origin dates back to the Crusades. It has remained present in Europe.
Islam as a political movement - of 'Islamism' 5.5 Cold War exploitation 5.6 Role in terrorism 5.7 Movements described as 'Islamist' 5.8 Globalization 6 Sources 7 External Links The term 'Islamist' Islamic parties exist in every democracy with a Muslim majority. These often call themselves Islamist, meaning an advocate of Islam itself as a political movement (not "Islamism as a political movement" nor "Islamic fundamentalism as a political movement". This term has many different meanings which this article will explore, along with links to other political trends. The propaganda term Islamofascism is used mostly by non-Muslims to describe the political and religious philosophies of some militant Islamic groups and those of the Islamic parties and political movements that they seek to categorize as moral equivalents to those groups. The term Islamism is so heavily used in advocacy.
History of the United States (1945-1964) - resulted in enormous destruction of infrastructure and populations throughout Eurasia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, with almost no country left unscathed. The Soviet Union was especially scathed due to the mass destruction of the industrial base that it had built up in the 1930s. The only major industrial power in the world to emerge intact, and even greatly strengthened from an economic perspective, was the United States, which moved swiftly to consolidate its position. The Big Three: The Allied Leaders at Yalta Prime Minster Winston Churchill (UK), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (US), and First Secretary Joseph Stalin (USSR) When the war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, Soviet and Western (US, British, and French) troops were located in particular places, essentially, along a line in the center of.
February 2003 - Philippine constitution. February 27, 2003 Ariel Sharon presents the new politcally right-wing Israeli government. Part of his coalition are Sharon's Likud bloc, the National Religious Party, the National Union and Tommy Lapid's secular Shinui party. Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar personally asks United States President George W. Bush to silence Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, indicating that Rumsfeld's numerous public remarks on European countries' Iraq policies are generally viewed as inflammatory and overwhelmingly counterproductive within the European diplomatic community. Aznar indicated a preference for Secretary of State Colin Powell. [1] Career diplomat John Brady Kiesling resigns from the U.S. Foreign Service with a sharp public rebuke for the Bush administration's foreign policy, asking "Has oderint dum metuant really become our motto?" and "Is the Russia of the late Romanovs really.
Foreign relations of Afghanistan - as the Taliban regime suscribed to the belief that women should not work, should not be schooled, and must be under the direct guidance of men. According to a strict interpretation of the Quran, the only proper government is one of Islam. In this view, it is correct to use force to change the beliefs of others, and that non-believers that should either be converted or be put to death as infidels. While not openly espoused by the Talban, they are seen to support Islamic militants worldwide that have similar views. There is also a question over which group should hold Afghanistan's seat at the UN. Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan pursued a policy of neutrality and nonalignment in its foreign relations. In international forums, Afghanistan generally followed the voting patterns.
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan - exile, and later the devastation of Kabul itself would literally remove the great majority of the some 100,000 who had come to form Afghanistan's elite and middle class. Their loss almost completely broke the continuity of Afghanistan's leadership, political institutions and their social foundation. Karmal was dispatched to Czechoslovakia as ambassador, along with others shipped out of the country. Amin appeared to be the principal beneficiary of this strategy. The Khalq leadership proved incapable of filling this vacuum. Its brutal and clumsy attempts to introduce radical changes in control over agricultural land holding and credit, rural social relations, marriage and family arrangements, and education led to scattered protests and uprisings among all major communities in the Afghan countryside. Taraki and Amin left a legacy of turmoil and resentment which gravely compromised.
