Mark Movsesian

The Board of Education’s decision to remove Christmas from the calendar has only succeeded in creating religious conflict. Continue Reading »

For the past several weeks, the world has been watching Kobani (in Kurdish, Kobanê), a small city on the Syrian-Turkish border. In September, militants from ISIS, the Sunni Islamist group that has declared a restored caliphate in the Middle East, laid siege to the city, which is mostly Kurdish and currently in the hands of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish group that opposes the Assad government. Kobani’s strategic significance is debatable, but the city has symbolic importance, and its fall would be a huge morale boost for ISIS. Consequently, the US has instituted a bombing campaign to push ISIS back. As of this weekend, the siege was at a standstill. Continue Reading »

Berger says the episode reflects America’s decreasing regard for religion and religious believers. And he lays the blame largely at the door of the Obama Administration. Continue Reading »

At the Center for Law and Religion Forum, guest blogger Robert Delahunty has an extremely interesting post on this month’s Synod on the Family at the Vatican. Delahunty argues that the Church is losing the opportunity for the reset Pope Francis promised at the start of his pontificate:  Continue Reading »

Don’t make politically-charged statements about religious convictions that the government doesn’t approve, even if you’re at a private meeting in your own church. You may one day have to lawyer up. Continue Reading »

For those who may be interested, my colleague Marc DeGirolami and I have done a podcast on last week’s oral argument in Holt v. Hobbs, the “prison beard” case currently before the Supreme Court. 
Continue Reading »

A follow-up to last month’s post on the Armenian Orthodox church in Myanmar: This summer, the BBC did a lovely story about a 150-year old Armenian parish church in the city of Yangon, St. John the Baptist. Hardly any parishioners remained, the BBC said, maybe 10 people on a good Sunday. Most of the congregation were not Armenians, either, the Armenians having left Myanmar, with the British, decades before. Continue Reading »

The Lanier Theological Library in Houston has posted the video of a lecture I presented last month, “Religious Freedom for Mideast Christians: Yesterday and Today.” Continue Reading »

The defense of Christians by leading Islamic law scholars is very welcome. But the scholars’ reasoning is unlikely to reassure Iraqi and Syrian Christians or encourage them to return home.  Continue Reading »

Is America a disappointing friend, or an enemy? Continue Reading »