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Archives: Secularism

You’ve Got Veil: Secular Tajikistan Gov’t sends Millions of Texts imposing Hijab Ban

RFE/RL's Tajik Service | - - DUSHANBE -- Private mobile-phone companies in Tajikistan have begun sending out text messages to millions of citizens, reminding them to obey a new law that makes…

Rebuking Fundamentalists, Funeral for Palestinian-Israeli Istanbul Victim draws Thousands

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - One of the thirty-nine victims of the Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) shooting at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Layan Nasser, 19, was buried on…

Top 5 things that Make Bangladesh a natural Target for Extremists

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Bangladesh has been plagued by extremist violence for years, but the violence and hostage-taking in Dhaka on Friday and on Saturday morning was…

Majorities of Muslim Arabs in N. Africa want a Separation of Religion and State

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - You know those silly anti-sharia laws passed by evangelicals in US state legislatures? They may as well not bother. (Sharia is Muslim law;…

Rare victory for Freedom of speech in Turkey, as Pianist allowed to quote Omar Khayyam

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In a rare victory for freedom of speech in Turkey, the country's Supreme Court of Appeals has completely overturned a lower court ruling…

Can Muslim Fundamentalism be Criminalized? Militant Secularism in Central Asia

By Farangis Najibullah and Charles Recknagel | ( RFE/RL) | - - Nabijon spends nearly 10 hours a day inside his one-room barbershop on a dusty backstreet in Khujand, Tajikistan's second-largest city.…

Iraq needs another National Party: Tariq Aziz’s Baath Party was

Iraq needs another National Party: Tariq Aziz’s Baath Party Ruined the Country

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and former foreign minister of Iraq, is dead at 79. He died in prison in the custody…

On eve of Turkish Election, Leftist Women Turn backs on Pres. Erdogan in Twitter Campaign

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In Turkey, left of center and Kurdish women took to Twitter on Wednesday to post pictures of themselves turning their backs to President…

Global Connections: World History as Social History – a New Synthesis

I and colleagues have just brought out a world history. Because of the fine and exciting writing of my co-authors, it is more than just a textbook. My readers often ask me…

French Pres. Hollande: Anti-Muslimism is as bad as Antisemitism: Muslims Must be Protected

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) French President Francois Hollande addressed the Institute of the Arab World on Friday, in a bid to reassure French Muslims, who fear being the victims of…

Charlie Hebdo & French ‘Secularism’: Does it really just privilege White Christians?

By Mayanthi Fernando | The Conversation Commentators in France and elsewhere have taken the recent terrorist attacks in Paris as an occasion to reflect more broadly about Muslims in France. Many read…

What Black & White thinking misses about ISIS & why it Matters to us All

What Black & White thinking misses about ISIS/Daesh & why it Matters to us All

By Neslihan Çevik | (Daily Sabah) -- To combat radicalism, EU countries should avoid considering an increased interest in the origins and nature of Islam as a sign of potential radicalization, while…

Not the Onion: Pakistanis Demand arrest of Cleric for not Condemning “Jihadis”

AJ+ |-- "Pakistanis are calling for the arrest of a Muslim cleric, Abdul Aziz, who refused to condemn the recent Pakistan Attack that led to 148 deaths. Some feel the Taliban school…

Will Egypt Intervene in Libya as part of Generals’ War on Political Islam?

CCTV Africa: "Pressure is growing on Egypt's government to intervene in Libya. That's after the emergence this week of an Islamic State-style caliphate - close to the Egyptian border. Many in Cairo…

Arabs without God

By Brian Whitaker, author of Arabs without God In the midst of sectarian turmoil in the Middle East, one section of Arab society rarely gets much attention: those who reject religion entirely.…

Is Iraq Actually Falling Apart? What Social Science Surveys Show

By Mansoor Moaddel Several nationally representative surveys carried out in Iraq between 2004 and 2013 provide important facts about Iraqi orientations toward secular politics, basis of identity, Americans, and Iranians. These facts…

Second Libyan Revolution, this Time Against Political Islam, Extremist Militias

Second Libyan Upheaval, this Time Against Political Islam, Extremist Militias

(By Juan Cole) In Benghazi on Monday morning, fighting resumed between the "Libyan National Army" forces of Col. Khalifa Hifter and fundamentalist extremists. The latter fired rockets at the Benina military airport…

Egyptian Youth Protest against Anti-Protest Law a month before Elections

(By Juan Cole) Hundreds of leftist and secular youth demonstrated on Saturday against Egypt's Draconian law forbidding demonstrations, demanding the release of revolutionary activists jailed under it. They marched from Serai al-Qubba…

Will Russell Crowe as Noah help Egypt Separate Religion and State?

(By Juan Cole) Darren Aronofski's biblical epic "Noah" is already provoking controversy in the Muslim world, and has been preemptively banned in three Gulf states. Biblical figures, such as Abraham, Noah, David,…