The UN “Convention on Genocide” excludes cultural destruction as a marker for genocide, to avoid a vague use of the term “culture.” But culture is not a fuzzy concept. It identifies peoples.
From the World
Documenting the Horror. 1. A Valuable Report on the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide
Testimonies collected on the ground by the European Bangladesh Forum confirm scholarly studies, calling on the international community, and by extension the UN, to recognize an overlooked truth.
Opinion: Italy, the Great Ramadan Scare, and the Need for a “Mature Secularity”
A public school’s decision to give its students (many of whom are Muslims) a day off for Eid al Fitr has generated unnecessary controversies.
Shri Ram Chandra Mission: The MIVILUDES Loses a Court Case
The respected Indian raja yoga organization won the right to receive copies of the reports used to accuse it of “cultic deviances.”
Artemisia Gentileschi versus Japan’s Ministry of Education
The Genoa exhibition of the great Italian Baroque painter is an opportunity to reflect on how protecting children from “sexy” Biblical images is not an intelligent idea.
Anti-Trafficking Campaigns in Argentina: The Strange Story of Director Gustavo Vera
The new Security Minister dismissed an officer strictly connected with an expansive definition of victims and anti-cult campaigns. Why?
Pakistan, Woman Escapes Blasphemy Lynching for Wearing a Shirt Purchased in Dubai
A mob misunderstood the word “sweetness” for a Quranic quote. The Muslim woman was saved by a Christian shopkeeper and the police but was compelled to apologize.
The Caliph of Ahmadi Muslims Has No Magic Solution for Peace—But He Has Some Wise Ideas
At the 2024 National Peace Symposium in London, he said that religion is not the cause of war, but the solution.
Unification Church in Japan: A Politician Asks Inconvenient but Pertinent Questions in the Parliament
House of Councillors member Satoshi Hamada represents a tiny “contrarian” party. Yet, the questions he asked on March 12 were the right ones.
Remember Chanda Maharaj? Kidnapped Hindu Girl in Pakistan Delivered to Her Abductor
Although she is not yet 18, after one year and three months in a shelter home she had been sent back to the man who abducted her.