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Religion>Curious
Europe | Germany | Culture

Committedly Islamic, avowedly feminist: Germany’s Islamic feminist movement

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There are two general tendencies that govern how Muslim minorities in Europe are spoken about by mainstream European politicians and journalists. One is that the attention is overwhelmingly on Muslim communities living in Britain and France. Other European countries get a mention only when there erupts a crisis or a murder, as was the case in the Jyllands-Posten controversy in 2005 in Denmark. The other striking tendency is that Muslim minorities in Europe are typically spoken of as distinct from the people and common sensibilities of the nation in which they live. They are taken to be
Europe | U.K. | Culture

UK’s First Female Sharia Judge: ‘We Can’t Ask Muslims Not to Have More than One Wife’

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Britain's first female Sharia law judge has issued a brazen warning that flies in the face of UK law, stating that the "government cannot ask Muslims not to have more than one wife." The news comes on the back of a report by the Times newspaper which claims that Britain is experiencing a "surge" in Sharia marriages, as young British Muslims adopt a more hardline religious stance than their parents.
International | Religion

Seventh-day Adventists to decide whether women can become clergy

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Tens of thousands of Seventh-day Adventists are meeting this week to face an issue as divisive as any in the Protestant group’s 152-year history: Does the Bible allow women to be ordained as clergy? The question has special complexity for Adventists, who to this day revere one of their founders who saw visions — a writer named Ellen White — a woman described in documents from her lifetime as “ordained.” Discussions about what it means to be ordained, what the Bible says about women’s leadership, what to do with women’s spiritual gifts and whether different regions of the 18-mil
Europe | Great Britain | Religion

​Having nun of it: Growing numbers of British women take up habit

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The number of women becoming nuns has trebled in the last five years as more and more opt for a religious lifestyle. Last year 45 women became nuns, compared to just 7 in 2004. The Catholic Church said that of these, 14 were 30 years old or younger. The rise in popularity of nunnery contrasts with the findings of recent studies which indicate the UK is becoming less religious. Earlier this month Win/Gallup International polling suggested more than 50 percent of Britons do not believe in any religion, 13 percent were committed atheists and the rest were unsure how to define their belie
Middle East | Iraq | Culture

From logistics to medicine: Women joining Islamic State no longer just ‘jihadi brides’

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Women travelling to join Islamic State militants are no longer just seeking to become "jihadi brides" but are taking on new roles, on the frontline in logistics and intelligence and as medics, according to military and expert sources. Female presence in Islamic State's battles to establish a medieval-style caliphate across the Middle East has been unusual with the radical Sunni Islamists imposing strict restrictions on women's dress and behaviour and deeming their role as domestic. But as more foreigners, both male and female, go to join or fight Islamic State, the traditional role of wo
Europe | Sweden | Culture

Sweden ‘feminist’ policy sparks major Saudi spat

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Sweden is seeking to quell an unprecedented diplomatic spat over human rights with Saudi Arabia which has seen ambassadors recalled and arms sales cancelled, drawing comparisons with Denmark's Mohammed cartoons controversy. Stockholm's relations with Riyadh have nosedived since leftist Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem told parliament in a February speech the oil-rich state was a "dictatorship" that violated women's rights and whipped bloggers. Wallstroem said her comments -- including calling Saudi Arabia's whipping of dissident blogger Raif Badawi in January "medieval" -- were never direc
Middle East | Iran | Culture

Iran’s female MPs show mixed record

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Nine out of 290 members of the Iranian parliament are women. This 3% membership puts Iran near the bottom of the international measures of female parliamentary representation. Women have never been more than 5% of the parliament, but they have always been among the key political players on both sides of the political divide in the Islamic Republic. Eight of the nine women in parliament belong to the “Principlist” (conservative) side of the house. Three (Fatemeh Alia, Mahnaz Bahmani and Zohre Tabibzadeh) sit on the Central Council of the Principlist Caucus, which is the more hard-line

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