For nearly 30 years, women of menstruating age in India have been banned from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. That may change soon when India’s Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of the ban. Enacted by Kerala’s high court in 1991, the ban prevents women of menstruating age — 10 to 50 years — from entering the temple. According to tradition, the temple houses the shrine of Lord Ayyappa, a Hindu deity celebrated for his celibacy, and the presence of women of menstruating age would defile it. The ban was lifted last year after the Supreme Court ruled that it violated the worship rights of women, but the ruling was immediately challenged by dozens of review petitions, and the state’s government is still forbidding entry to women. Whenever women have attempted to worship at the temple, they have been met by police and protesters. I have written before about Sabarimala and its significance to the spiritual rights of Indian women. Sabarimala is the second-largest pilgrimage destination in the world, after Mecca in Saudi Arabia. More than 30 million Hindu pilgrims visit the temple annually. The sad truth is the Sabarimala temple is but one story in the greater narrative of women’s struggle for their spiritual rights. Throughout history and to this day, women across all major world religions have been denied equal access to worship sites and barred from leadership positions they are qualified to fill. For example, in many mosques women are segregated from the main prayer services and even denied entry. In India, women’s right to enter mosques is also being reviewed by the Supreme Court. In France and America some women have taken matters into their own hands and founded their own mosques, [...]

Religious tensions in India, particularly between Hindus and Muslims, have been fraught over the past few years. So when the Supreme Court recently awarded Hindus the contested holy site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, where the Babri Masjid mosque stood for 500 years, fears that religious violence would erupt were palpable in India. When a Hindu mob demolished the mosque in 1992, violent riots broke out and thousands of Indians died. Yet the Muslim community’s response to the Supreme Court’s verdict was a refreshing reminder of what kind of democratic society India was meant to be. The Muslim parties involved in the legal dispute said they would comply with the ruling and called for the Muslim community at large to maintain order and not protest. Of course, this doesn’t mean the Islamic community agrees with the court’s decision or believes it’s fair. On the contrary, they have called it “unjust” and some of the litigants announced they would appeal court’s decision, which has been criticized as being based more on faith than facts. The senior Muslim member of parliament stated that while he accepted the Supreme Court’s supremacy in the rule of law, it did not mean the court was infallible. I have written before about the complicated and violent history of the Ayodhya holy site, claimed by both Muslims and Hindus, the latter who believe it is the birthplace of the Hindu deity Lord Ram. Evidence presented to the Supreme Court by the Archaeological Society of India stated that there was a religious structure at the site before a mosque was built, but as many Hindu leaders throughout India would admit, it’s a question of faith as to whether it was the birthplace of a mythical [...]

Recent news that popular Christian comedian John Crist has been accused of sexual harassment put the spotlight once again on sexual sin within the church. This would not, of course, be the first time a prominent Christian figure has fallen from grace because of a moral failure. With the advent of the #MeToo movement, more stories of sexual abuse and harassment and even rape within the church have come to light. It should break our hearts that the body of Christ has failed to protect the most vulnerable among us and, at times, has even been complicit in covering up for abusers. The good news is that these revelations, as painful as they are, have prompted churches and denominations to do more to protect people in their community who may fall prey to an abuser. Some churches are implementing measures such as background checks for volunteers and installing security cameras. Denominations also are setting up committees and encouraging member churches to treat any instance of sexual abuse as a crime and report it to the authorities instead of dealing with it internally. Yet there remains the issue that these measures are largely reactionary, not preventative. Because how do you hedge against a sin that originates in the human heart? As the New Testament’s Letter of James reads, When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Is there a better approach churches can take to dealing [...]

Most Rev. Joseph D’Souza after Ayodhya Supreme Court decision: India must now find a way forward toward peace and communal harmony Press Release: The KAIROS Company for Dalit Freedom Network  Nov. 10, 2019 HYDERABAD, India — After a marathon hearing which lasted 40 days, the Supreme Court of India has finally decided on the Babri Masjid land dispute. The court will hand over the 2.7 acres of land for the building of a Hindu temple through a trust to be set up by the Indian government. The court’s decision brings to a legal closure a long dispute that has inflamed passions, resulted in violence between Hindus and Muslims and led to the deaths of thousands of people who have been killed because of this religious dispute. Following the court’s decision, the Most Rev. Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, releases the following statement calling Indians to now find a way forward toward peace and communal harmony: “It is time for Indians to accept the Supreme Court’s decision, however they may feel about it. Those who are aggrieved with the decision need to find the strength to work for peace and communal harmony, while those who feel they have won must also find the humility to accept this judgement with the kind of attitude that respects the Muslim community and their rights in a democratic India. “With the kind of deep-seated religious divisions that currently plague India, it is critical that people of all faiths in India work toward peace, communal harmony and economic development. India can ill afford another long term trauma like the one it has faced over the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the campaign to build the Ram temple at [...]

Meet one of my friends.  She was the kind of child who wondered, “Why is the sky blue? How do birds fly? How do fish breathe?” Now she is a bright and curious teenager and her questions are more complex.  She has a fire inside that makes her want to learn, want to succeed. And she will, because there is a team a people who believe in her, who invest in her, who help her believe that her life and her dignity matter. This is poverty alleviation. This is justice. This is freedom. Watch: The Curious Mind of Reshma

The world celebrated when news broke out that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of the Islamic State, was killed during a raid by U.S. special forces on his hideout compound. Baghdadi’s death, and the reported death of his second-in-command ISIS spokesperson Abu Hasan al-Muhajir, is a victory for every freedom-loving person across the world. The Islamic Caliphate he established, which at one point covered a territory as large as Britain, was a threat not only to those it imprisoned and robbed of their lives, homes, dignity and personal freedoms, but to people everywhere who might fall victim to terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS and its affiliates. Yet, even as we celebrate the demise of one of the worst terrorist leaders the world has known, we must remember the fight against extremism is far from over. In fact, we might be at the most dangerous time in the history of extremist movements as they have taken more subtle forms and infiltrated mainstream society. Allow me to explain. Whenever we think of extremism, the first thing that comes to mind is violent extremist groups like terrorist organizations such as ISIS or militant factions such as Hezbollah. Of course, their violent attacks are the most obvious displays of extremist behavior, but we must not confuse tactics for ideology. What is at the heart of every extremist movement — whether religious or secular, or on the hard right or far left — is an overarching mission to establish an authoritarian system of government that denies basic human rights such as freedom of religion or belief, freedom of speech and assembly, free enterprise and the right to own personal property, among others. While terrorist groups advance this mission through violence, [...]

CNN’s recent town hall on gay and transgender rights was a bit of an eye-opener. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke let slip something the current presidential candidates have worked hard to hide: when put to the test, they do not support religious freedom. When asked whether religious institutions who oppose same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status, O’Rourke’s answer was a straightforward “yes.” “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America, that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” he said. Of course, savvier and more seasoned candidates were better prepared to answer questions of the same nature. Elizabeth Warren’s pithy response about what she would say to a supporter who said his faith taught marriage was between one man and one woman — “Then just marry one woman. I’m cool with that.” — became a viral sensation. Yet O’Rourke’s rookie mistake raised the question of what the presidential candidates actually believe when it comes to religious freedom. Despite Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s subsequent decision to distance themselves from O’Rourke’s comment, everything they said at the CNN town hall revealed that for them, religious liberty is, at best, a secondary right in their minds. This way of thinking presents a clear and present danger to people of faith. Take the Catholic charity Little Sisters of the Poor, who have now spent years in court because they refused to comply with an Obamacare mandate to provide contraceptives as part of their health insurance package. It wasn’t enough for them to win a Supreme Court case in 2016 or for the federal government to create an exemption for [...]

India is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. Although it is majority Hindu, it has some 200 million Muslims, as well as Sikhs, Jews.... and a native Christian population dating back 2000 years. In fact, Christianity in India has deeper roots than in America. Which is why it is an extremely disturbing fact to Bishop Joseph D'Souza of Good Shepherd church that his country has just entered the top ten list of nations where Christians are most persecuted. He blames a small band of extremist Hindus, who've painted Christians as an enemy of the state and have marketed the lie that Christians are involved in forced conversions. As President Trump this week sounded the alarm at the United Nations for countries to rally together in a shared value of religious freedom, Bishop D'Souza has the detailed forensics of why religious persecution has grown, and continues to be a threat to global peace. Listen at Fox News Radio: The Global Concern of Religious Persecution | FoxNews.com

With nearly 4 million pending cases in its court systems, India has probably one of the busiest judiciaries in the world. Yet every now and then, a local court case makes international headlines. This happened recently when a court in Kerala sentenced 10 men to life in prison for killing a man. The crime had all the hallmarks of an honor killing. A young man, a Dalit from a low caste, falls in love with a woman from a high-caste family. They plan to marry, but the girl’s family learns about it and opposes their union. When the couple files for a marriage certificate, the family decides to take action and dispatches a hit team to get rid of the soon-to-be husband. Shortly after, the young man’s body is found in a stream. Crimes of this nature have become so disturbingly common that the world barely bats an eye when they happen. But in America, which is predominantly Christian, the reaction is often, It’s just another one of those Hindu family fights over old religious traditions. Except that wasn’t the case this time. Both the young man and the woman were Christians and came from Christian families. Caste prejudice — the idea that some people are inferior or even untouchable because of their low birth — has not only survived throughout millennia, robbing millions of people of their humanity. It also has metastasized and spread beyond its original religious confines. Caste prejudice and hatred exists among Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and, yes, among Christians, too. And it exists between religions. In another recent case, a Dalit Christian man was killed by hit men hired by his wife’s father, the patriarch of an upper-caste Hindu family. The [...]

I recently had the opportunity to tour the museum of A Topography of Terror in Berlin, Germany. Located in the former headquarters of the Gestapo and Nazi Germany intelligence units, the museum outlines the rise of National Socialism and of Hitler’s Third Reich which unleashed inhuman evil on millions of people. I came to this museum because I wanted to understand once more how the German state and its great Germanic civilization could descend into such barbaric, anti-Semitic behavior. Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people led to the systematic murder of 6 million Jews in Europe, 3 million Soviets and half a million gypsies. This terrifying extermination campaign, known as the “Final Solution,” came out of the Nazi Party’s belief that all humans are not equal — and once all humans are not equal then any kind of violence is justifiable. Humans have a great capacity for evil. Unfortunately, this dangerous belief has not been exterminated from our societies as evidenced by the present-day rise of anti-Semitism across Europe and the U.S., not to mention in the U.N. It is particularly alarming that members of the U.S. Congress would engage in anti-Semitic rhetoric and call for the destruction of the State of Israel. How can the world so quickly forget what happened barely 80 years ago? As history shows, genocides such as the one committed by the Nazis against the Jews are not committed against one people group alone but against all of humanity. We must beware of losing sight of the lessons museums such as the Topography of Terror are meant to preserve in our social consciences. For as it has been said, those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to [...]