Europeans Debate the Scarf and the Veil
Except in France, most Muslim women choose to cover their heads — but many among the general public disapprove
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Except in France, most Muslim women choose to cover their heads — but many among the general public disapprove
Library of Congress Washington, D.C. With the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, the United States became one of the few countries in the world to make promotion of religious freedom an explicit foreign policy goal. The act, signed into law by President Clinton, established an Office of International Religious Freedom at […]
Washington, D.C. Recent violence between Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, and Israel; sectarian conflict in Iraq and escalating tensions around Iran’s nuclear ambitions have drawn urgent attention to the resurgence and politicization of Shiite Islam and its relationship to Sunni Islam. The Pew Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations invited Vali Nasr, author […]
Washington, D.C. Anwar Ibrahim has been called a leading force for reform in Malaysia and has written extensively on the political influence of Islam in Southeast Asia. After serving from 1993 to 1998 as Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Anwar was considered the heir apparent of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad until he was abruptly fired and […]
Washington, D.C. The Pew Forum interviewed Katherine Marshall following a roundtable on religion and international development co-sponsored by the Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Marshall is the director of the Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics at the World Bank and a former country director in the World Bank’s Africa and East […]
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Washington, D.C. There is growing recognition of the increasingly important role religion plays in U.S. foreign policy, including decisions regarding development aid and humanitarian assistance. What role is religion playing in international development? How are domestic religious groups and faith-based organizations influencing U.S. development efforts overseas, particularly policies […]
Introduction December 9, 2005, marks the 100th anniversary of secularism in France, known as “laïcité.” In 1905 the French government passed a law stipulating “the separation of churches and the state,” thus enshrining secularism as a national principle. The law, which barred the state from officially recognizing, funding or endorsing religious groups, represented a major […]
Pew Forum and Pew Research Center Resources | News | Other Resources This month the European Union will enter into membership negotiations with Turkey, a country whose population is almost entirely Muslim. This critical venture brings to the forefront profound questions about the cultural and religious identity of Europe, and of Islam’s place on the continent. The Pew […]