In The Media

More than 20 artists, authors and campaigners including leading nationalists and allies of Nicola Sturgeon have joined calls for the proposals to be altered.

The Times (£)

Humza Yousaf has said he plans to give an open letter about the hate crime bill "serious consideration".

The National

The commissioner charged with engaging unregistered yeshivas (Jewish faith schools) on child safeguarding has said it is "like playing whack-a-mole" because they up sticks and move once detected.

Jewish News

The Halal Monitoring Committee persuaded a judge to throw out the case brought by a group of butchers and wholesalers who said it was unreasonable for the charity to withdraw its approval from companies that sold the meat of animals that were stunned before killing.

The National

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the Birmingham Education Trust, which is based at the Al-Huda Girls' School in Saltley. The trust funds and operates an independent school which promotes the teaching of Islam to Muslim girls.

BBC

The government have reportedly paid companies connected to the Exclusive Brethren hundred of millions of pounds to provide ventilators and PPE equipment during the pandemic.

The Freethinker (Patheos)

The Charity Commission has been urged to intervene to address "the failures of the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England to devise a safe consistent and fair system of redress" for victims and survivors of abuse.

Church Times

Crowds gathered outside the house of a local politician whose relative was accused of making an "offensive" post about the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

BBC

Two young men have landed on the wrong side of Islamic law via social media.

DW

Two former Jehovah's Witness elders have called for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, saying the organisation believes it is "answerable only to God".

The Guardian

The government must make the registration of all religious marriages compulsory to stop women suffering abuse and discrimination, a new report has said.

The Independent

A coalition of 20 artists, authors, journalists and campaigners including a friend of the First Minister are claiming a threat to free speech over Scotland's hate crime bill.

The Herald

Ewan Gurr reports on the Free to Disagree campaign against the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill.

Evening Telegraph

New hate crime legislation may cause people to refrain from debate for fear of being reported to the police, says Dr Kath Murray.

Herald Scotland

A British 'Jihadi bride' who denies leading an all-female Islamic State unit in Syria is now back in the UK and claiming Universal Credit.

Mail Online

Six French aid workers and their guide and driver were killed by gunmen Sunday morning in Niger, where French and international forces are fighting Islamist groups.

The Times (£)

A musician in Nigeria's northern state of Kano has been sentenced to death by hanging for blaspheming against the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

BBC

A former Exclusive Brethren who was once told to drink rat poison by the church's Supreme Leader is one of several former members fighting legal action after speaking out against the church.

Stuff

The hate crime bill risks creating a situation in which offending becomes an offence, says James Somerville-Meikle. NSS chief executive Stephen Evans is quoted.

Conservative Home

A member of a religious cult has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years after admitting repeatedly raping two girls almost three decades ago.

STV News

Mark Longshaw has finally been jailed for inappropriately touching two children - more than three decades after his crimes were 'brushed under the carpet' by Jehovah's Witness elders.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

"Sian's story is one of hundreds that have come to light in recent years, prompting concerns of prevalent sex abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses."

Wales Online

The far-right has used the virus to sow racial and religious division within society by blaming ethnic minorities, Muslims in particular, for the spread of COVID-19.

Newsweek

Salman Rushdie has asked Twitter to remove a post with an anti-Muslim quote that he claims has been falsely attributed to him, after it circulated alongside a photo of the author's face this week.

MSN

Anderton Park Primary in Birmingham was targeted by protesters, angry at the message of equality and tolerance that was being taught to pupils.

The Mirror

Women in Italy can now use the abortion pill on an outpatient basis rather than be hospitalised to terminate a pregnancy.

Yahoo!/Associated Press

Demonstrators turned out in Warsaw and other Polish cities Saturday to protest anti-LGBT attitudes promoted by the government as well as the detention of pro-LGBT protesters.

Yahoo! News

Jewish and Muslim prisoners who'd previously been receiving special diets to accommodate their religious needs are being served a meatless dish starting this month that one prisoner says violates his constitutional rights.

Phoenix New Times

"Thomas Jefferson believed that the First Amendment should build a wall of separation between church and state, but voters generally consider a person of faith to be more trustworthy and morally superior. In other words, we are secretly giving the church and its followers the power to influence our secular government."

Daily Nexus

The song used verses from the Koran, resulting in death threats from some religious Azerbaijanis.

Eurasianet

A veteran councillor has joined colleagues in voicing his opposition to the Scottish Government's proposed Hate Crime Bill, insisting it is a major threat to free speech.

The Gazette

The use of the criminal law to control the expression of views involves a delicate balance if the law is not to become repressive, says Alexander McCall Smith.

The Scotsman

The school that Shamima Begum and two other schoolgirls attended before they left the UK to become Islamic State brides today said it had introduced "robust" initiatives to prevent pupils being radicalised.

Evening Standard

Joshua Sutcliffe claims he was "constructively dismissed" from a Catholic school in London for making the statement on one of his YouTube videos.

Premier Christian News

Alliance for Independence chief Dave Thompson has said he was wrong to have voted against gay marriage.

The National

Black Country mosque bomber Pavlo Lapshyn has admitted making an explosive substance in his cell at a maximum-security jail.

Express and Star

The Anglo-Indian author has long been a staunch defender of free speech and his own life was under threat for many years after Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him in 1989, following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.

Mail Online

Social integration appears to hold the key to reducing antisemitic prejudice within British Muslim communities, says Rakib Ehsan.

The JC

"While gays and lesbians have never had the legal right to marry or to form civil unions in Poland, as they can in much of Europe, many felt confident until not long ago that Polish society was becoming more accepting and that those rights would one day come. They have instead faced a furious backlash from the Catholic Church and the government."

The Associated Press

America's legal framework has produced remarkable religious freedom for people of all faiths and none, says Melissa Rogers.

Newsweek

"The space to debate, dissent, question and demand a separation of the Church and the State, as laid down in the Indian constitution, has been given a quiet burial."

Kaleej Times

"The SNP's Hate Crime Bill seems to have created a rare consensus in Scotland, with just about everybody agreeing that it is at best naïve and at worst plain dangerous."

The Courier

Comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe could fall foul of new hate crime legislation, the Faculty of Advocates has warned.

Herald Scotland

The secretary of state for education has appointed The Keys Academy Trust to run a new school in Embrook. The Keys Academy Trust, which already runs nine other primaries in the borough, is a Church of England multi-academy trust.

Wokingham Today

Three people accused of hanging LGBT rainbow flags off statues in Warsaw have been arrested and charged. Polish police charged them with desecrating monuments and 'offending religious feelings'.

BBC

Nobel literature laureate writes letter of solidarity marking Bala's 100th day in detention, saying his supporters 'will not rest until you are free and safe'.

The Guardian

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone for the Ram temple to be built in Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Sky News

A large digital billboard in Times Square is displaying images of a Hindu deity and a temple being built on disputed ground in India, despite calls from a coalition of advocacy organisations asking advertisers not to show the images.

Yahoo! News