In The Media

The anti-conversion law has been criticised by rights group as violative of individual freedom.

The Independent

China's Communist regime has become increasingly aggressive in its efforts to shut down foreign critics, including in the United States and other Western democracies.

The Washington Post*

Despite decades of campaigns, the traditional practice has hardly declined. This doesn't deter Rugiatu Turay from fighting cutting.

Deutsche Welle

A ban on daily church services during the second coronavirus lockdown has been branded as "arbitrary and unfair" by Scotland's Catholic bishops.

The Herald*

Some clergy expressed anxiety over the exemption in the face of the virus's spread.

The Guardian

An entire congregation in Stafford has been forced to self-isolate after a single church member tested positive for Covid-19.

Premier Christian News

The Leader of the Commons was spotted at a Latin mass in Glastonbury Somerset, which is under tier four rules, 15 miles away from his home in West Harptree, which is in the less severe third tier.

Metro

A man who stabbed three people to death in a Reading park believed he was carrying out "an act of religious jihad", a court has heard.

BBC

One of England's most famous Catholic boarding schools, which has been surrounded by abuse scandals for years, has accepted it has "very serious" safeguarding failings as it fights to stave off closure.

The Times*

Greece's powerful Orthodox Church is rebelling against a government order to briefly close places of worship under a weeklong drive to tighten virus restrictions before the planned reopening of schools.

Associated Press

Austria has already adopted an obligatory imam registry among other measures aimed at reducing terrorism after a November terror attack in Vienna.

Deutsche Welle

The ruling, which applies in Punjab province, will end the practice of physical checks for an intact hymen and the invasive "two-finger test".

BBC

Priya Periyasamy is among at least 16 women village council leaders in Tamil Nadu state who have filed complaints in the last six months over discrimination for being Dalits - considered India's lowest caste in an ancient social hierarchy.

Reuters

Places of worship are not required to close and communal worship is permitted under a new national lockdown announced by the Prime Minister.

Church Times*

Places of worship in Scotland will be required close from Friday until at least the end of the month, as part of a new lockdown announced by the First Minister.

Church Times*

Absolving criminals from within the Jewish community of the need to face retributive justice is a crime against those of us who are most powerless, says Yehudis Fletcher.

Haaretz

A comedian has been charged by the Indian authorities for "hurting religious sentiments" after a group of right-wing Hindus crashed his show and confronted him over jokes he allegedly made about Hindu deities.

The Independent

Romila Thapar is the subject of attacks by supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who view her as an opponent to be discredited.

The Washington Post*

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the killing of 11 coal miners in the western Pakistani province of Balochistan.

BBC

"Terrorists" have killed around 100 people in two villages in western Niger, the latest in a string of civilian massacres that have rocked the jihadist-plagued Tillaberi region, a local mayor has said.

The Guardian

A Christian afterschool is sufficiently religious enough to qualify for an exemption from having to pay into a state insurance program, an appeals court ruled last week.

The Christian Post

Christian nationalist ideology will almost certainly serve as a barrier for a sizable minority of Americans who need the vaccine, say Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry.

NBC News

In the 30-minute festive play, which aired in December, the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society put on a disastrous Nativity, in which the baby Jesus is eaten by a sheep.

The Independent

A countdown show on New Year's Eve included a mock news report about God being the latest prominent figure implicated in a sexual harassment scandal.

The Guardian

Every SNP councillor in the Western Isles has endorsed a Catholic teaching pack which upholds the church's stance against gay sex, and snubbed materials provided by the Scottish government.

The Times*

A neurologist who is also a priest has been criticised by a judge after giving evidence about the condition of a Catholic man at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute.

Premier Christian News

Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton said he believed the election of just a "few more" progressive MSPs in next May's Holyrood election is likely to secure majority support for change.

The Scotsman*

A Somerset man dubbed 'Britain's most arrested preacher' was reported to police for shouting to crowds 'Father Christmas isn't real.'

Somerset County Gazette

The son of a police officer was allegedly beaten up by a gang of fellow Muslims for eating a Christmas lunch, with the incident condemned by France's interior minister as the latest example of Islamist attempts to undermine French values.

The Times*

Macron is determined to reconcile the demands of a modern multicultural society with the proud philosophical and constitutional values of the French republic, says John Keiger.

The Times*

Pro-choice activists celebrated on the streets on Wednesday as Argentina joined a handful of South American nations to legalise abortion, a landmark decision in a country where the Catholic Church has long held sway.

France 24

An Australian woman who has renounced her Islamic faith and campaigns globally for women's rights has been arrested and charged in Tanzania, the country of her birth.

ABC News

The company says that it does not have a comprehensive list of religions but it has listed some groups that are protected under its hate speech rules. These include pastafarians, scientologists, Mormons, Rastafaris, Jehovah's Witnesses and atheists.

The Times*

India's northeastern state of Assam has passed a law abolishing state-run Islamic schools, ahead of local elections next year.

The Independent

At least 14 arrests were made by Pakistani police in overnight raids on Thursday after a century-old Hindu temple was set on fire and razed by a violent religious mob led by Islamist clerics in northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

The Independent

Police in Uttar Pradesh have been ordered to crack down on a trend of drivers displaying their caste on bumper or window stickers or custom numberplates.

The Times*

Human rights activists say the practice has accelerated during lockdowns against the coronavirus, when girls are out of school and more visible, bride traffickers are more active on the Internet and families are more in debt.

Yahoo/Associated Press

The health secretary has said that churches in Tier 4 areas will stay open, and disclosed that he has given a personal assurance to the archbishop of Canterbury.

The Times*

Joe Biden's election as US president raises hopes for funding of reproductive health groups – but some caution that reversing the impact of a rule introduced by the Trump administration will not be quick.

The Guardian

The religion, education, culture and language of China's ethnic minorities are being forcibly constrained and changed.

Standpoint

Puritans hated the 25 December observance of Jesus' birth so much that they made it illegal in the Massachusetts colony for decades in the 1600s.

The Washington Post*

Nuns running a children's home in Germany prostituted boys in their care to priests, local politicians and businessmen in the 1960s and 1970s, according to a victim who has won a court fight for compensation.

The Times*

The former archbishop of York Dr Sentamu will be given a life peerage as a crossbencher, Downing Street has confirmed. Serious concerns over Sentamu's handling of sexual abuse allegations remain unresolved.

Church Times

The prime minister's appointment of a new special envoy on freedom of religion or belief has prompted a mixed reaction from interested charities and campaigning groups. The NSS has urged her to remember that freedom from religion is a vital corollary to freedom of religion.

The Tablet*

The diocese of Liverpool will review the decision to allow a paedophile vicar carry on working for another 24 years after his crimes were exposed.

Liverpool Echo

Doctors across Cambridgeshire have discovered dozens of new cases of female genital mutilation in the last year.

Cambridgeshire Live