Free Republic

New clashes between Buddhist extremists and Muslims occurred in two different towns in Sri Lanka, in 2018. Triggered in part by hate-filled posts spread by nationalistic Sinhala Buddhist Facebook groups, these riots resulted in the death of one Muslim and the destruction of many buildings.... The movement known as Buddhism revivalism or Protestantism in Sri Lanka started with Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933). Known as the father of Buddhist Protestantism in Sri Lanka, Dharmapala had an anti-imperialist and nationalist agenda. Besides fighting the British, who ruled Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at the time, Dharmapala focused on founding Buddhist schools and strengthening the...

They come to him — students, co-workers and congregants alike, sometimes in tears — with their questions: What should we do, Imam Zaid? What should we do about the suspicion, about the hatred, about the second glances and the threat of confrontations on the street? What should we do about Donald Trump and his rhetorical attacks on Muslim immigrants? And how do we process the deadly attacks by people who invoked our religion? Should we return to our ancestral home countries, hunker down in the shadows?

From my email today: Dear MoveOn member, With November fast approaching, we need to make some hard decisions about which campaigns we can afford to take on, and which ones we'll have to sit out. There are so many important races this year. Of course there's the presidential election. But the U.S. Senate is up for grabs, too. There's the Scott Walker recall in Wisconsin. If we can elect Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, that will be huge. It's like picking which of your kids you love the most. I just can't do it. But I'll be honest—if we can't increase...

It was suggested that being anti-Mormon is the new politically correct anti-semitism given what happened to Romney in Dixie.  There are some problems with that concept especially down in Dixie.  The first that comes to mind is when did anyone ever accuse Dixie of being poltically correct.  But on a more serious note,  any Mormon who had lived awhile in either the South or the Midwest could not have been very surprised that Romney took a shellacing in the Midwest and the South. The fact that religious prejudice reared it's ugly head and took a bite out of the only...

(English-language translation) Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced yesterday that he ordered the withdrawal of his country's ambassador to Israel in protest over the "genocide" caused by the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Upon his return from a two-week overseas trip that included a visit to Iran, Chávez said he was infuriated by how Israel keeps "trampling, bombing, and tearing apart" innocent [civilians] with "gringo" aircraft while the United Nations Security Council does nothing. He added that that is one of the reasons the United States wants to prevent Venezuela's gaining a seat in the...