Bill would reform Criminal Code provisions on rape shield, 3rd-party records, Cristin Schmitz, The Lawyer’s Daily, 2017-06-06 Excellent news: with Draft Bill C-51, Canada’s blasphemy law may soon be gone! The proposed legislation would repeal several offences enacted decades ago,…

Un mois de prison après avoir mangé en public pendant le ramadan (A month of prison for eating in public during ramadan), AFP, Huffington Post Tunisie, 2017-06-01 Four Tunisians have been sentenced to a month in prison for eating in…

Blasphemy law in Denmark is no more!, IHEU, 2017-06-02 Today, the Danish parliament — the Folketing — has voted to abolish another European blasphemy law! Following a controversial prosecution, a serious public and political debate, and now a decisive vote…

In solidarity with our Polish friends, we reproduce here their urgent appeal. Call for the defense of the Theatre “Powszechny” and of artistic freedom We urge you to come to defend the Theatre “Powszechny” in Warsaw on Saturday, May 27,…

Declaration of the KLF in Defense of Freedom of Artistic Creation, Kazimierz Łyszczyński Foundation, 2017-04-26 The Kazimierz Łyszczyński Foundation protests the recent attack on freedom of speech, artistic expression and art in Poland for religious reasons. After a long campaign…

Un mouvement universaliste et laïque au Maroc (A universalist, secular movement in Morocco), Rose St-Pierre, L’AUT’JOURNAL, 2017-04-18 Click to view full size A courageous young atheist woman Ibtissame Lachgar, is co-founder (along with Zineb El Rhazoui formerly of Charlie Hebdo)…

Contre le prosélytisme religieux à l’Université Laval (Against Religious Proselytism at Laval University), Claude Simard, Le Devoir, 2017-04-22 The Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences of Laval University in Quebec City has announced the establishment of a new professorship in…

Top EU court rules employers have right to ban religious symbols, France24, 2017-03-14 Private employers may bar staff from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols under certain conditions, the European Union’s top court ruled on Tuesday. In its…

Lever la censure sur la pièce «Djihad» (Lift the censorship of the play “Djihad”), Djemila Benhabib, Le Devoir, 2017-03-13 The Belgian play “Djihad” by Ismaël Saïdi, which deals with the issue of Islamist radicalization among youth in Brussels, has been…

Montreal police investigating imams for controversial comments, Shuyee Lee, iHeart Radio, 2017-03-10 Montreal police are investigating controversial comments made by Montreal imams at a mosque in St. Laurent captured in YouTube videos. The 2014 videos were posted by a member…

French Jewish Historian Cleared Of Anti-Muslim Hate Speech, Cnaan Liphshiz, Forward, 2017-03-08. A French court acquitted the Jewish historian Georges Bensoussan of hate speech charges over his assertion that Arabs receive anti-Semitism with their “mother’s milk.” […] Bensoussan, a scholar…

After outcry, Quebec hospital restores crucifix taken down in interest of ‘religious neutrality’, Graeme Hamilton, National Post, 2017-03-01 After a patient complained last month about the presence of a large crucifix on the wall of the publicly funded Saint-Sacrament Hospital…

H.R.1150 – Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, Congress of the USA, 2016-12-16 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to state in the congressional findings that the freedom of thought and religion…

The Quebec Superior Court rejects the suit against Djemila Benhabib. École musulmane de Montréal c. Benhabib, Carole HALLÉE, J.C.S., Decision of the Quebec Superior Court, 2016-12-13 Judge Carole Hallée concluded that EMM failed to show that prejudice or damage had…

L’école participe à l’inégalité des sexes, selon le Conseil du statut de la femme (Schools Contribute to Gender Inequality, says the Council on the Status of Women), Patricia Cloutier, Le Soleil, 2016-12-07 The Quebec Council on the Status of Women…

France, Belgique, Bulgarie et maintenant Pays-Bas… ces pays d’Europe qui ont interdit le voile intégral, ceux qui s’y refusent (France, Belgium, Bulgaria and now the Netherlands… European countries which have banned the full veil, and those that have not), Simon…

Le rôle de la religion dans la radicalisation menant à la violence (The Role of Religion in Radicalization Leading to Violence), Marie Lamensch et al., Huffington Post Québec, 2016-11-23 The authors of the above article (Marie Lamensch of the The…

In an interview published in a Belgian magazine, on the eve of the opening of her court case for defamation, the writer and secular activist warns us of the dangers posed by political Islam. Djemila Benhabib : « Nous faisons face au…

RCMP Approves Hijab As Part Of Mounties’ Uniform, Mohamed Omar, Huffington Post Canada, 2016-08-24 Sixteen years after the RCMP let Sikh officers wear a turban, it’s now allowing Muslim Mounties to wear a hijab as part of their uniform. Global…

Piscine et burkini au Maroc (Swimming pool and burkini in Morocco), Marc First, Dernières Nouvelles Alsace, 2016-08-27 Click to view full size Entrance to swimming pool in Morocco The ban which causes such contention in France seems to be accepted…

In Defence of Salman Rushdie, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), 2016-02-25 We […] are outraged to learn that forty state-run media outlets in Iran have raised $600,000 (£420,000) to add as bounty to Ayatollah Khomeini’s death fatwa on the…

A resolution recently introduced into the United States House of Representatives condemns “violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims.” H.Res.569 – Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States., 114th Congress, 1st Session, 2015-12-17 RESOLUTION Condemning…

The French Ministry of Justice has just ruled that the ban on blasphemy in the eastern region of Alsace-Moselle—which includes the three departements of Moselle, Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin—is no longer in effect. Although the blasphemy ban was repealed in France…