A November 5 article by the WSJ covers the emotional debate over the role of Islam in Switzerland that has arisen in the face of a referendum to be held on November 29 that would ban the construction of minarets on mosques, an initiative promoted by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. The party, the country’s largest political group and a fierce critic of immigration, drew international criticism for a campaign poster two years ago showing a white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland.

KUALA LUMPUR – The government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles that it seized because they contained the word Allah, which the government asserts is an Islamic term and so its usage could upset the Muslim population, the BBC reported on November 4.  Church officials say that although the word Allah originated in Arabic, Malays have used it for centuries to refer generally to God, and Arabic-speaking Christians used it before Islam was founded, and the Christian Federation of Malaysia said the religious freedom guaranteed by the Malaysian constitution was meaningless if people were denied Bibles in their own language.

ROME – The European Court of Human Rights ruled on November 3 that the display of crucifixes in public schools violated religious and education freedoms, a decision that could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe, the AP reported on November 3. The court rejected arguments by Italy that the crucifix was a national symbol of culture, history and secularism.

GORBOVICHI – Prosecutor Vitaly Kovalev, who sanctioned a raid conducted against the Full Gospel Protestant house church during its Sunday worship service on October 25, has refused to justify the raid or offer an explanation for the boxes of Christian books and films confiscated at that time, Forum18 reported on October 30.  Pastor Marshalkovskaya-Grik said that the Prosecutor’s warrant authorizing the “inspection” gave no reason, and that during the inspection the police photographed every room in her house.

TASHKENT – Tashkent’s District Criminal Court found Paval Peichev, head of Uzbekistan’s Baptist Union, and two colleagues guilty of evading taxes and involving children in religious activity in religious activity without their or their parents’ consent, Forum18 reported on October 29.  The ruling deprives Peichev and his colleagues of the right to lead and organization’s administrative and financial activity for three years, and each was find 260 times the minimum monthly wages.

WEST ACEH – The Indonesian district has implemented partial Shariah law, which will only apply to Muslims, and beginning in 2010 women will be banned from wearing tight pants, and men will be forbidden from wearing shorts, the BBC reported on October 28.  In September, Aceh’s provincial government passed a law making adultery punishable by stoning to death. The law also imposes severe sentences for rape, homosexuality, alcohol consumption and gambling.

PARIS – Judges fined the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center and bookshop in Paris $900,000 on October 27 for fleecing vulnerable followers, but did not ban the group from operating in France, AFP reported on October 28. France regards Scientology as a cult, not a religion, and has prosecuted individual Scientologists before, but this case marks the first time the organization as a whole has been punished.

The annual U.S. State Department Report on religious freedom released on October 25 has elicited criticism from many of the nations not favorably portrayed.  Reuters reports that countries cited for egregious violations of religious freedom include North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, China, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.  Offenders can be subject to U.S. sanctions.

BANDA ACEH – Officials have announced that they will review a law enacted by the former Aceh Legislative Council on September 14, which authorizes the stoning to death of adulterers, AFP reported on October 27. “The governor has refused to sign the by-law because of the stoning (provision), which is identical to a death sentence,” Aceh government spokesman Abdul Hamid Zein told AF. However Moharriadi Syafari, from the influential Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), claims that the law had automatically come into force in the middle of October, or 30 days after it was approved by the outgoing parliament.

AKMOLA – Local prosecutor Kairat Ramazanov announced that a Baptist, Viktor Leven, will face deportation charges if Akmola Regional Court upholds a lower court decision punishing him for “unregistered missionary activity,” Forum18 reported on October 26. Judge Akmaral Zhumabekova of Esil District Court fined Leven $43 under Article 375 Part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offences for preaching at a service in a private home in the town and ordered him deported for conducting “missionary activity.”  Leven denies that he is a missionary, and was simply practicing his faith.