Syria’s Minorities Fear Opposition Movement
Religious minorities make up 26 percent of Syria's 22.5 million citizens. Many of them fear persecution if President Bashar al Assad regime is toppled.
Religion serves as the social bedrock of many communities around the globe, while also acting as a source of division and conflict. Pulitzer Center stories tagged with “Religion” feature reporting on faith, its effects on people’s lives, and the role it plays in civil society. Use the Pulitzer Center Lesson Builder to find and create lesson plans on religion.
Religious minorities make up 26 percent of Syria's 22.5 million citizens. Many of them fear persecution if President Bashar al Assad regime is toppled.
Pulitzer grantee David Enders shares his thoughts on religious reconciliation at a conference in Baghdad—a scenario that would have been highly unlikely three years ago.
Kidnapped and raped by four men, a 17-year-old Pakistani girl fights an uphill battle against Pakistan’s trial procedures and the stigma of not submitting to an honor killing.
Even as the U.S. draws down troop levels, concrete barriers still define Baghdad, a troubling reminder of the vast gulf separating the Iraqi public from the rulers ostensibly elected to serve them.
Like nearly every village in South Asia, Allahpur, in the east Indian state of Bihar, is geographically divided on the lines of caste. On one side of a dirt track live the upper-caste Muslims (Syeds, Sheikhs and Pathans) and on the other side live the lower-caste Muslims (Ansaris, Dhunias and Raains). There are only four Hindu families in Allahpur, and they are all lower castes, their houses amid the low-caste Muslim houses.
As the influence of the Roman Catholic Church wanes in Brazil, novelas (TV soap operas) shape views on women's reproductive rights. The birth rate—6 children per woman in 1960—has decreased to 1.9 today.
Nagorno-Karabakh faces an unpredictable future as it fights for international recognition.
Nigeria's presidential election in April resulted in massive violence in northern parts of the country by those rejecting the loss by the main presidential challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari.
In the southwest corner of Russia, an Islamist insurgency has spread out of Chechnya into neighboring regions of the North Caucasus and is claiming hundreds of lives a year.
Recent violence from Islamic militants has worsened the already poor economical conditions in Nalchik and the surrounding villages in Kabardino-Balkaria.
In Peshawar, the Pashtun people hold on to their cultural heritage while living in constant fear of Taliban Militancy.
In a country where the trauma never ceases, at least two-thirds of Afghanis suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. With suffering almost completely unrecognized, prayer is the only therapy.