By Alessandro Amicarelli — If we want to understand the Tai Ji Men case, we inevitably return to one day: December 19, 1996. You will not find it in schoolbooks, and it has not (yet) become a national holiday, but for those who monitor freedom of religion or belief in Taiwan, it marks a clear turning point. On that day, prosecutors and police raided Tai Ji Men. Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, his wife, and several dizi (disciples) were detained. Their detention was not a quiet procedural act: that evening, images of Dr. Hong, his wife, and the disciples were broadcast across national TV, framed and commented on as if they were criminals.

by Alessandro Amicarelli — CESNUR 2025 took place in Cape Town last November 2025. Now several months later, we can see its importance more clearly. FOB – Freedom of Belief played a full part. President Alessandro Amicarelli attended with Rosita Šorytė from Lithuania and Susan Palmer from Canada, both members of the Scientific Committee of FOB. Their voices stood out in human rights discussions. They cited actual cases and field accounts. Discrimination hits religious minorities every day. Press attacks, "anti-cult" language, blurry laws still strike at groups others dislike.

The European Times — Slovakia’s long-running dispute over how the state recognizes religion resurfaced on Tuesday at the OSCE ODIHR meeting in Vienna, where Public Defender of Rights Róbert Dobrovodský indicated that he intends to challenge the country’s requirement that a religious community gather 50,000 adult adherents before it can register officially.

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2026 Annual Report. The report documents religious freedom conditions throughout 2025 and sets forth U.S. policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and U.S. Congress to advance freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) abroad.