Around the same time, the minister of religion, Aqil al-Munawar, publicly revealed that he consulted soothsayers an abangan practice.

ECONOMIST: Islam in South-East Asia

Megawati's father was Indonesia's first president and Wahid's its first minister of religion.

CNN: A PRESIDENTIAL DARK HORSE

At one time, he thought of becoming a minister of religion.

ECONOMIST: John Rawls

"Alwi Shihab may speak English and Arabic very well, " a political analyst says of the urbane new Foreign Minister, a former professor of comparative religion at Harvard.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Indonesia: Too Many Cooks?

"Don't forget that a person's religion is the religion of his friend, " the prime minister said of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition leader, who like many of his sect, is a member of Turkey's secular Republican People's party.

WSJ: Turkey's Shiites Fear Contagion

Party leader and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called for a reformation in the attitude of Muslims toward their religion, warning them that devotion to rigid Islamist practices could thwart the nation's economic development.

CNN: Mahathir's Worldly Concerns

I've also done a lot when I was home secretary, minister of the interior, to ensure that the Muslim community in France could practice their religion and their creed like any other -- any other religion or creed in France.

WHITEHOUSE: THE WHITE HOUSE

The minister is reported to have said the concept of workers labouring under the hot sun is not part of the religion or culture of the UAE.

BBC: Construction in Dubai