NewsTracker Answers for week of May 19, 2014

Q: A Sudanese court has sentenced a 27-year-old woman to death for converting to Christianity even though she had been raised as a Christian since she was 6 years old when her Muslim father left her Christian mother. Where is Sudan?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The court found Meriam Yehya Ibrahim guilty of apostasy - the abandonment or renunciation of a religion. Apostasy also is a crime in Sudan's northern neighbor . . .

A. Chad

B. Egypt

C. Ethiopia

D. Saudi Arabia

B. The Republic of the Sudan is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. In Egypt, apostasy is punishable by three years in prison.

Q: Which nation across the Red Sea from Sudan is the birthplace of Islam and one of the countries that also has the death penalty for apostasy?

A. Afghanistan

B. Pakistan

C. Somalia

D. Saudi Arabia

D. Saudi Arabia's constitution is based on the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. The public practice of any other religion is prohibited. All 20 of the nations that now prohibit apostasy are majority Islamic nations. But, throughout history, religions have punished apostates with everything from burning at the stake to lawsuits.

Q: Religion was a factor in South Sudan's split from Sudan in 2011. South Sudan independence followed a . . .

A. Vote by the people

B. Civil war

C. Both

C. South Sudan became an independent state on July 9, 2011, following a referendum that passed with 98.83 percent of the vote. The vote was held after two long, bloody civil wars between the mostly Muslim people in the north and the mostly Christian and animist people in the south.

Q: South Sudan is covered by grassland, swamps and tropical forest. The Republic of Sudan is mostly covered by the . . .

A. Sahara Desert

B. Nile Delta

C. Atlas Mountains

D. All of the above

A. The Sahara is the world's second largest desert and covers most of northern Africa.