Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the Saudi military intervention in Yemen, Muhammadu Buhari's win in Nigeria, and religious freedom in the West.
AROUND THE WORLD
Saudi Arabia’s Ominous Reach Into Yemen
New York Times editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/saudi-arabias-ominous-reach-into-yemen.html?_r=0
The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen threatens to turn what has been a civil war between competing branches of Islam into a wider regional struggle involving Iran. It could also destroy any hope of stability in Yemen. Rather than bombing, Saudi Arabia should be using its power and influence to begin diplomatic negotiations, which offer the best hope of a durable solution.
Egypt’s Grand Mufti: No Justification for Terror in Any Religion
by Shawky Allam
Reuters op-ed
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/31/no-justification-for-terror-in-any-religion/
Murder and terror can never be the outcome of any proper understanding of religion. Rather, they are a manifestation of the immorality of people with cruel hearts, arrogant souls and warped logic.
Egypt’s ‘Meaningless’ Rule of Law
Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-meaningless-rule-of-law/2015/03/31/c45037d2-d7c8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html
A statement said Mr. Obama overrode the human rights requirements for releasing military aid, including that Egypt hold parliamentary elections and take “steps to protect and advance the rights of women,” “in the interest of U.S. national security.” It didn’t explain what U.S. interest is served by backing a regime that engages in the brutal and lawless oppression of women such as Shaimaa al-Sabbagh and Azza Soliman.
Fourth Time’s the Charm: Buhari Ousts Jonathan in Nigerian Election
by Siobhan O’Grady
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/31/fourth-time-the-charm-buhari-ousts-goodluck-jonathan-nigerian-election/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=%2AEditors%20Picks&utm_campaign=2014_EditorsPicksRS3%2F31
In his fourth democratic bid for Nigeria’s presidency, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari finally claimed victory Tuesday, beating incumbent Goodluck Jonathan by more than 2.5 million votes. The election marks the first time since Nigeria’s 1999 transition from military rule that the People’s Democratic Party has lost the country’s presidency and the first time an incumbent has been ousted from the office.
SPIEGEL Interview with Slavoj Zizek: 'The Greatest Threat to Europe Is Its Inertia'
by Romain Leick
Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/slavoj-zizek-greatest-threat-to-europe-is-it-s-inertia-a-1023506.html
The shock over the terrorist attacks in Paris recently inspired him to write a polemical philosophical essay on Islam and modernism. In it, he addresses the rupture between tolerance in the Western world and the fundamental hatred of radical Islam against Western liberalism and makes a plea for the West to insist on the legacy of Enlightenment and its universal values. He argues that the true sovereignty of the people is only possible through a renewal of the Left.
The Greener Pope
by Kate Galbraith
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/30/the-greener-pope-francis-climate-change/
Francis is about to put climate change front and center on his papal agenda. But can his Holiness heal the political divide?
DOMESTIC
Bills on ‘Religious Freedom’ Upset Capitols in Arkansas and Indiana
by Campbell Robertson and Richard Perez-Pena
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/us/religious-freedom-restoration-act-arkansas-indiana.html?ref=todayspaper
The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as Indiana’s political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples.
Compassion Goes Both Ways
by Kathleen Parker
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/compassion-goes-both-ways/2015/03/31/83979e6c-d7e9-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html
As Indiana moves to clarify its intent, the perception of discrimination will persist until RFRA laws are eliminated. This is the goal of many activists. But discrimination is a two-way street, and tolerance should apply equally to sexual orientation as well as to religious belief.
The New Intolerance
by Mary Eberstadt
First Things
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/03/the-new-intolerance
Pope Francis and Cardinal Kasper teach that mercy means meeting people where they live. We should take their counsel to heart and apply it to ourselves at the present time, looking at where many Christians in America and Europe and other places live today because they are Christians. We are not speaking here of the believers across the planet who suffer grievous harm for the sake of faith. We’re talking instead about something else: the slow-motion marginalizing and penalizing of believers on the very doorsteps of the churches of North America, Europe, and elsewhere, in societies that are the very historical strongholds of political and religious liberty.
Saudi Arabia’s Ominous Reach Into Yemen
New York Times editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/saudi-arabias-ominous-reach-into-yemen.html?_r=0
The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen threatens to turn what has been a civil war between competing branches of Islam into a wider regional struggle involving Iran. It could also destroy any hope of stability in Yemen. Rather than bombing, Saudi Arabia should be using its power and influence to begin diplomatic negotiations, which offer the best hope of a durable solution.
Egypt’s Grand Mufti: No Justification for Terror in Any Religion
by Shawky Allam
Reuters op-ed
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/31/no-justification-for-terror-in-any-religion/
Murder and terror can never be the outcome of any proper understanding of religion. Rather, they are a manifestation of the immorality of people with cruel hearts, arrogant souls and warped logic.
Egypt’s ‘Meaningless’ Rule of Law
Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-meaningless-rule-of-law/2015/03/31/c45037d2-d7c8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html
A statement said Mr. Obama overrode the human rights requirements for releasing military aid, including that Egypt hold parliamentary elections and take “steps to protect and advance the rights of women,” “in the interest of U.S. national security.” It didn’t explain what U.S. interest is served by backing a regime that engages in the brutal and lawless oppression of women such as Shaimaa al-Sabbagh and Azza Soliman.
Fourth Time’s the Charm: Buhari Ousts Jonathan in Nigerian Election
by Siobhan O’Grady
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/31/fourth-time-the-charm-buhari-ousts-goodluck-jonathan-nigerian-election/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=%2AEditors%20Picks&utm_campaign=2014_EditorsPicksRS3%2F31
In his fourth democratic bid for Nigeria’s presidency, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari finally claimed victory Tuesday, beating incumbent Goodluck Jonathan by more than 2.5 million votes. The election marks the first time since Nigeria’s 1999 transition from military rule that the People’s Democratic Party has lost the country’s presidency and the first time an incumbent has been ousted from the office.
SPIEGEL Interview with Slavoj Zizek: 'The Greatest Threat to Europe Is Its Inertia'
by Romain Leick
Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/slavoj-zizek-greatest-threat-to-europe-is-it-s-inertia-a-1023506.html
The shock over the terrorist attacks in Paris recently inspired him to write a polemical philosophical essay on Islam and modernism. In it, he addresses the rupture between tolerance in the Western world and the fundamental hatred of radical Islam against Western liberalism and makes a plea for the West to insist on the legacy of Enlightenment and its universal values. He argues that the true sovereignty of the people is only possible through a renewal of the Left.
The Greener Pope
by Kate Galbraith
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/30/the-greener-pope-francis-climate-change/
Francis is about to put climate change front and center on his papal agenda. But can his Holiness heal the political divide?
DOMESTIC
Bills on ‘Religious Freedom’ Upset Capitols in Arkansas and Indiana
by Campbell Robertson and Richard Perez-Pena
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/us/religious-freedom-restoration-act-arkansas-indiana.html?ref=todayspaper
The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as Indiana’s political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples.
Compassion Goes Both Ways
by Kathleen Parker
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/compassion-goes-both-ways/2015/03/31/83979e6c-d7e9-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html
As Indiana moves to clarify its intent, the perception of discrimination will persist until RFRA laws are eliminated. This is the goal of many activists. But discrimination is a two-way street, and tolerance should apply equally to sexual orientation as well as to religious belief.
The New Intolerance
by Mary Eberstadt
First Things
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/03/the-new-intolerance
Pope Francis and Cardinal Kasper teach that mercy means meeting people where they live. We should take their counsel to heart and apply it to ourselves at the present time, looking at where many Christians in America and Europe and other places live today because they are Christians. We are not speaking here of the believers across the planet who suffer grievous harm for the sake of faith. We’re talking instead about something else: the slow-motion marginalizing and penalizing of believers on the very doorsteps of the churches of North America, Europe, and elsewhere, in societies that are the very historical strongholds of political and religious liberty.
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