Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: causes of the Garissa University attack in Kenya, Pope Francis calls the mass killings of Armenians a "genocide," and the story of the Utah compromise between gay rights and religious rights activists.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
A More Realistic Era in US-Israeli Relations
by Drew Christiansen and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/news/global/more-realistic-era-us-israeli-relations
For the first time since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, US-Israeli relations are undergoing a real earthquake. What started off as a lack of personal chemistry between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has evolved into a real diplomatic crisis between the two nations. Relations have entered uncharted waters and there is a growing sense in Washington that a significant and irreversible change of momentum has occurred.
AROUND THE WORLD
Yemen’s President: The Houthis Must Be Stopped
by Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/opinion/the-west-must-help-save-yemen.html?_r=0
The Houthi rebels are puppets of the Iranian government, and the government of Iran does not care for the fate of ordinary Yemenis; it only cares about achieving regional hegemony. On behalf of all Yemenis, I call on the agents of chaos to surrender and to stop serving the ambitions of others.
Kenya's Own Worst Enemy
by Paul Hidalgo
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/143666/paul-hidalgo/kenyas-own-worst-enemy
For their part, Kenyan leaders have long contended that entities outside the government, namely Somalia-based fighters and the country’s minority Muslim population, are to blame. But the truth is that the main culprits are the culture and policies of the government itself.
Christian Lives Matter
by Johnnie Moore
Fox News op-ed
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/04/10/christian-lives-matter/
The Garissa University attack—which happened just over one week ago—was the latest in a series of escalating threats against Christians by jihadists who feel emboldened by western inaction to similar attacks on Christians in countries like Iraq. The tragedy is that rather than becoming increasingly outraged by these terrorist atrocities, we seem to be becoming desensitized to them.
It’s Time for Tunisians to Take the Next Big Step
by Abdulwahab Alkebsi and Mohamad Malouche
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/11/tunisians-next-big-step-arab-spring/
But it is important to remember that the Arab Spring protests were driven by economic grievances. The revolution’s fundamental goals included not just political freedom—which in Tunisia has been mostly, if tentatively, achieved—but also an end to economic domination by sclerotic bureaucracies and well-connected elites. Thus far, this side of the equation has been largely neglected.
The Reconquista of the Mosque of Córdoba
by Eric Calderwood
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/10/the-reconquista-of-the-mosque-of-cordoba-spain-catholic-church-islam/
Spain’s most famous mosque is at the center of a dispute between activists seeking to preserve its Muslim heritage, and the Catholic Church, which has claimed it as its own. The result could determine the future of Islam in Europe.
Anger Over Armenia
Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21648470-after-francis-calls-genocide-its-name-turkey-recalls-its-ambassador-anger-over-armenia
In deciding to ignore Turkish entreaties, the pope and his diplomatic advisers in the Secretariat of State will have weighed two factors. On the one hand, there is no Muslim state with which the Holy See has built warmer relations than Turkey. But such goodwill apparently counted for less than the Vatican’s growing desperation over Islamist persecution of Christians, and what officials see as the failure of Muslim clerics and politicians to effectively oppose it.
“Bad Religion” and Religion Scholars Gone A.W.O.L. (Part 1)
by M. Christian Green
Cakewalks and Climbing Walls
http://cakewalksandclimbingwalls.com/2015/04/10/bad-religion-and-religion-scholars-gone-a-w-o-l-part-1/
At a time, in which the humanities are under siege and when phenomena from cannibalistic and amulet-laden Christian warriors in the Central African Republic to the apocalyptic caliphate of the Islamic State beg for understanding and translation, can the discipline of religious studies return to active duty instead of floating in the ether of its own theoretical and methodological discussions?
DOMESTIC
Gay Rights, Religious Rights and a Compromise in an Unlikely Place: Utah
by Niraj Chokshi
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gay-rights-religious-rights-and-a-compromise-in-an-unlikely-place-utah/2015/04/12/39278b12-ded8-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html
The compromise between conservatives and gay rights activists in Utah took years of discussion and an unlikely trust to reach.
To Keep Free of Federal Reins, Wyoming Catholic College Rejects Student Aid
by Jack Healy
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/us/to-keep-free-of-federal-reins-wyoming-catholic-college-rejects-student-aid.html?ref=todayspaper
An insurrection is brewing here at Wyoming Catholic College, a tiny redoubt of cowboy-style Catholicism where students learn about horseback riding and Thomas Aquinas, and take grueling mountain hikes conducted entirely in Latin. Citing concerns about federal rules on birth control and same-sex marriage, the school decided this winter to join a handful of other religious colleges in refusing to participate in the federal student-aid programs that help about two-thirds of students afford college.
A More Realistic Era in US-Israeli Relations
by Drew Christiansen and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/news/global/more-realistic-era-us-israeli-relations
For the first time since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, US-Israeli relations are undergoing a real earthquake. What started off as a lack of personal chemistry between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has evolved into a real diplomatic crisis between the two nations. Relations have entered uncharted waters and there is a growing sense in Washington that a significant and irreversible change of momentum has occurred.
AROUND THE WORLD
Yemen’s President: The Houthis Must Be Stopped
by Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/opinion/the-west-must-help-save-yemen.html?_r=0
The Houthi rebels are puppets of the Iranian government, and the government of Iran does not care for the fate of ordinary Yemenis; it only cares about achieving regional hegemony. On behalf of all Yemenis, I call on the agents of chaos to surrender and to stop serving the ambitions of others.
Kenya's Own Worst Enemy
by Paul Hidalgo
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/143666/paul-hidalgo/kenyas-own-worst-enemy
For their part, Kenyan leaders have long contended that entities outside the government, namely Somalia-based fighters and the country’s minority Muslim population, are to blame. But the truth is that the main culprits are the culture and policies of the government itself.
Christian Lives Matter
by Johnnie Moore
Fox News op-ed
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/04/10/christian-lives-matter/
The Garissa University attack—which happened just over one week ago—was the latest in a series of escalating threats against Christians by jihadists who feel emboldened by western inaction to similar attacks on Christians in countries like Iraq. The tragedy is that rather than becoming increasingly outraged by these terrorist atrocities, we seem to be becoming desensitized to them.
It’s Time for Tunisians to Take the Next Big Step
by Abdulwahab Alkebsi and Mohamad Malouche
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/11/tunisians-next-big-step-arab-spring/
But it is important to remember that the Arab Spring protests were driven by economic grievances. The revolution’s fundamental goals included not just political freedom—which in Tunisia has been mostly, if tentatively, achieved—but also an end to economic domination by sclerotic bureaucracies and well-connected elites. Thus far, this side of the equation has been largely neglected.
The Reconquista of the Mosque of Córdoba
by Eric Calderwood
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/10/the-reconquista-of-the-mosque-of-cordoba-spain-catholic-church-islam/
Spain’s most famous mosque is at the center of a dispute between activists seeking to preserve its Muslim heritage, and the Catholic Church, which has claimed it as its own. The result could determine the future of Islam in Europe.
Anger Over Armenia
Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21648470-after-francis-calls-genocide-its-name-turkey-recalls-its-ambassador-anger-over-armenia
In deciding to ignore Turkish entreaties, the pope and his diplomatic advisers in the Secretariat of State will have weighed two factors. On the one hand, there is no Muslim state with which the Holy See has built warmer relations than Turkey. But such goodwill apparently counted for less than the Vatican’s growing desperation over Islamist persecution of Christians, and what officials see as the failure of Muslim clerics and politicians to effectively oppose it.
“Bad Religion” and Religion Scholars Gone A.W.O.L. (Part 1)
by M. Christian Green
Cakewalks and Climbing Walls
http://cakewalksandclimbingwalls.com/2015/04/10/bad-religion-and-religion-scholars-gone-a-w-o-l-part-1/
At a time, in which the humanities are under siege and when phenomena from cannibalistic and amulet-laden Christian warriors in the Central African Republic to the apocalyptic caliphate of the Islamic State beg for understanding and translation, can the discipline of religious studies return to active duty instead of floating in the ether of its own theoretical and methodological discussions?
DOMESTIC
Gay Rights, Religious Rights and a Compromise in an Unlikely Place: Utah
by Niraj Chokshi
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gay-rights-religious-rights-and-a-compromise-in-an-unlikely-place-utah/2015/04/12/39278b12-ded8-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html
The compromise between conservatives and gay rights activists in Utah took years of discussion and an unlikely trust to reach.
To Keep Free of Federal Reins, Wyoming Catholic College Rejects Student Aid
by Jack Healy
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/us/to-keep-free-of-federal-reins-wyoming-catholic-college-rejects-student-aid.html?ref=todayspaper
An insurrection is brewing here at Wyoming Catholic College, a tiny redoubt of cowboy-style Catholicism where students learn about horseback riding and Thomas Aquinas, and take grueling mountain hikes conducted entirely in Latin. Citing concerns about federal rules on birth control and same-sex marriage, the school decided this winter to join a handful of other religious colleges in refusing to participate in the federal student-aid programs that help about two-thirds of students afford college.
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