In the News, April 16, 2015

April 16, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: how to stop radicalization of Muslim youth, a history of Jews in Argentina, and Nigerian schoolgirls are still missing. 
AROUND THE WORLD
Why Won’t Obama Help Syrian Christians?
by Hadil Kouki
Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/16/why-won-t-obama-help-my-syrian-christian-family.html
Christians, like my family, have been desperately trying to smuggle themselves out of Syria as ISIS tells them to convert or die and the White House ignores their desperate plight.

Fútbol, Jews, and the Making of Argentina
by Raanan Rein, Translated by Martha Grenzeback
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142956/raanan-rein-translated-by-martha-grenzeback/futbol-jews-and-the-making-of-argentina
Argentina earned a reputation for anti-Semitism thanks to its role as a post–World War II refuge for notorious Nazis and to the ugly racism of the military regime that ruled in the 1970s. But Rein, an Argentine Israeli historian, paints a very different picture of Argentina during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the South American nation opened its doors to European Jews. 
 

The Never-Ending Tragedy of Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls
by Ishaan Tharoor
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/04/14/the-never-ending-tragedy-of-nigerias-missing-schoolgirls/
It's been a whole year since Boko Haram militants stormed the remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria and abducted hundreds of schoolgirls from their dormitories and classrooms. The incident sparked worldwide horror and outrage, hashtags and protests. But 219 of the girls are still missing. 

The Scottish National Party Has Replaced the Church of Scotland
by Alex MassieSpectator
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9501602/the-snp-has-replaced-the-church-of-scotland/
If England’s election offers a meek choice between Cameron and Miliband, Scotland’s is a faith-based affair. 

New Laws Won’t Stem Radicalization of Muslim Youth
by Muhammad Abdul Bari
Al Jazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/04/laws-won-stem-radicalisation-uk-muslim-youth-150414113003049.html
We can only counter ISIL's propaganda with a successful counter-radicalization program that addresses the lives of young Muslim women without securitizing them, not by bringing new laws. Too many Muslim young people feel alienated because of the current political climate. 

DOMESTIC
Vatican Ends Scrutiny of US Nuns
by Krishnadev Calamur
NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/16/400094415/vatican-ends-scrutiny-of-u-s-nuns
Joshua J. McElwee, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, said the "news seems to bring to an end what had been an especially contentious period between the women religious and the Vatican."

Are Scientific and Religious Explanations Incompatible?
by Tania Lombrozo
NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/04/13/399309391/are-scientific-and-religious-explanations-incompatible
Are scientific and religious explanations philosophically incompatible? 

The Shifting Definition of Religious Freedom
by Eric Mataxas
BreakPoint
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/27177
The First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion in America. But is a newly-established religion already in place?
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