Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: Austria's crackdown on foreign funding for Muslim groups, continued violence in Darfur, and a Supreme Court case on religious freedom and Abercrombie & Fitch.
AROUND THE WORLD
Austria Passes ‘Law on Islam’ Banning Foreign Money for Muslim Groups
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/02/25/austria-passes-law-on-islam-banning-foreign-money-for-muslim-groups/
Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group. The “Law on Islam” bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Koran.
What Realists Get Wrong About Niebuhr
by Paul D. Miller
American Interest
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/02/21/what-realists-get-wrong-about-neibuhr/
Alongside growing disenchantment with democracy promotion comes a surge of interest in the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, the prominent and respected mid-20th century theologian, public intellectual, and founder of the school of Christian realism. Niebuhr was dissatisfied with the cultural Christianity of his day; he grew to reject the simplistic argument that Christian ethics lead to socialist politics and pacifist foreign policy.
George Clooney on Sudan’s Rape of Darfur
by George Clooney, John Prendergast, and Akshaya Kumar
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/opinion/george-clooney-on-sudans-rape-of-darfur.html
In the early 2000s, a brutal conflict in western Sudan between the government and rebels led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Darfuris, with millions displaced as refugees. In 2004, the United States declared Sudan’s actions a genocide. After that spike in attention and concern, the world has largely forgotten about Darfur. Unfortunately, the government of Sudan has not.
Libraries Burning: From Sarajevo to Mosul
by Stephen Schwartz
Huffington Post op-ed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schwartz/libraries-burning-from-sarajevo-mosul_b_6749898.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
I and my colleagues have been criticized for putting the defense of Islamic monuments ahead of the winning of military battles and rescue of people. While moderate Muslims unite with non-Muslims to defeat the "Islamic State," let us remember its victims of paper and ink no less than those of flesh and blood. Let us commit to the complete restoration of libraries in Mosul, in Sarajevo, and everywhere else religious and ethnic extremism has revealed its malevolent consequences.
In Egypt, the US Still Values Security over Human Rights
Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-obama-administration-refuses-to-break-its-silence-on-egypts-repression/2015/02/25/2518ce98-bd17-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html
“When dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism,” President Obama said at his counterterrorism summit last week. Four days after Mr. Obama spoke, a court in Egypt sentenced one of the country’s best-known liberal democratic activists, Alaa Abdel Fattah, to five years in prison, along with 20 other activists. The next day, President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi issued a new law that will allow his regime to prosecute any protest as terrorism.
France Plans Broader Dialogue with Its Large Muslim Minority
by Tom Heneghan
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/02/25/france-plans-broader-dialogue-with-its-large-muslim-minority/
France outlined plans for a broader dialogue with its Muslim minority on Wednesday after the faith’s official council proved unable to deal with the challenges presented by Islamist radicalisation. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the government would consult twice a year with a wide range of Muslim leaders, including not only the official French Muslim Council (CFCM) but also imams and intellectuals not represented in it, on problems facing the community.
DOMESTIC
Supreme Court to Hear Religious Freedom Case
by Ariane de Vogue
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/24/politics/supreme-court-hearing-abercrombie-fitch/index.html
Samantha Elauf was apprehensive to interview for a sales job at retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 2008 because the 17-year-old wore a headscarf in accordance with her Muslim faith. Ultimately Elauf failed to get the job, and her story has triggered a religious freedom debate regarding when an employer can be held liable under civil rights laws. The Supreme Court will hear the case on Wednesday.
Abercrombie & Fitch, the Supreme Court, and You
by Dwayne Leslie
Huffington Post op-ed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwayne-leslie/abercrombie-fitch-the-supreme-court_b_6750602.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
So troubling are the religious freedom issues in this case that the Seventh-day Adventist Church filed an amicus (or "friend of the court") brief in support of the young woman's position as the case wound its way through the court system. A range of diverse organizations—including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Christian Legal Society, National Association of Evangelicals, Church of God in Christ, American Islamic Congress, the Sikh Coalition and others—joined our brief, underscoring the critically important issues in this case.
Austria Passes ‘Law on Islam’ Banning Foreign Money for Muslim Groups
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/02/25/austria-passes-law-on-islam-banning-foreign-money-for-muslim-groups/
Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group. The “Law on Islam” bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Koran.
What Realists Get Wrong About Niebuhr
by Paul D. Miller
American Interest
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/02/21/what-realists-get-wrong-about-neibuhr/
Alongside growing disenchantment with democracy promotion comes a surge of interest in the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, the prominent and respected mid-20th century theologian, public intellectual, and founder of the school of Christian realism. Niebuhr was dissatisfied with the cultural Christianity of his day; he grew to reject the simplistic argument that Christian ethics lead to socialist politics and pacifist foreign policy.
George Clooney on Sudan’s Rape of Darfur
by George Clooney, John Prendergast, and Akshaya Kumar
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/opinion/george-clooney-on-sudans-rape-of-darfur.html
In the early 2000s, a brutal conflict in western Sudan between the government and rebels led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Darfuris, with millions displaced as refugees. In 2004, the United States declared Sudan’s actions a genocide. After that spike in attention and concern, the world has largely forgotten about Darfur. Unfortunately, the government of Sudan has not.
Libraries Burning: From Sarajevo to Mosul
by Stephen Schwartz
Huffington Post op-ed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schwartz/libraries-burning-from-sarajevo-mosul_b_6749898.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
I and my colleagues have been criticized for putting the defense of Islamic monuments ahead of the winning of military battles and rescue of people. While moderate Muslims unite with non-Muslims to defeat the "Islamic State," let us remember its victims of paper and ink no less than those of flesh and blood. Let us commit to the complete restoration of libraries in Mosul, in Sarajevo, and everywhere else religious and ethnic extremism has revealed its malevolent consequences.
In Egypt, the US Still Values Security over Human Rights
Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-obama-administration-refuses-to-break-its-silence-on-egypts-repression/2015/02/25/2518ce98-bd17-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html
“When dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism,” President Obama said at his counterterrorism summit last week. Four days after Mr. Obama spoke, a court in Egypt sentenced one of the country’s best-known liberal democratic activists, Alaa Abdel Fattah, to five years in prison, along with 20 other activists. The next day, President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi issued a new law that will allow his regime to prosecute any protest as terrorism.
France Plans Broader Dialogue with Its Large Muslim Minority
by Tom Heneghan
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/02/25/france-plans-broader-dialogue-with-its-large-muslim-minority/
France outlined plans for a broader dialogue with its Muslim minority on Wednesday after the faith’s official council proved unable to deal with the challenges presented by Islamist radicalisation. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the government would consult twice a year with a wide range of Muslim leaders, including not only the official French Muslim Council (CFCM) but also imams and intellectuals not represented in it, on problems facing the community.
DOMESTIC
Supreme Court to Hear Religious Freedom Case
by Ariane de Vogue
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/24/politics/supreme-court-hearing-abercrombie-fitch/index.html
Samantha Elauf was apprehensive to interview for a sales job at retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 2008 because the 17-year-old wore a headscarf in accordance with her Muslim faith. Ultimately Elauf failed to get the job, and her story has triggered a religious freedom debate regarding when an employer can be held liable under civil rights laws. The Supreme Court will hear the case on Wednesday.
Abercrombie & Fitch, the Supreme Court, and You
by Dwayne Leslie
Huffington Post op-ed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwayne-leslie/abercrombie-fitch-the-supreme-court_b_6750602.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
So troubling are the religious freedom issues in this case that the Seventh-day Adventist Church filed an amicus (or "friend of the court") brief in support of the young woman's position as the case wound its way through the court system. A range of diverse organizations—including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Christian Legal Society, National Association of Evangelicals, Church of God in Christ, American Islamic Congress, the Sikh Coalition and others—joined our brief, underscoring the critically important issues in this case.
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