Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: nationalism and Islam in the Middle East, nuclear non-proliferation, Pope Francis speaks to world leaders at Davos, and the role of the Catholic Church in the Irish school system.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
The Paradigm of the State, Religion and Violence in the Middle East
by Robert Swift
Media Line
http://www.themedialine.org/featured/the-paradigm-of-the-state-religion-and-violence-in-the-middle-east/
“We tend to assume that the discrimination towards religious minorities comes about because Islam is intolerant and does not separate between religion and politics, but that ignores centuries of history.” Violence towards minority groups is actually the result of a form of nationalism that uses Islam to solidify its concept of identity, Jocelyne Cesari said.
Breaking the Taboo on the Use of Nuclear Arms
By Fr. Drew Christiansen and Gregory M. Reichberg
New York Times letter to the editor
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/opinion/breaking-the-taboo-on-the-use-of-nuclear-arms.html
“Smaller U.S. Bombs Are Adding Fuel to Nuclear Fear” (front page, Jan. 12) reports that the Pentagon has been testing a precision nuclear warhead that can be delivered by cruise missile. These innovations are likely to erode the protections provided by deterrence among the superpowers, provoke proliferation among nonnuclear weapons states and increase the risk transfer to nonstate actors.
AROUND THE WORLD
Pope Francis Tells Davos Elite: Consider your Role in Creating Poverty
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2016/01/21/pope-francis-tells-davos-elite-consider-your-role-in-creating-poverty/
Pope Francis told members of the world’s wealthy political and economic elite on Wednesday that they should not be deaf to the cry of the poor and must consider their own role in creating inequality. New technologies such as robotics must also not be allowed to replace humans with “soulless machines,” he said in a message to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Taliban Attack at Bacha Khan University in Pakistan Renews Fears
by Declan Walsh, Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, and Ismail Khan
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/world/asia/bacha-khan-university-attack-charsadda.html?ref=world&_r=0
Attacks on education have long been a signature atrocity of the Pakistani Taliban, whose militants have set schools on fire, banished girls from classrooms and gunned down students at their desks in a quest to impose an extremist ideology on Pakistani society.
Feared Shiite Militias Back in Spotlight after Three Americans Vanish in Iraq
by Erin Cunningham
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/feared-shiite-militias-back-in-spotlight-after-three-americans-vanish-in-iraq/2016/01/21/f62c51ee-beec-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html
The Shiite militias that Iraq mobilized to fight the Islamic State, and whose members are suspected of taking the three Americans, have long used their weapons and power to crack down on activities they deem un-Islamic. The country was once proudly secular, but religious parties have dominated the political landscape since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. A sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shiites later empowered religious hard-liners.
Can a Book Threaten Israel’s Jewish Identity?
by Shmuel Rosner
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/can-a-book-threaten-israels-jewish-identity.html?ref=world
The Israeli novelist Dorit Rabinyan has hit the jackpot: First, her latest book, “Borderlife,” became an issue of fierce debate and controversy. Then it became a symbol of liberty and progress. And then, of course, it became a best seller. What spurred Ms. Rabinyan’s good fortune? A bureaucratic decision of little importance. In December, the Ministry of Education decided not to include “Borderlife” on its list of required reading for the matriculation exams.
In Ireland, ‘Baptism Barrier’ for Public School Draws Protests
by Douglas Dalby
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/world/europe/ireland-catholic-baptism-school.html?ref=world
Almost all state-funded primary schools in Ireland — nearly 97 percent — are under church control, and Irish law allows them to consider religion the main factor in admissions. As a practical matter, that means local schools, already oversubscribed, often choose to admit Catholics over non-Catholics.
The Evangelical Drumbeat of Pope Francis
by Robert Barron
Real Clear Religion
http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2016/01/21/the_evangelical_drumbeat_of_pope_francis.html
No one doubts that Pope Francis has a genius for the provocative symbolic gesture: washing the feet of women and non-Christians on Holy Thursday, paying his own hotel bill in Rome, opting to reside in the modest Casa Santa Marta, and driving in a tiny car while at World Youth Day in Rio. But does his outreach to evangelicals go beyond the merely symbolic? Is it grounded in more substantial theological commitments?
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