In the News, May 5, 2015

May 5, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: Saudi intervention in Yemen, Ethiopian Jews protesting in Israel, and a shooting at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
A Middle Eastern House of Cards
by Drew Christiansen and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter op-ed
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/middle-eastern-house-cards
Instead of building and nourishing the key ingredients of a healthy nation-state such as civil institutions, a free press, free and fair elections, equality, religious tolerance and pluralism, national citizenship, and multiparty systems, Sykes-Picot laid the groundwork for intensified tribalism and violent religious sectarianism. They created a playing field for global and regional proxy conflicts amid a collection of self-serving dictatorial regimes, monarchies and eventually even a theocracy. 

AROUND THE WORLD
It’s Time for Politics in Yemen
by Dan DePetris
SISMEC
http://www.sismec.org/2015/05/05/its-time-for-politics-in-yemen/
Highly concerned that the security situation inside Yemen was no longer possible to ignore, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud made a decision that was highly uncharacteristic of Saudi behavior over the past decade: he went beyond the traditional option of funding acceptable proxies by assembling a Sunni Arab military coalition for conventional operations in Yemen. 

Ethiopian Jews’ Protests Draw Attention to Racism in Israel
by Luke Baker
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/05/05/ethiopian-jews-protests-draw-attention-to-racism-in-israel/
But on Sunday the situation was quite different—riot police battling thousands of Ethiopian Jews in the center of Tel Aviv. The spark was a week-old video showing two Israeli policemen punching, beating and trying to arrest an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. The two-minute video is the latest in a string of incidents that have raised uncomfortable questions about Israel’s treatment of ethnic minorities and its struggle to integrate newcomers into broader society, whether Jews or non-Jews. 

The New Charlie Hebdo Controversy
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/05/economist-explains-4
In other words, for Charlie Hebdo, as for French law, insulting an idea or an ideology is acceptable, however puerile or tasteless the manner in which it is done; insulting, let alone threatening, a group of people is not. 

China Orders Muslim Shopkeepers to Sell Alcohol, Cigarettes, to ‘Weaken’ Islam
by Simon Denyer
Washington Post blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/05/05/china-orders-muslim-shopkeepers-to-sell-alcohol-cigarettes-to-weaken-islam/
Facing widespread discontent over its repressive rule in the mainly Muslim province of Xinjiang, and mounting violence in the past two years, China has launched a series of “strike hard” campaigns to weaken the hold of Islam in the western region. 

Ever Again
by Christian Caryl
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/04/ever-again-genocide/
Why do people persist in killing each other on such a grand scale? And why do we keep allowing it to happen? 

The Morality of Debt
by Kenneth Dyson
Foreign Affairs
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-05-03/morality-debt
Credit and debt are more than just rational material exchanges within a market economy. They are socially constructed and center on matters of hard moral judgments about character, equity, and “good conscience.” These judgments are, in turn, bound up with powerful emotions of resentment, shame, and humiliation. Changing and conflicting representations of personal credit and debt deeply affect the power and welfare of states. 

DOMESTIC
Garland, Texas, Shooting Suspect Linked Himself to ISIS in Tweets
by Catherine Shoichet and Michael Pearson
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/04/us/garland-mohammed-drawing-contest-shooting/index.html
A day after police killed two gunmen who tried to ambush a Garland, Texas, event featuring controversial cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, details began to emerge about the shooters. Authorities are still trying to determine the suspects' motives, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Monday. 

The Self-Fulfilling Prophet Drawing Competition
by David Francis and Elias Groll
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/04/the-self-fulfilling-prophet-drawing-competition/
Meet the odd couple who built their careers goading, offending, and demonizing Muslims—until it all went wrong in Garland, Texas. 

Why a Bunch of Rabbis Went to Baltimore to Protest—and Pray
by Shmuel Herzfeld
Washington Post blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/05/why-a-bunch-of-rabbis-went-to-baltimore-to-protest-and-pray/
In moments like the one we're in, it’s important to remember that Americans, regardless of race or religion, have more in common than we don’t. 

Mike Huckabee and the Continuing Influence of Evangelicals
by Nate Cohn
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/upshot/mike-huckabee-and-the-continuing-influence-of-evangelicals.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1
The religious right remains the largest voting bloc in the Republican Party, and that gives Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, the potential to play a big role in the presidential nominating contest. But Mr. Huckabee, who was set to announce his presidential bid Tuesdaymorning, will have a harder time winning Iowa than he did in 2008, when religious conservatives had serious reservations about the two main candidates, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
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