In the News, November 13, 2014

November 13, 2014

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: Catholicism in Latin America, Rohingya refugee camps, bin Laden-inspired schools in Pakistan, Jerusalem, Syria, Iran, ISIS, religious freedom advocacy, and religious holidays on public school calendars.
AROUND THE WORLD
Latin America is Losing Its Catholic Identity
by Michael Paulson
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/upshot/latin-america-is-losing-its-catholic-identity.html?ref=todayspaper&abt=0002&abg=1
A sweeping new survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center, finds that 69 percent of Latin American adults say they are Catholic, down from an estimated 90 percent for much of the 20th century. The decline appears to have accelerated recently: Eight-four percent of those surveyed said they were raised Catholic, meaning there has been a 15-percentage-point drop-off in one generation. 

Burma’s Rohingya Camps Are Closed to the Outside World. Here’s What They Look Like
by Annie Gowen
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/11/12/burmas-rohingya-camps-are-closed-to-the-outside-world-heres-what-they-look-like/
Once, Burma's majority Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims lived peacefully. Today, many Rohingya have been closed off in refugee camps for more than two years after a wave of religious violence swept the country, ­leaving thousands displaced. 

The School That Says Osama Bin Laden Was a Hero
by Mobeen Azhar
BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30005278A hardline cleric in Pakistan is teaching the ideas of Osama Bin Laden in religious schools for about 5,000 children. Even while the Pakistani government fights the Taliban in the north-west of the country, it has no plans to close schools educating what could be the next generation of pro-Taliban jihadis. 

The Jewish Divide Over Jerusalem’s Most Sensitive Holy Site
by Emily Harris
NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/11/12/363346575/israeli-jews-divided-over-right-to-visit-jerusalem-holy-site
Israeli policy forbids Jews to pray on the Temple Mount based on the reasoning that this would surely cause tensions with Muslims who are worshipping in the same space. But Jews are allowed to visit during the same time tourists are let in. 

From Norway With Pain
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/11/parliamentarians-and-religious-freedom
In Oslo at the weekend Abid Raja joined another up-and-coming, centre-right legislator—Elizabeth Berridge, a Conservative lawyer who in 2011 became the youngest woman in the British House of Lords—in cofounding an international pressure group for religious liberty, which hopes to attract the support of parliamentarians from all over the world.  

Better Safe Than Sorry
by J. Trevor Ulbrick
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142355/j-trevor-ulbrick/better-safe-than-sorry
To date, three million Syrians have fled the war in their country. The exodus has now surpassed the Rwandan genocide as the largest refugee crisis since World War II. So far, the single biggest displacement was triggered by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s (ISIS) march into Kobani, which led 
200,000 civilians to flee in just four days.
 

Radical Turks
by Gunes Murat Tezcur and Sabri Cifci
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142352/gunes-murat-tezcur-and-sabri-ciftci/radical-turks
The past few weeks have seen a wave of Muslims from all around the world joining the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Although most of the attention has been on those coming from the United States and Europe, the bulk of foreign fighters has actually come from Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey. 

Swiftboating in the Islamic Republic
by Hossein Bastani
Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/11/iran_compromise_rouhani_nuclear_deal_ashura_imam_hussein_flip_flop
Last week, hundreds of billboards appeared across Iran depicting the U.S. Capitol building among the red tents of an enemy army, bent on destroying a true Islamic government. As the deadline for a deal over Iran's nuclear program approaches, it is just the latest example of how hard-liners in Tehran are using Shiite history to undermine President Hassan Rouhani's efforts to strike a deal with the United States. 

DOMESTIC
Holidays’ Names Stricken From Next Year’s Montgomery Schools Calendar
by Donna St. George
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/christmas-stricken-from-school-calendar-after-muslims-ask-for-equal-treatment/2014/11/11/f1b789a6-6931-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html
Montgomery’s Board of Education voted 7 to 1 Tuesday to eliminate references to all religious holidays on the published calendar for 2015-2016, a decision that followed a request from Muslim community leaders to give equal billing to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha.
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