In the News, November 21, 2014

November 21, 2014

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the Muslim Brotherhood, extremism in Tunisia, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pope Francis, and church-state relations in Greece and New York. 
AROUND THE WORLD
Muslim Brotherhood Leader Arrested in Egypt
by Merna Thomas
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/world/middleeast/muslim-brotherhood-leader-arrested-in-egypt.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
The last remaining senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who was not in prison was arrested on Thursday by the Egyptian police, closing off the government’s main channel of communication with the group. 

Tunisians Are Shaken as Young Women Turn to Extremism
by Carlotta Gall
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/world/middleeast/tunisia-islamic-radicals-extremism.html?ref=todayspaper
It has also driven home the fact that—nearly four years after events in Tunisia set off the Arab Spring, and with presidential elections Sunday—the lure of extremism has touched virtually every part of society, men and women, the poor and the comfortable alike. 

The Age of the Lone Wolf Intifada
by Gregg Carlstrom
Politico
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/11/the-age-of-the-lone-wolf-intifada-113067.html#.VG9Ot5PF9lZ
The chatter feels a bit dated. Palestinians are, by their own admission, divided and exhausted, bereft of any credible leaders. Protests in East Jerusalem and the West Bank draw dozens of frustrated youth, not thousands as in years past. Israeli security officials say the recent attacks do not seem to have been directed by any formal organization. 

Clergy, Interfaith Activists Aim to Prevent ‘Religious War’ Among Israelis and Palestinians
by Jaweed Kaleem and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/religious-war-israel-palestine_n_6188568.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
In the area around Gush Etzion, a series of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Shaul David Judelman on Tuesday joined Palestinian friends to write a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, pleading for help. They asked Abbas to order clerics from Al-Aqsa, a Jerusalem mosque that’s the third-holiest in Islam, to go to schools and “teach for calming the city.” Jerusalem, the interfaith group wrote, was feeling different these days, with religious tension escalating. 

Pope Francis Demands Just Distribution of World’s Wealth
by Nicole Winfield
Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/20/pope-distribution-of-wealth_n_6192132.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular 
Pope Francis demanded a more just distribution of the world's bounty for the poor and hungry Thursday, telling a UN conference on nutrition that access to food is a basic human right that shouldn't be subject to market speculation and quests for profit.
 

Church and State in Greece: A New Concordat
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/11/church-and-state-greece
Apart from the personal hardship that many church-goers are facing because of a lingering economic crisis, they face a new uncertainty in the coming months—the possible advent of a leftist government which is committed to separating church and state in what has hitherto been one of the most "theocratic" countries in Europe. 

Stopping an Awakening in Iraq Before It Can Start
by David Ignatius
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-stopping-an-awakening-before-it-can-start/2014/11/20/5939c22a-70fc-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html
But this time around, the tribal leaders must combat a deeply entrenched enemy. The Islamic State controls the ground; it has the intelligence; it has fierce, combat-hardened fighters. Obama is right to seek Sunni “boots on the ground” for the campaign against the jihadists, but he needs to explain better to the American public the roots of this conflict, and how difficult and protracted it will be. 

The Myth of the Caliphate
by Nick Danforth
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142379/nick-danforth/the-myth-of-the-caliphate
By treating the Ottoman caliphate as the final historical reference point for what current Islamists aspire to, Western pundits conflate the contemporary dream of a powerful, universally respected Muslim leader with the late Ottoman sultan's failed dream of becoming such a figure himself. 

DOMESTIC
Mayor de Blasio and Cardinal Dolan: Beyond the Church-State Separation
by Matt Flegenheimer
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/nyregion/beyond-the-church-state-separation-dolan-and-de-blasio.html
Less than a year into Mr. de Blasio’s tenure, he and Cardinal Dolan, two of New York’s most powerful figures, have found much to gain from each other, forging an unexpectedly useful relationship that so far seems blessed by fortuitous timing and ostensibly genuine affection.
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