In the News, November 30, 2015

November 30, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the Pope in Africa, a Muslim awakening, and Tibet and China.

BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
Do Not Harden Your Hearts
by Drew Christiansen S.J. and Ra'fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter op-ed
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/do-not-harden-your-hearts
As Americans, we should not stigmatize hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who are fleeing for their very lives because of the violence carried out by an extremist fringe, and not only for moral and humanitarian reasons. The US has every strategic reason to refuse to succumb to fear and to continue providing refuge for those escaping the nightmare of war.

POPE FRANCIS IN AFRICA
Pope Francis Launches Peace Bid as He Arrives in Central African Republic
by Kevin Sieff
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-francis-calls-for-new-chapter--in-war-torn-central-african...
Pope Francis arrived Sunday morning in this war-­ravaged capital, launching his bid to end a conflict that largely follows religious lines and that has killed more than 6,000 people in two years. Since early 2013, members of the loosely allied, mostly Muslim Seleka rebels (now called the ex-Seleka after being formally dissolved) have fought against a band of mostly Christian militias called the anti-balaka.

Pope Francis Offers Mass in Uganda at Shrine for Christian Martyrs
by Josh Kron and Jeffery Gettleman
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/africa/pope-francis-uganda.html?ref=world
On the very spot where some of this nation’s first Christians were burned to death for adhering to their beliefs, Pope Francis offered a Mass for hundreds of thousands of Ugandans on Saturday. He spoke in solemn tones about how “worldly pleasures and earthly power do not bring lasting joy,” and he urged people to “reach out to those in need” and “build a more just society.”

Pope Francis Speaks to the Roots of Terror in African Visit
by Kevin Sieff
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-francis-condemns-radicalization-of-youth-in-name-of-religi...
In his first full day in Africa, Pope Francis spoke to the many millions reeling from a string of terrorist attacks, condemning the way young people have been “radicalized in the name of religion to sow discord and fear.” That message spoke to both global and local concerns, shifting between lamentations for a perilous time globally in history and the threats facing Kenya as its economic and geopolitical strength grows.

As Pope Francis Calls For Compassion Toward The Poor In Africa, What Are African Churches Doing?
by Gwyneth McClendon and Rachel Beatty Riedl
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/28/as-pope-francis-calls-for-compassion-t...
Pope Francis has called for Kenyans to ”show genuine concern for the needs of the poor” and for achieving “a just distribution of the natural and human resources.” The Catholic Church has historically played and continues to play a major role in social spending and poverty-alleviation on the continent. But a growing number of African Christians, particularly Pentecostal and charismatic churches are embracing churches that pursue a very different approach to poverty.

AROUND THE WORLD
What Is Salafism?
by Jacob Olidort
Foreign Affairs
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2015-11-24/what-salafism
The relationship between ISIS’s strategy, politics, and religious ideology is complex, and understanding it is the first step to confronting it. Part of the apparent confusion is that Salafism—the ideology to which ISIS subscribes—is inherently nonpolitical. This article traces how a nonpolitical ideology became a political force.

A Catholic Model for Muslim Awakening: Look to the Second Vatican Council, which Drew on Church Doctrine to Embrace Religious Freedom
by Dan Philpott
New York Daily News op-ed
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/daniel-philpott-catholic-model-muslim-awakening-article-1.2446925
While the Catholic Church’s road to religious freedom will not suit Islam in every respect, it shows how a religious community that for many centuries did not teach religious freedom could discover grounds for the principle that were rooted in its own teachings rather than in modern secularism.
 
Tibetans Fight to Salvage Fading Culture in China
by Edward Wong
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/asia/china-tibet-language-education.html?ref=world&_r=0
China has sharply scaled back, and restricted, the teaching of languages spoken by ethnic minorities in its vast western regions in recent years, promoting instruction in Chinese instead as part of a broad push to encourage the assimilation of Tibetans, Uighurs and other ethnic minorities into the dominant ethnic Han culture.

Israel Aims to Recreate Wine that Jesus and King David Drank
by Jodi Rudoren
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/world/middleeast/with-indigenous-grapes-israel-breaks-new-ground-i...
The redevelopment of local varietals, like so many things in this contested land, is not free of political friction. It comes alongside contentious new labeling guidelines by the European Union requiring that wines from the West Bank and the Golan Heights carry a label saying they were made in Israeli settlements. And Palestinians have their own ownership claims on these grapes.

Why I Miss George W. Bush
by Mehdi Hasan
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/campaign-stops/why-i-miss-george-w-bush.html?ref=opinion
As a Briton who, like millions of my compatriots, opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, I did not expect to ever find much to admire about President George W. Bush. But as a Muslim who has come to work in America, I have recently had to revise my opinion. Less than a week after the Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush held a news conference at the Islamic Center of Washington. “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam,” he said, flanked by imams and community leaders. “Islam is peace.”

How Secular France is Giving Faith a Voice in the Planet’s Future
Economist Erasmus blog
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/11/religion-and-climate-change
The unusual thing about Paris summit on climate change gathering is that mankind's religious guardians have also been preparing for it; their voices have been rising in a crescendo of moral concern. And surprisingly enough, this spiritual activism has been fostered by François Hollande, the socialist president of a secular republic who has firmly renounced the Catholic faith in which he was raised.

DOMESTIC
When Some Turn to Church, Others Go to CrossFit
by Ali Huberlie
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/us/some-turn-to-church-others-to-crossfit.html
What makes a religion a religion? What distinguishes the “family” and aspirational support found in a traditional religious community from that found in close knit gym, pop culture fan club or other traditionally secular community. “There is something raw and vulnerable that happens to you when you go into the CrossFit gym,” Ms. Huberlie said. “A workout can bring you to your knees, so to speak.”
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