Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: ISIS, Hezbollah, Japan's Yasukuni Shrine, poverty in Kenya, Malaysian Muslims, and reasons to be Catholic.
AROUND THE WORLD
Iraqi Kurds Are Joining Fight to Drive Islamic State From Kobani
by Kamil Kakol and Kareem Fahim
New York Times
For the first time, pesh merga forces from Iraqi Kurdistan have moved to join the fighting against Islamic State militants besieging the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani, taking advantage of Turkey’s decision to open its borders to reinforcements.
Lebanon’s Once-Mighty Hezbollah Is Facing Attacks in Syria—And Also at Home
by Hugh Naylor
Washington Post
Hezbollah has won grudging respect, even from some foes, for its tenacious guerrilla campaigns against Israel. But now Lebanon’s most powerful military organization is losing its aura of invincibility.
ISIS and Vietnam
by Thomas Friedman
New York Times op-ed
The key reason we failed in Vietnam was that the communists managed to harness the Vietnamese nationalist narrative much more effectively than our South Vietnamese allies. I believe something loosely akin to this is afoot in Iraq.
A Month Ago, ISIS’s Advance Looked Unstoppable. Now It’s Been Stopped.
by Zack Beauchamp
Vox
The truth is that ISIS's momentum is stalled: in both Iraq and Syria, the group is being beaten back at key points. There are initial signs—uncertain, sketchy, but hopeful—that the group is hurting more than you may think, and has stalled out in the war it was for so long winning.
Iraq’s Victory Over Militants in Sunni Town Underlines Challenges Government Faces
by Loveday Morris
Washington Post
Iraq renamed this town on the banks of the Euphrates this week to reflect the triumph of its security forces here against Islamic State militants, who were driven out last week. Jurf al-Sakhar, or “rocky bank,” became Jurf al-Nasr, or “victory bank.” But a visit to the Sunni settlement Tuesday laid bare the huge cost of that victory. The town is now emptied of its 80,000 residents, and building after building has been annihilated.
Conservative Group Urges Changes at Japanese War Shrine
by Martin Fackler
New York Times
An influential group representing families of Japanese soldiers killed in World War II has asked the Yasukuni Shrine to separate the 14 war criminals honored there from the other war dead, throwing its weight behind a longstanding proposal to make the site less of a political flash point.
Ending ‘Poorism’ in Kenya
by Murithi Mutiga
New York Times op-ed
Both critics and defenders of poorism make fair arguments, but in many ways this debate is beside the point. Kenya isn’t a poor country, it’s the economic powerhouse of the Horn of Africa. The desolation in our slums is a graphic reminder that the boom that began in 2003 has not raised all boats.
Malaysian Muslims Feel Heat for Petting Dogs, and Social Media Bites Back
by Darshini Kandasamy
Religion News Service
Nearly 1,000 people attended the Oct. 19 event at a park in the western state of Selangor, aimed at helping Muslims overcome religious stigma and fear of canines, learn permissible ways to touch a dog and how to perform a cleansing ritual, known as “sertu” or “samak.” The backlash was swift and serious after social media and news reports were flooded with images of Muslim participants—particularly women in hijabs—stroking and hugging their new four-legged friends at the “I Want to Touch a Dog” event.
Why I Am a Catholic
by Ross Douthat
New York Times blog
I am a Catholic for various contingent reasons (this is as true of converts as of anyone else), but on a conscious level it’s because I am a mostly-faithful Christian who is mostly convinced that Roman Catholicism is the expression of Christianity that has kept faith most fully with the early church and the words of Jesus of Nazareth himself.
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