In the News, October 30, 2014

October 30, 2014

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: US religious freedom policy, Boko Haram, Tunisia, ISIS, Islam in Israel, democracy in Bahrain, religious legitimacy in Saudia Arabia, and the impact of evangelicals and black churches on the upcoming US elections.


BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS

U.S. must do more for religious freedom, advocates say
by Meredith Somers
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/29/us-must-do-more-for-religious-freedom-advocates-sa/
“The United States has had an ‘official’ policy of promoting international religious freedom since the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998,” said Tom Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “As the most powerful and the most influential country in the world, it should be leading the fight against religious persecution and for religious freedom. “Unfortunately, it is doing neither,” he said. Monday marked the 16th anniversary of the act — a valuable tool in promoting religious liberty only if the federal government uses it to its full potential, said Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. 

AROUND THE WORLD
Secularist Win Is Confirmed in Tunisia
by Carlotta Gall
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/world/africa/secularist-win-is-confirmed-in-tunisia.html?ref=todayspaper
Tunisia’s election board confirmed on Wednesday night that the secular party Nidaa Tounes had won a decisive victory in the country’s parliamentary elections, securing 85 seats and knocking the Islamist party Ennahda into second place, with 69 seats. 

Boko Haram’s Continuing Rampage
New York Times editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/opinion/boko-harams-continuing-rampage.html?ref=opinion
More than six months have passed since the Boko Haram extremist group seized the world’s attention by kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria. After a “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign went viral on social media, the United States, France, Britain and Israel joined an international effort to locate the girls. That effort has been fruitless. Fifty-seven of the girls have escaped, but 219 remain captive. In recent months, Boko Haram has stepped up its efforts, kidnapping young women and teenagers from the places where they should be safest: their homes and schools.  

Islamic State Publicly Kills at Least 46 Sunni Opponents in Captured Iraqi City
by Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamic-state-publicly-executes-at-least-46-sunni-opponents-in-fallen-iraq-city/2014/10/29/d739f4b0-5f72-11e4-827b-2d813561bdfd_story.html
Islamic State gunmen on Wednesday publicly killed dozens of men belonging to a resistant Sunni tribe, witnesses said, in another chilling message to authorities seeking to galvanize opposition to the militants. 

Israeli Politician Wants to Silence the Muslim Call to Prayer
by Ishaan Tharoor
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/10/30/israeli-politician-wants-to-ban-the-muslim-call-to-prayer/
A right-wing Israeli member of parliament has proposed legislation that would ban the Muslim call to prayer in Israel, where 20 percent of the population is Arab (the majority of whom are Muslim). Robert Ilatov, a MP from the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, argued for restricting the ability of mosques to project the 'Adhan," or call to prayer, which are sung out usually by a local muezzin five times a day. 

Islam and Hadiths: Sifting and Combing
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/10/islam-and-hadiths
While no Muslim questions the centrality of the Koran as God’s message to mankind, the religion could not exist without its other main feature: the tens of thousands of hadiths or sayings which generally refer to something said or done by Muhammad. From the Ramadan fast to procedures for prayer and personal hygiene, many of the basic rules of Muslim life derive from hadiths, not the original holy text. 

Syria’s Kurdish Areas: Striking Out on Their Own
Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21628887-syrias-kurds-are-enjoying-more-autonomy-striking-out-their-own
Like Kurds elsewhere, Syria’s 2.5m Kurds, have long been an ignored minority, repressed by Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, and shunned by other Kurds spread out across Turkey, Iraq and Iran, with whom unity has been elusive. But now that Syria’s Kurds are leading the fight in northern Syria against the jihadists calling themselves Islamic State (IS), they are gaining support. 

Questioning Faith in the Cradle of Islam
by Caryle Murphy
Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/29/questioning_the_faith_in_the_cradle_of_islam_wahhabi_fundamentalism_saudi_arabia
The Saudi monarchy will continue to use Islam to justify its decisions and reinforce its authority. But it may have to allow more religious diversity and non-Wahhabi voices than in the past in order to maintain domestic peace.  

Why Is Bahrain Outsourcing Extremism?
by Ala’a Shehabi
Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/29/why_is_bahrain_outsourcing_extremism_isis_democracy
The reality is that Bahrain, like many other Arab states, is in urgent need of a national unity that can only be achieved by forging a new social contract around democratic constitutions that represent the will of the people. Democracy is the only beacon of hope for a region that is drowning in a cesspool of extremism and authoritarianism. 

DOMESTIC
Evangelical Voters Mobilize, But GOP Candidates Less Vocally Supportive
NPR
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/30/360019789/evangelicals-mobilize-voters-but-gop-candidates-less-vocally-supportive
Republican candidates haven't been emphasizing their message to religious conservatives this year. But polls suggest evangelical Christians could be their most important block of voters come Election Day. 

The Big Role of Black Churches in Two Senate Races
by Nate Cohn
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/upshot/data-from-sunday-points-to-black-churches-role-in-mobilizing-voters.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone&_r=2&abt=0002&abg=0
“Souls to the Polls” drives are a big part of the explanation. Black churches often promote voting after services, sometimes even taking church members directly to the polls. Such drives are traditionally most popular on the Sunday before an election, when black turnout might be even higher than it was on Sunday.
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