In the News, April 11-13, 2016

April 13, 2016

Today's religion and world affairs from the United States and across the globe: a Brussels neighborhood doubles as incubator for radicalization, fireworks gone awry kill 108 in a Hindu temple in India, Amnesty International pressures the Nigerian army for answers about a mass grave, and the American Catholic community responds to the Pope's "Joy of Love."

AROUND THE WORLD
A
Brussels Mentor Who Taught “Gangster Islam” to the Young and Angry
by Andrew Higgins and Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/europe/a-brussels-mentor-who-taught-gangster-islam-to-the-yo...
“Mr. [Khalid] Zerkani has perverted an entire generation of youngsters, particularly in the Molenbeek neighborhood,” the Belgian federal prosecutor, Bernard Michel, said in February. 

related | The Islamic State of Molenbeek
by Roger Cohen
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/opinion/the-islamic-state-of-molenbeek.html?ref=world

Islamophobia Threatens Democracy in Europe, Report Says
by Ishaan Tharoor
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/13/islamophobia-threatens-democracy-in-eur...
In a report on the health of democracy in the post-Soviet world, Freedom House painted a bleak picture of the state of liberal values in parts of Europe. The Washington-based human rights advocacy organization, which publishesa global freedom index every year, highlighted a number of worrying trends in 29 countries in Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia.

New Poll Finds Young Arab are Less Swayed by the Islamic State
by Jody Warrick
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/islamic-state-getting-trounced-in-battle-for-...
Overwhelming majorities of Arab teens and young adults now strongly oppose the terrorist group, the survey suggests, with nearly 80 percent ruling out any possibility of supporting the Islamic State, even if it were to renounce its brutal tactics.

Norway’s Lutheran Church Votes in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2016/04/11/norways-lutheran-church-votes-in-favor-of-same-sex-ma...
“Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with,” said Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, a religious movement within the church that had campaigned to change the rules.

Amnesty Urges Probe Over Allegation Nigerian Army Secretly Buried Shi’ites
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2016/04/13/amnesty-urges-probe-over-allegation-nigerian-army-sec...
Claims by a Kaduna state official that Nigeria’s military secretly buried 347 people after clashes with members of a minority Shi’ite Muslim sect should be investigated and anyone suspected of wrongdoing put on trial, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The Peshmerga Isn’t Afraid of ISIS
by Cengiz Yar
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/12/the-peshmerga-isnt-afraid-of-islamic-state-iraqi-army-makhmour/
Fighting on the front lines, Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers have joined the Iraqi Army in a bloody battle against the Islamic State. But sharing a common enemy doesn’t make them easy allies. 

New Evidence on When the Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists
by Isabel Kershner
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/middleeast/new-evidence-onwhen-bible-was-written-ancient-sho...
An analysis of handwriting on ancient pottery suggests that literacy may have been more widespread than previously known in the Holy Land around 600 B.C.  

Fireworks Blaze at Hindu Temple in India’s Kerala State Kills 108
Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2016/04/11/fireworks-blaze-at-hindu-temple-in-indias-kerala-stat...
Thousands of people were gathered at the temple at Kollam in the southern state of Kerala on Sunday for the pyrotechnic show to mark the start of the Hindu year when sparks ignited a cache of fireworks stored inside the temple grounds. The district administration said it had not given permission for the fireworks display following complaints of noise and pollution.

Could Pope Francis be a Feminist Pope?
by Christopher Hale
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/04/13/could-pope-francis-be-a-feminist-pop...
It’s hard to overstate what a monumental shift this is for the Catholic Church on issues on sex and gender identity. This is altogether different from what church leaders were teaching just a few years ago. It is also a remarkable shift for Pope Francis. Though he is considered a pioneer on many issues, Francis has faced harsh criticism for some of his clumsy statements on women. 

How to Keep the Rules of the Catholic Church and Bend Them
Economist Erasmus blog
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2016/04/catholicism-and-family
“Is it even theoretically possible (leave alone whether it's desirable) for one man to lay down a single set of moral rules to govern the fundamentals of human life, including relationships and reproduction, across the whole world? That's a real question. After all, basic terms like marriage, partnership, family or household can have utterly contrasting connotations in different social and economic settings.”

DOMESTIC
Donald Trump, American Preacher
by Jeff Sharlet
New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/donald-trump-american-preacher.html
When I ask Trump supporters what they love most about his rallies, they’re at a loss; all of it, they say, “just, just” — the way it makes them feel. It doesn’t feel political. Politicians have long borrowed from religion the passion and the righteousness, but no other major modern figure has channeled the tension that makes Scripture endure, the desire, the wanting that gives rise to the closest analogue to Trumpism: the prosperity gospel, the American religion of winning. 

Pope Francis Picks New Ambassador to U.S., Replacing the one who Invited Kim Davis
by Julie Zauzmer
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/04/12/pope-francis-picks-new-ambassador-to...
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, a French priest who is currently serving as the Vatican’s ambassador to Mexico, will move to Washington to represent the Holy See in the United States, the Vatican announced on Tuesday. Pierre had been rumored to be Pope Francis’s choice to replace Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who has proven to be a controversial ambassador.

American Catholicism in Public Life: An Interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan
by Tiffany Stanley
Religion and Politics
http://religionandpolitics.org/2016/04/12/american-catholicism-in-public-life-an-interview-with-card...
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, speaks with Tiffany Stanley, managing editor of Religion and Politics, discussing a wide range of topics rom Pope Francis and the presidential campaign to the late Antonin Scalia and the movie Spotlight. 

'The Holy Bible' Makes Library Association's List Of Most 'Challenged' Books
by Laura Wagner
NPR
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/11/473822750/the-holy-bible-makes-library-association...The challenges show religion is "on the minds of many people," says Deborah Caldwell Stone of the American Library Association. Another reason people objected to books was explicit sexual content.
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