In the News, April 6, 2015

April 6, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: massacre at a Kenyan college, a preliminary nuclear deal with Iran, and Pope Francis's vision for the Catholic Church. 
AROUND THE WORLD
A Massacre in Africa
by Gordon Brown
Project Syndicate op-ed
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/kenya-massacre-al-shabab-by-gordon-brown-2015-04
But there is an even more powerful explanation for this spate of attacks on children. A now-common extremist claim is that education is acculturating African and Asian children to Western ways of thinking (Boko Haram in the local Hausa dialect means “Western education is a sin”). Moreover, extremists like Boko Haram and Al-Shabab calculate that they can attack schools with impunity. 

Al-Shabab Crosses the Rubicon
by Bronwyn Bruton
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/03/al-shabab-crosses-the-rubicon-kenya/
Assuming that the evocation of Boko Haram is deliberate, the Garissa assault could signal an intention to realign al-Shabab, long linked to al Qaeda, with the Islamic State. (Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in March.) If so, al-Shabab should be expected to use ever more flamboyantly violent tactics in the future, as it seeks to compete with other Islamic State affiliates for notoriety and for relevance in the global jihad. 

President Obama Calls Preliminary Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Our Best Bet’
by Peter Baker
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/world/middleeast/obama-strongly-defends-iran-nuclear-deal.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
President Obama strongly defended last week’s preliminary agreement with Iran as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to curb the spread of nuclear weapons in a dangerous region while reassuring critics that he would keep all options available if Tehran ultimately cheated. 

No Peace for Iraqi Christians This Easter
by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Roma Downey, and Mark Burnett
CNN op-ed
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/03/living/last-easter-iraq/index.html
In light of the tragic massacre of Christian college students in Kenya on Thursday, and the ongoing threat against Christians in other nations, this Holy Week we are calling upon Christians to also reflect upon the crucifixion, beheading, stoning, enforced slavery, sexual abuse, human trafficking, harassment, bombing and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Christians—and others—whose faith alone has made them a target of religious extremists. 

Breaking Down Conflicts Between Sunnis and Shiites
CBS Sunday Morning
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/breaking-down-conflicts-between-sunnis-and-shiites/
Most people have no idea what the actual differences are between the two main sects of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shiites. CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward takes a look at the history and geopolitics behind the two groups. 

Use Force to Stop ISIS’ Destruction of Art and History
by Hugh Eakin
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/opinion/use-force-to-stop-isis-destruction-of-art-and-history.html?ref=todayspaper
By loudly deploring this “war crime” and doing nothing, the world may be playing into the extremists’ hands. “ISIS is doing it because they can,” Amr Al-Azm, an Ohio-based Syrian anthropologist, told me. “They are striking at things the international community holds dear, but is impotent to do anything about.” But amid overwhelming evidence that the Islamic State’s barbaric campaign against culture amounts to a war crime, the world must be ready to use force to stop it. 

Pope Francis and the New Rome
by Francis X. Roca
Wall Street Journal op-ed
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-and-the-new-rome-1428075101
In his two years in office, the pontiff has drawn attention for his unconventional gestures—such as personally welcoming homeless people to the Sistine Chapel last month—but those gestures matter most as signs of the radical new direction in which he seeks to lead the Catholic Church: toward his vision of the promise of Vatican II. Both the acclaim and the alarm that Francis has generated as pope have been responses to his role in the long struggle over the council’s legacy. 

Easter is for Extroverts
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/04/globalising-papacy
For any modern pope, balancing the office's inherited Roman and Italian connections with its global ones is a challenge. Over two years, Francis has shifted the papacy away from entanglement with its Italian base and towards a more international profile. 

DOMESTIC
Interview With a Christian
by Ross Douthat
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/rosss-douthat-interview-with-a-christian.html?ref=todayspaper
Based on past experience, laws like this protect religious minorities from real burdens. As written, the Indiana law probably wouldn’t have protected vendors from being fined for declining to work at a same-sex wedding. But I would favor that protection as well. 

Why Evangelicals Should Love the Pope
by Peter Wehner
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/why-evangelicals-should-love-the-pope.html?ref=todayspaper
Of the two approaches—Franklin versus Francis—the one taken by the pope is not only more popular but also better reflects Christ’s example. Jesus confronted sin, not to be censorious but because it puts us at enmity with God, one another and our true nature. “Go and sin no more” were words meant to produce greater human flourishing. Yet time and again in the Gospels we read about Jesus embracing those denounced by the religious elite of his day.
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