In the News, January 13, 2015

January 13, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the massacre at Charlie Hebdo and global reactions, Islamic State hackers attack US military social media channels, Pope Francis' trip to Asia and choice of cardinals, Libyan militants kidnap Egyptian Christians, and exercising First Amendment rights in the Atlanta Fire Department.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
'Je Suis Ahmed' Brings to the Forefront a Life Worthy of Emulation
by Drew Christiansen and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/je-suis-ahmed-brings-forefront-life-worthy-emulation
In secular France, civil religion marked the country’s mourning of the Charlie Hebdo attack, which have raised important questions on the nature of free speech. 

CHARLIE HEBDO
France Deploys Troops to Guard ‘Sensitive Sites’
by Alan Cowell and Maia de la Baume
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/world/europe/france-charlie-hebdo-terrorist-attacks.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Confronting a country in shock from last week’s terrorist attacks, the French government acted on Monday to increase security, sending thousands of soldiers and police officers to guard sites considered vulnerable, including Jewish schools, and calling for measures to reinforce electronic surveillance and curb jihadist recruitment in prisons and other crucibles of radicalization.

French Prime Minister: If Jews Flee, the Republic Will Be a Failure
by Jeffrey Goldberg
Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/french-prime-minister-warns-if-jews-flee-the-republic-will-be-judged-a-failure/384410/
In an interview conducted before the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket massacres, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told me that if French Jews were to flee in large numbers, the soul of the French Republic would be at risk. 

The Meanings of ‘I Am Charlie Hebdo’
New York Times letters to the editor
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/opinion/the-meanings-of-i-am-charlie-hebdo.html?ref=todayspaper
If Charlie was “lionized” by the public after the vengeful assault, it wasn’t for its offending cartoons but for something larger: It is now the symbol of freedom. 

related | I Am Not Charlie Hebdo
by David Brooks
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/david-brooks-i-am-not-charlie-hebdo.html
The massacre at Charlie Hebdo should be an occasion to end speech codes. And it should remind us to be legally tolerant toward offensive voices, even as we are socially discriminating. 

After Paris Shooting, Irish Say It’s Time to Finally Ditch Their Blasphemy Law
by Adam Taylor
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/13/after-paris-shooting-irish-say-its-time-to-finally-ditch-their-blasphemy-law/
After drawings of the Islamic prophet Mohammad led to killings at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a major European nation is facing renewed claims for an end to its own ban on blasphemy. 

The Blasphemy Brigade
by Michael Wahid Hanna
Foreign Policy op-ed
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/12/the-blasphemy-brigade-egypt-france-charlie-hebdo/
While blasphemy prosecutions may further legitimate the wider range of repressive measures employed to preserve regime survival in the Arab world, they will also serve to legitimate the very intolerance that bred and nurtured last week’s tragic violence. 

The US Should Open Its Doors to Imperiled European Jews
by Shmuel Herzfeld
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/13/the-u-s-should-open-its-doors-to-european-jews/
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders invited French Jews to move to Israel. That’s a nice gesture, but it’s not enough. The United States should join Israel and offer to also open up its shores as a refuge to the endangered Jews of France. 

I Made Irreverent Art About Muslims. It Took a While, but Eventually Muslims Came to Love It
by Zarqa Nawaz
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/09/i-made-irreverent-art-about-islam-it-took-a-while-but-eventually-muslims-came-to-love-it/
Muslim-inspired comedians, graphic novels, television and films are thriving in Muslim countries and in the West. It’s a sign of a community coming of age, exploring the outer limits of what is religiously acceptable. 

AROUND THE WORLD
US Military Social Media Accounts Apparently Hacked by Islamic State Sympathizers
by Dan Lamothe
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/01/12/centcom-twitter-account-apparently-hacked-by-islamic-state-sympathizers/Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State took control of the social media accounts of the US military’s Central Command on Monday, posting threatening messages and propaganda videos, along with some military documents. 

Pope Will Turn Spotlight on Asia With Trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines
by Gaia Pianigiani
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/world/asia/pope-francis-heightens-vaticans-attention-to-asia.html?ref=todayspaperPope Francis left Monday for his second trip to Asia, where he will deliver a message of peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, a country shaken by a decades-long civil war, and then visit the Philippines, the Vatican said on the eve of his visit. 

All the Pope’s Men: Why Francis’s Choice of Cardinals Could Backfire
by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/11/all-the-pope-s-men-why-francis-s-choice-of-cardinals-could-backfire.html
When Francis announced the second batch of new cardinals of his 20-month-old pontificate, including three from Asia, three from Latin America, two from Africa, and two from Oceania, many saw him stacking the deck to ensure that his successor is, as he describes himself, from the ends of the earth. But some Vatican experts warn that by expanding the club’s membership to the peripheries, Francis’s plan for an all-inclusive church might just backfire. 

Libyan Militants Aligned With Islamic State Claim Kidnapping of 21 Egyptian Christians
by David D. Kirkpatrick
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/world/middleeast/libyan-militants-aligned-with-islamic-state-claim-kidnapping-of-21-egyptian-christians.html?ref=todayspaper
Libyan militants calling themselves part of the Islamic State said on Monday that they were holding captive 21 Egyptian Christians, raising new fears about the extremist group’s spreading influence beyond the battlegrounds of Syria and Iraq.

DOMESTIC
God, Gays, and the Atlanta Fire Department
New York Times editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/opinion/god-gays-and-the-atlanta-fire-department.html?ref=todayspaper
The First Amendment already protects religious freedom. Nobody can tell Mr. Cochran what he can or cannot believe. If he wants to work as a public official, however, he may not foist his religious views on other city employees who have the right to a boss who does not speak of them as second-class citizens.
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