Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: women in religious leadership, diversity in Germany, Muslim minorities in Europe, and pro-democracy movements in Bahrain.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
The Challenges and Opportunity of Women in Religious Leadership: The Episcopal Example
By Katharine Jefferts Schori
Real Clear Religion/Berkley Forum
http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/forum/the-challenges-and-opportunity-of-women-in-religious-leadership-the-episcopal-example
Women’s leadership roles in the Episcopal Church have been expanding and evolving over the last two centuries. Women’s monastic life is a relatively small reality in the Episcopal Church today, yet it continues to have transformative influence on education, health care, and spiritual leadership in the wider church.
AROUND THE WORLD
Germany Isn’t Turning Backward: What Does Pegida Say About Germany?
By Anna Sauerbrey
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/opinion/what-does-pegida-say-about-germany.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
An anti-immigration group known by its German acronym, Pegida, has inflicted great harm on the country’s international reputation. Our neighbors and allies are asking whether Germany is stumbling back into the darkness of xenophobia, and rightfully so. And yet there are many developments within Germany that point towards a more optimistic view, such as counter-protests and public conversation about the changing German identity.
Chechnya and Charlie Hebdo
By Michael Khodarkovsky
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/opinion/chechnya-and-charlie-hebdo.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The brutal war in Chechnya may have ended, but Islamist rebels, some of them professing loyalty to the Islamic State, still roam the Caucasus, and Moscow is fearful that their influence can easily spread northward. On Monday, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, whom Vladimir V. Putin appointed president of Chechnya in 2007, held a mass rally in Grozny, the regional capital, against “the enemies of Islam.”
The Bahraini Uprising, 4 Years Later
By Alan Taylor
Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/01/the-bahraini-uprising-4-years-later/384702/
Since opposition groups in the small island nation first rose up in protest against the ruling Al Khalifa family in 2011, dozens of protesters have been killed and hundreds jailed. Continued sporadic street demonstrations suggest that although it has grown quieter, this pro-democracy movement never died away.
A Question of No-Go Zones in Europe
By Daniel Pipes
National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/396918/question-no-go-zones-europe-daniel-pipes
The discussion continues over whether the phrase “no-go” zones can be used to accurately describe Muslim-majority areas in West Europe where the government still has full power to intervene, but simply choses not to. Continued use of this inaccurate phrase is only clouding discussion of West Europe’s most acute problem.
We Need a Mikveh Revolution
By Dov Linzer
Jewish Daily Forward
http://forward.com/articles/213054/we-need-a-mikveh-revolution/
Recent events have forced us as a community to take a hard look at the practice of having female converts immerse themselves in a mikveh before a rabbinical court of three men. It is the moment to ask some fundamental questions about how we treat converts.
How Islam Became the Fastest-Growing Religion In Europe
By Salima Koroma and Carlos H. Martinelli
Time video
http://time.com/3671514/islam-europe/
French colonialism and immigration policies across Europe helped fuel migration from the Muslim world. But even as polls show anti-Islamist sentiment rising, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Europe. Nearly 5 million Muslims live in France, the largest Muslim population in Europe, and some 4 million live in Germany.
The Challenges and Opportunity of Women in Religious Leadership: The Episcopal Example
By Katharine Jefferts Schori
Real Clear Religion/Berkley Forum
http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/forum/the-challenges-and-opportunity-of-women-in-religious-leadership-the-episcopal-example
Women’s leadership roles in the Episcopal Church have been expanding and evolving over the last two centuries. Women’s monastic life is a relatively small reality in the Episcopal Church today, yet it continues to have transformative influence on education, health care, and spiritual leadership in the wider church.
AROUND THE WORLD
Germany Isn’t Turning Backward: What Does Pegida Say About Germany?
By Anna Sauerbrey
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/opinion/what-does-pegida-say-about-germany.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
An anti-immigration group known by its German acronym, Pegida, has inflicted great harm on the country’s international reputation. Our neighbors and allies are asking whether Germany is stumbling back into the darkness of xenophobia, and rightfully so. And yet there are many developments within Germany that point towards a more optimistic view, such as counter-protests and public conversation about the changing German identity.
Chechnya and Charlie Hebdo
By Michael Khodarkovsky
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/opinion/chechnya-and-charlie-hebdo.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The brutal war in Chechnya may have ended, but Islamist rebels, some of them professing loyalty to the Islamic State, still roam the Caucasus, and Moscow is fearful that their influence can easily spread northward. On Monday, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, whom Vladimir V. Putin appointed president of Chechnya in 2007, held a mass rally in Grozny, the regional capital, against “the enemies of Islam.”
The Bahraini Uprising, 4 Years Later
By Alan Taylor
Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/01/the-bahraini-uprising-4-years-later/384702/
Since opposition groups in the small island nation first rose up in protest against the ruling Al Khalifa family in 2011, dozens of protesters have been killed and hundreds jailed. Continued sporadic street demonstrations suggest that although it has grown quieter, this pro-democracy movement never died away.
A Question of No-Go Zones in Europe
By Daniel Pipes
National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/396918/question-no-go-zones-europe-daniel-pipes
The discussion continues over whether the phrase “no-go” zones can be used to accurately describe Muslim-majority areas in West Europe where the government still has full power to intervene, but simply choses not to. Continued use of this inaccurate phrase is only clouding discussion of West Europe’s most acute problem.
We Need a Mikveh Revolution
By Dov Linzer
Jewish Daily Forward
http://forward.com/articles/213054/we-need-a-mikveh-revolution/
Recent events have forced us as a community to take a hard look at the practice of having female converts immerse themselves in a mikveh before a rabbinical court of three men. It is the moment to ask some fundamental questions about how we treat converts.
How Islam Became the Fastest-Growing Religion In Europe
By Salima Koroma and Carlos H. Martinelli
Time video
http://time.com/3671514/islam-europe/
French colonialism and immigration policies across Europe helped fuel migration from the Muslim world. But even as polls show anti-Islamist sentiment rising, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Europe. Nearly 5 million Muslims live in France, the largest Muslim population in Europe, and some 4 million live in Germany.
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