Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the Taliban gains new popularity among Afghan youth, Pope Francis is put on the defensive in abuse inquiry, and American Muslims voice different reactions to Trump.
AROUND THE WORLD
Why Disaffected Young Afghans are Warming to a Taliban Comeback
by Tim Craig
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/why-disaffected-young-afghans-are-warming-to-a-tal...
“If they can enforce the law like it was enforced during their reign, they are welcome…[under the Taliban] There was less crime. There was less corruption. There was less embezzlement.” These words reflect a shift in the opinions held by some of Kabul’s millennials on both the Taliban and President Ashraf Ghani’s government: Bashing the Islamist insurgency has gone out of style as frustration with the current leadership mounts.
George Pell, Aide to Pope is Put on Defensive in Abuse Inquiry
by Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/world/europe/australian-inquiry-puts-a-top-aide-to-pope-on-the-def...
To pilot financial reform and serve in his inner circle, Pope Francis chose Cardinal George Pell. So it was a matter of no small discomfort to the Vatican, and fascination to the world’s media, to see Cardinal Pell testify late Sunday — via video link from a hotel in Rome — before an Australian Royal Commission looking into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
Britain’s Odd Free-Speech Coalition See New Demons Looming
Economist Erasmus blog
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2016/02/free-speech-religion-and-britain
You might have expected Britain’s odd coalition of free-speech advocates, who include both deeply religious and deeply anti-religious people, to have staged a quiet celebration this month. It’s just over a decade since they scored a stunning political victory by watering down the Labour government’s efforts to criminalize “religious hatred” in terms that would have made it much harder to conduct a knockabout religious debate.
NATIONAL
Why Exit Pollsters Desperately Need to Get Religion
by Brian Kaylor
Washington Post commentary
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/02/29/why-exit-pollsters-desperately-need-...
As a Baptist minister with a doctorate in political communication and a book on religious rhetoric in presidential campaigns, I find the treatment of religion in exit polls woefully lacking. In Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, there were a total of just two different religious questions for Republican voters. For Democrats, there were no questions on religion in the first three states!
In Virginia, Muslim Voters Greet Trump's Rise With Anger and Defiance
by Molly O’Toole
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/29/in-virginia-muslim-voters-greet-trumps-rise-with-anger-and-defi...
Heading into Super Tuesday, Iraqis and others who have found refuge in this swing state worry that home won’t feel like home much longer. “The increase in the number of Muslim voters who say they will go to the polls in their primary elections indicates a high level of civic participation that may be driven at least in part by concern over the rise in Islamophobia nationwide,” CAIR’s Robert McCaw said in the survey’s press release.
Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan Praises Trump for Standing Up to Jews
by David Francis
Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/01/nation-of-islams-louis-farrakhan-praises-trump-for-standing-up-...
As Super Tuesday gets underway, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has a new and perhaps unexpected fan: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. On Sunday, he said he was a fan of Trump, “the only member who has stood in front of the Jewish community and said ‘I don’t want your money.’ Any time a man can say to those who control the politics of America, ‘I don’t want your money,’ that means you can’t control me. And they can’t afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States.”
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