In the News, November 24, 2014

November 24, 2014

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: violence in Israel and Palestine, ISIS, Kurdistan, extremist returnees, governance in Indonesia, Pope Francis, and conversion to Judaism. 
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
Rioting in Cana Underlies Ethnic, Religious Tensions in Holy Land
by Drew Christiansen and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/rioting-cana-underlies-ethnic-religious-tensions-holy-land
Because of the scenes of quiet joy associated with the town in Christian memory, an outbreak of violence in today’s Israeli town of Kafr Kanna comes as a special shock, even to seasoned observers. But the rioting in Cana last week was an acute symptom of the dangerous level ethnic and religious tensions have reached in the Holy Land. 

AROUND THE WORLD
Isis in Iraq: The Trauma of the Last Six Months Has Overwhelmed the Remaining Christians in the Country
by Patrick Cockburn
Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/isis-in-iraq-the-trauma-of-the-last-six-months-has-overwhelmed-the-remaining-christians-in-the-country-9877698.html
After 2,000 years, a community will try anything—including pretending to convert to Islam—to avoid losing everything. 

Tiptoeing Through Kurdistan
by Paul Salopek
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/opinion/sunday/tiptoeing-through-kurdistan.html?ref=todayspaper
Friendlessness—having enemies—is synonymous with Kurdishness. The world’s 30 million Kurds, a tough and independent mountain people who mostly practice a moderate brand of Sunni Islam, are scattered among Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran—states that for generations have perfected the tools of marginalization, counterinsurgency, and manipulation to keep their unruly Kurdish minorities in check. Lately, American military support for Kurds battling the Islamic State in Syria has revived a modest dream of pan-Kurdish unity: greater cooperation among the region’s rival Kurdish movements, if not the dawn of a Greater Kurdistan. 

Allure of ISIS for Pakistanis Is on the Rise
by Declan Walsh
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/world/asia/isis-pakistan-militants-taliban-jihad.html?ref=todayspaper
Its victories have energized battle-weary militants in Pakistan. The ISIS brand offers them potent advantages, analysts say—an aid to fund-raising and recruiting, a possible advantage over rival factions and, most powerfully, a new template for waging jihad. 

Nations Ponder How to Handle European Fighters Returning From Jihad
by Melissa Eddy
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/world/nations-ponder-how-to-handle-european-fighters-returning-from-jihad.html?ref=todayspaper
Across Europe, governments are scrambling for ways to prevent suspected radicals from leaving to join the conflict. Yet even as they seek to stem the flow outward, many find themselves struggling with how to deal with those fighters who want to return home. 

Relationship Between Israel and Jordan Grows Warier Amid Tensions in Jerusalem
by William Booth and Taylor Luck
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/ties-between-israel-and-jordan-grow-warier-amid-tensions-in-jerusalem/2014/11/23/cbd89ba2-7008-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html
Jordan’s king and his people are bristling with anger over Israeli actions at a sacred site for Muslims in Jerusalem, threatening to turn a cold peace between Israel and Jordan into a deep freeze. 

Jerusalem: Don't Call It a Religious Conflict
by Rachel Shabi
Al Jazeera op-ed
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/11/jerusalem-don-call-it-religio-20141120101052223791.html
But pushing this conflict into the religious realm, defining it as a "religious war," serves a clear political purpose. It means the Israeli government can bind its cause with the "war on terror," claiming that Palestinians are just like ISIL in their motivation—a hyper-violent, hyper-fundamentalist jihadi mission rather than a quest for self-determination. It deprives Palestinians of cause or motivation, save for just one factor: religious hatred. 

An Ethnic Chinese Christian, Breaking Barriers in Indonesia
by Joe Cochrane
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/asia/an-ethnic-chinese-christian-breaking-barriers-in-indonesia.html?ref=todayspaper
It’s not just Basuki Tjahaja Purnama’s hard-charging style that sets him apart from his predecessors. It’s also the fact that he is Christian and ethnic Chinese, and is improbably running the capital of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. 

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear—There’s Only One Pope
by Christopher Bellitto
Reuters op-ed
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/11/21/guestview-dont-believe-everything-you-hear-theres-only-one-pope/
There is only one pope and his name in Francis, whether people like him and the direction he is steering Roman Catholicism or not. Reporters, commentators, and academics should know better than to use the phrase “two popes.” 

Should Catholic Priests Remain Celibate?
New York Times Room for Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/11/21/should-catholic-priests-remain-celibate
If clerical marriage became more common, how would the Catholic Church change? 

DOMESTIC
Judaism Must Embrace the Convert
by Shmuly Yanklowitz
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/opinion/judaism-must-embrace-the-convert.html?ref=todayspaper
A small group of homogeneous Orthodox authorities, continuing to pursue more stringent requirements to the detriment of the wider and more diverse Jewish community, should not have the unchecked power to determine who can be a Jew.
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