Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: Vatican synod, the Middle East, and China.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
Conservatives to Synod: Don’t Go Soft on Marriage
by John L. Allen Jr
Crux
The three-page letter was drafted by two American academics, one of whom, Thomas Farr, served as the first director of the US State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom during the Bush administration.
related | Letter to Synod: Marriage Needs Support of Church
National Catholic Register
related | Conservatives, Protestants and Others Will Be Watching Upcoming Catholic Conference on the Family
by Kelsey Dallas
Deseret News
Netanyahu Rips the Mask off Israel's Deception
by Drew Christiansen, S.J. and Ra’fat Aldajani
National Catholic Reporter op-ed
Slowly, incrementally, the international community, and now even the United States, is inching toward a re-evaluation of leaving all issues related to Palestinian statehood for Israeli and Palestinians to negotiate among themselves.
SYNOD OF BISHOPS
Pope Francis Calls for Candor at Meeting on Family Issues
by Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times
Setting the tone for a two-week meeting of Roman Catholic bishops, Pope Francis on Monday urged participants to speak openly and clearly, without fear of censure. He also called on the participants to listen to each other with humility and to respect differing opinions.
The Letter and the Family
Economist
Some kinds of religion put enormous stress on obeying the letter of the law. Others have more to say about the circumstances in which the law can be transcended in the light of higher principles. Both kinds of religion seem to be present in the New Testament. And both are in the air at the Vatican as around 200 bishops gather for a two-week brainstorming session devoted to Catholic teaching on marriage, the family and sexuality.
AROUND THE WORLD
Community of Expulsion
by Roger Cohen
New York Times op-ed
Two phrases leapt out: “community of expulsion,” and “driven out of lands but without a land to go to.” The second embodied the necessity of the Jewish state of Israel. But it was inconceivable, at least to me, without awareness of the first. Palestinians have joined the ever-recurring “community of expulsion.”
Tunisia: Where the Arab Spring Still Shows Promise
by Carol Giacomo
New York Times op-ed
In the chaos of the Middle East, there is still one place that’s not a disaster zone. It is Tunisia, where the Arab Spring was born and where the dream of co-existence between Islam and democracy continues to be championed—and put into practice—by people like Rashid Gannouchi, the founder of Ennadha, the country’s main Islamist Party.
Saudi Arabia Relieved as Well-Protected Haj Nears Close Without Incident
by Amena Bakr
Reuters
Saudi Arabia breathed a sign of relief on Monday as the haj pilgrimage neared its close without the militant attacks or deadly epidemics that threatened to upset the huge annual Muslim journey of faith.
Thoroughly Modern Muslim
by Nick Danforth
Foreign Affairs
Erdogan succeeded in large part because the core message behind his modernist reinvention was true: traditional Muslim piety and a commitment to Western democratic ideals are not incompatible.
Libya’s Legitimacy Crisis
by Frederic Wehrey and Wolfram Lacher
Foreign Affairs
While much of the world’s attention has been fixated on the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), Libya has been tearing itself asunder. Its airports lie in smoking ruins, foreign diplomats have fled, and its once outspoken civil society has been cowed through a spate of assassinations.
China Punishes a Scholar
New York Times editorial
China’s repressive policies against Uighurs, a minority, were on shocking display recently when Ilham Tohti, a scholarly defender of his people’s human rights, was sentenced to life in prison for “separatism”—his entirely reasonable and far from violent criticisms of the central government.
DOMESTIC
Why You Should Care About a Muslim Inmate’s Beard
by Emily Hardman
CNN Belief Blog
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear Holt v. Hobbs, a landmark case cutting to the heart of the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom. At issue is whether refusing to allow a prisoner to peacefully practice his religion violates a federal civil rights law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as RLUIPA.
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