In the News, September 17, 2015

September 17, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the plight of Christians in the Middle East, Pope Francis' visit to North America, religion and democracy in Morocco and Nepal, and a Muslim high schooler is arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school.
BERKLEY CENTER IN THE NEWS
In Congress and Elsewhere, IDC Mobilizes Against Genocide and for Religious Freedom ​
by Peter Jesserer Smith ​
National Catholic Register ​
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/in-congress-and-elsewhere-idc-mobilizes-against-genocide-and-fo...
Leaders at IDC panels discussed the need to overcome information barriers between West and East that make it difficult in the West to generate concern and solidarity for Middle East Christians.​ ​The challenge was outlined by Timothy Shah, associate director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, who noted that Christians are “more familiar with the early Christian martyrs than those martyred right now.” (...) As IDC moves forward, one event stood out as deeply emblematic of its mission. A crucifix rescued from St. Joseph’s Church in Mosul by Christians fleeing ISIS was entrusted for safekeeping at the Friday evening gala to Thomas Farr in recognition of his religious freedom work on behalf of the Middle East’s Christians.​ (...) ​“The fact that it came from one of the churches desecrated and destroyed by ISIS, and was transported to the United States into the able hands of IDC, renders the cross at once a symbol of profound suffering and a magnificent example of the Christian virtue of hope​."​

POPE FRANCIS VISIT
Pope Francis' ​M​essage ​R​esonates with American Catholic ​V​oters, ​P​oll ​S​ays
by Eli Yokley
CQ-Roll Call
http://www.startribune.com/pope-francis-message-resonates-with-american-catholic-voters-poll-says/32...
David Buckley, a professor of politics and religion at the University of Louisville, said the polling is consistent with how the vote divides among the larger population. “The Latino Catholic vote trends Democrat, and the white Catholic vote trends Republican,” he said.

As Pope Visits, Afro-Cuban Religion Hopes for Recognition
by Reuters Staff
Reuters FaithWorld
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/09/16/as-pope-visits-afro-cuban-religion-hopes-for-recognit...
About 60 percent of Cuba’s 11 million people are baptized Catholic, the Church says, but experts say at least an equal number practice Santeria or another form of Afro-Cuban religion.

Native Americans Protest Canonization of Junipero Serra
by Sylvia Poggioli
NPR
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/16/440914077/native-americans-protest-canonization-of-junipero-serra
Next week, the first Latin-American pope will give the United States its first Hispanic saint. The canonization of Junipero Serra has drawn strong protest from many Native Americans. They accuse in the 18th century Franciscan missionary of having brutally imposed conversion to Catholicism. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the Vatican dismisses the charges and says the canonization will help restore the important role of Catholicism in the founding history of the U.S.

AROUND THE WORLD
Meeting of Anglican Leaders Could Lead to a Looser Federation
by Steohen Castle
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/world/europe/meeting-of-anglican-leaders-could-lead-to-a-looser-fe...
Sharply divided over issues including same-sex marriage, Anglican leaders from around the world were called on Wednesday to a meeting, planned for next year, that could lead to the transformation of the fractious global church into a much looser grouping.

Morocco’s Islamist Party Has Just Made Another Major Breakthrough
by Mohamed Daadaoui
Washington Post blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/09/16/moroccos-islamist-party-has-just-made-...
The Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) has undoubtedly made steady electoral gains in Morocco’s recent local elections. The party with the lantern logo lit up the urban polls in its first major electoral test since winning a slight plurality of votes in the legislative elections of 2011. A Bloody War Ended Nepal’s Hindu Monarchy.

Now Violent Nationalists Want to Bring It Back
by Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/17/a-bloody-war-ended-nepals-hindu-monarch...
Lawmakers in Kathmandu rejected a proposal this week to make the country a Hindu state once again. The vote triggered violent protests by Hindus in the streets, targeting churches and prompting police to use water cannons and lob tear gas shells to disperse the hordes of protesters.

DOMESTIC
Obama to Host Netanyahu in First Meeting Since Nuclear Deal With Iran
by Peter Baker
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/world/middleeast/obama-to-host-netanyahu-in-first-meeting-since-nu...
President Obama will host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House on Nov. 9 in their first face-to-face meeting since their rupture over the international nuclear agreement with Iran, the White House said Wednesday.

Muslim 9th Grader Ahmed Mohamed Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School
by Nick Visser
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9th-grader-arrested-clock_55f96557e4b0b48f6701519c
Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old at MacArthur High School who is Muslim, was arrested and sent to juvenile detention Monday after bringing a homemade clock to school.

Jazz's Long Road to Religious Respectability
Economist Erasmus blog
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/09/religion-and-jazz
Ever since the Psalmist urged worshippers of God to "praise Him with the sound of trumpet, praise Him with psaltery and harp", the relationship between religion and music has been deeply ambivalent. Faith has inspired the most glorious compositions, but its practitioners are also wary of music's ability to touch the deepest places in the human psyche.
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