The fact of the matter is that the demon of terrorism is one that will practice whatever religion it must to satisfy its craving for violence. Terrorism knows no religion that it can’t corrupt. Violence can find a home in any religion, any belief system, be it Muslim, Christian, or Sikh and it is not partial to any one in particular, despite the ramblings in the media.
Category: International
Italy Edges Closer to ‘Burqa Ban’ Law (AJE)
EXCERPT: An Italian parliamentary commission has approved a draft law that would ban women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public, if passed by parliament in September. The draft approved by the constitutional affairs commission on Tuesday would prohibit women from wearing a burqa, niqab or any other garb that covers the face in…
A Madman and His Manifesto (NYT)
EXCERPT: It passed with only scant notice, as with so many of the rude extremes of American life in a kinetic media age. The bodies of those Norwegian children slaughtered by a terrorist had yet to be fully recovered, let alone buried, when Glenn Beck compared the victims to Nazis. The summer camp where children…
Rep. Schakowsky talks about the Importance of Protecting Religious Minorities Abroad (C-SPAN)
On July 27, 2011, Jan Schakowsky (D – Illinois) spoke in support of HR 440, to provide for the establishment of a special envoy to promote religious freedom of religious minorities in the near east and south central Asia.
Buying Power: Human Trafficking and the Local Marketplace
I’m not willing to pick cocoa beans or cotton for a dollar a day, so who is? Trafficked boys on the Ivory Coast and factory children in Asia whose fingers are small enough to work intricate and dangerous machines fill this gap. – One of the biggest reminders and strongest points I repeat daily is that I have done nothing to secure the position I have in life of being in a free country, just like these modern day slaves have done nothing to have their entire lives indebted to us because of the harsh demands we put on them with our high consumerist behavior. These socially conscious products contain more than just a new age aura or a better selling point; they represent a desire for the priority of humanity instead of selfish search for profit.
Southern Mexico’s religious liberty forum spotlights local challenges to freedom of belief
Although they garner little attention from the international community, recent cases of violence directed toward Protestants in the region, among them Adventists, intensify the need to protect the region’s tenuous religious liberty.
Following Norway attack, Adventist religious liberty director urges caution in use of ‘fundamentalist’ label
Graz also urged caution in the use of the term “fundamentalist” to describe the individual alleged to have carried out the attacks, instead proffering the term “extremist” as a more accurate description of the type of ideology and behavior that falls far outside the norms of a religious community.
“There’s a risk that ‘fundamentalism’ will become blurred in people’s minds with the idea of ‘conservative Christianity’ — a confusion that could serve to widen the gulf of misunderstanding between different religious traditions,” he said.
Article18: Uzbekistan — Recent Incidents of Violence Against Christians Alarm Religious Minorities
By Martin Surridge – The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan occupies a precarious and oft-forgotten spot in Central Asia. Unlike other egregious religious liberty offenders such as Saudi Arabia, China, and North Korea, Uzbekistan is discussed little in the United States and is not well-known for any one thing. Unfortunately, it is often lumped in…
Five-Day Work Idea May End Up in Trash Bin (Israel National News)
EXCERPT: A proposal to put Israel on a shortened work week, with Friday a half-day and Sunday a vacation day, may be buried before it gets off the ground. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed on a Knesset committee to discuss the proposal by Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, but it quickly ran into opposition…
Israel Looking Into Making Sunday Day of Rest (Bloomberg)
EXCERPT: Israel’s government is examining a proposal to shift the weekend to the western Saturday and Sunday, a step that may benefit financial markets and retail and leisure companies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week appointed Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council, to look into the implications of changing the weekend from Friday…