The full text of the document released earlier today. http://www.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=531752
Category: Politics
America the chosen nation – LA Times.com Opinion
Excerpt: “Presidential candidates feel no shame in asserting divine purpose in U.S. policies and actions. In this ubiquitous view of American exceptionalism, the nation is not bound by rules to which others must submit.” http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bacevich-american-exceptionalism-20111016,0,3240927.story
Article18: Germany — Pope Benedict XVI Addresses Legislators; Chancellor Merkel Calls for Global Religious Tolerance
By Martin Surridge – Like many of the other countries profiled in this blog, Germany has had a problematic, yet fundamentally important religious history. Home to both the Holocaust and the Protestant Reformation, Germany provided Europe with the impetus to take giant strides forward in the name of religious freedom, but also inflicted terrible losses…
Rick Perry and the perils of sectarian religion in 2012 – Figuring Faith – The Washington Post
EXCERPT: [T]his year the GOP presidential primary has also been infused, most prominently by Texas Governor Rick Perry, with examples of sectarian religiosity that trades in the more provincial coin of white evangelical Christianity. While the advantages of speaking in such specific language in some settings are clear, overplaying a sectarian hand now may hurt…
Apple Bids Adieu to ‘Jew or not Jew?’ iPhone App in France (CNN)
EXCERPT: “Jew or not Jew?”: That is just part of the question. An iPhone app bearing this name has been yanked from Apple’s App Store in France amid threats of a lawsuit and demands for its removal. The app, still available elsewhere, pulls together a database of thousands of famous Jews – including movie stars,…
Article18: Poland — Citizens March in Bialystok to Protest Antisemitism; Death Metal Singer Not-Guilty After Trashing Bible on Stage
By Martin Surridge – For much of the twentieth century, Poland served as a sort of punching bag for many of Europe’s strongest armies. Half a million Polish soldiers died in the First World War, the country was brutalized by the Nazis in the Second World War, and for the last half of the century, Poland was repressed by Soviet-inspired…
Is Christian “Just War” Just Like Jihad? (Patheos)
EXCERPT: Christian and Islamic views of warfare are closer than we have been led to believe. When it comes to questions of war and peace, is American Christianity more like Muhammad or Jesus? Since 9/11, such a question has seemed outrageous to many Americans. But perhaps the offense is grounded in some unhelpful assumptions. Here…
Theology a Hot Issue in 2012 GOP Campaign (AP)
EXCERPT: The Texas governor, now a Republican presidential candidate, held a prayer rally for tens of thousands, read from the Bible, invoked Christ and broadcast the whole event on the Web. There was no symbolic nod to other American faiths. No rabbi or Roman Catholic priest was among the evangelical speakers. It was a rare,…
Fear, Incorporated: Who’s Paying for all that Islamophobic Paranoia (FP)
EXCERPT: One of the distinctive features of American democracy is the permeability of our political institutions. It’s an incredibly wide-open system, given First Amendment freedoms, the flood of money that corrupts the electoral process, and a wide array of media organizations and political journals that can be used to disseminate and amplify various views, even…
Karel Nowak: A Legacy of Religious Liberty (Spectrum Magazine)
Shortly before I left the work at the GC office I had an opportunity to sit down with Karel and ask him what he would say to the person who would replace him.