Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category
Boston: The Conversation In Arab-American And Muslim Communities
Story By: Talk of the Nation
After the bombings in Boston, law professor Khaled Beydoun was gripped by the fear that the culprit would be found to be an Arab or Muslim American. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he says this anxiety has become quite familiar in Arab and Muslim communities, and that has transformed the grieving process.
US Anti-Abortion Leaders Join Rome’s March For Life
US Anti-Abortion Leaders Join Rome’s March For LifeAlessandro Speciale ("The Huffington Post," May 8, 2013)
Vatican City – American anti-abortion leaders will be in Rome on Sunday (May 12) to participate in Italyâs third March for Life and lend their expertise to the nationâs small anti-abortion movement as it tries to learn from its American counterpart.
Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, and Lila Rose of Live Action will be among those who will march through central Rome on Sunday morning, from the Colosseum up to Castel SantâAngelo, a few hundred meters from the Vatican.
While the annual March for Life in Washington â which celebrated its 40th anniversary in January â attracts hundreds of thousands of people and heavy media coverage, in Europe anti-abortion movements have often kept a lower profile and havenât been able to shape social discourse as in the United States.
Polls regularly show high levels of support for abortion rights throughout Europe. A January poll by Eurispes found that 64 percent of Italians favor legalizing abortion pills.
In Italy, abortion is currently legal in hospitals up to the third month of pregnancy.
Last year, Italyâs March for Life was held for the first time in Rome. In 2011, the very first march wended through the small northern town of Desenzano del Garda.
Around 15,000 people took part in the 2012 March, according to organizers who predict significantly larger attendance this year.
The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, praised the initiative in a letter.
The march is a way of âreawakening consciencesâ and âmobilizing men of good willâ against abortion, he wrote.
Italyâs March for Life is part of a wider movement that has seen European anti-abortion movements become bolder in recent years.
In 2012, anti-abortion groups from 20 different countries launched a petition asking the European Parliament to recognize that life begins at conception. They aim to collect 1 million signatures from each of at least seven of the 27 countries of the European Union by November.
In an interview with Religion News Service, Monahan said that while some of what makes the March for Life successful in the U.S. can be exported to Italy, âeach culture is unique,â and this must be taken into account when trying to replicate the American model overseas.
Monahan, who will be honored by the organizers of Romeâs rally, said that what the American experience can teach Italyâs and Europeâs anti-abortion movements is âgetting the grass roots togetherâ to âput a little bit of bully pressure on our legislators.â
âWe can do something through our legislators and really feel results; it really makes the difference,â she said.
For Virginia Coda Nunziante, chief organizer of Italyâs March for Life, the idea for an Italian rally came from her several years of participation in the Washington march.
âWe saw how it really mattered for (American) civil society, and we decided to try to fill this void,â she said.
Coda Nunziante said Italyâs anti-abortion movements want to learn from their American counterpartsâ success in âcreating a culture of life, mobilizing youth and getting across to the wider public that abortion really kills innocents.â
But she acknowledges that funding for Italyâs march falls far short of that for the American anti-abortion movement.
âWe have been able to get some politicians on board. We want to pressure politicians, because they are the ones who change the law,â she said.
For Monahan, American and European anti-abortion movements âcan help each other and learn.â
Her main advice for the organizers of Italyâs March is to avoid trying to âtwist peopleâs armsâ in getting their messages across: âWe donât have to manipulate people or convince them. Truth is very attractive and our role is only to bring it into the light.â
Teotihuacan ‘Orbs,’ Metallic Spheres, Found By Robot Under ‘Temple Of The Feathered Serpent’ In Mexico
Saudi Woman Given Lashes For Texting Stranger by Mistake
Homosexual ‘Marriage’ and Social Realism
For the anti-realist, ontology–the study of being, of what is, of something’s nature or essence–has nothing to do with morality–the study of what is good. When our concept of the good is cut off from the concept of reality, we walk away from realism and into the land of ideology.
In the land of ideology, subjective preferences–tastes–what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called “can’t helps”–and nothing else–govern the good, which means nothing governs the good.
As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who rejected any notion of natural law, tersely put it, moral truths become “more or less arbitrary . . . . Do you like sugar in your coffee or don’t you? . . . So as to truth.” “Our tastes,” Holmes pontificated ex cathedra under whose authority I can only imagine, “are finalities.” This is the opposite of realism. This is idealism. Moral values are based upon our ideas, not reality.
Physical realism takes things as they are, as real. It is the common sense by which we lead our lives. Very few of us jump off the ledge of the Grand Canyon–at least without a parachute, or bungee cord, or some other gravity-deflecting device–because we are aware of that ineluctable reality of the law of gravity. That is realism.
In his famous biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson, Boswell tells the story of how Dr. Johnson refuted the theories of subjective idealism of George Berkely which denied the reality of material world. “I refute it thus!” Dr. Johnson exclaimed, as he kicked a rock.
When it comes to homosexual “marriage,” we have to refute it by kicking a rock, so to speak. That is to say, we can only refute homosexual “marriage” if we stay close to reality, to what is. This is the case because marriage is a natural community, not one we make ourselves. It is not at all like the question of whether we like sugar in our coffee or not.
To be sure, in the case of marriage, we are not dealing with a physical matter such as a rock. Rather, we are dealing with a moral institution, a social institution, one founded upon a particular human community. In fact, marriage is the most basic of social communities from which all others are derived. But though it is a moral and social institution, marriage remains a natural institution, a natural community, and so is based on natural reality, on what is.
Before any human law steps in to govern marriage, the natural, social institution of marriage is already there. It existed before human law. Indeed, it existed even before the Church, and so the Church does nothing other than “sacramentalize” or perfect the natural institution which pre-existed her existence.
The Church, like the State, has no authority to change the fundamental aspects of marriage because it is based upon the reality that existed before Church and State existed. Marriage is a primordial institution. That’s why the defense of marriage has nothing to do with religion or with faith. It is not a matter of religious faith, but a matter of being sane.
Marriage is not based upon faith, which Scriptures define as the reality of what is hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). No. Rather, marriage has everything to do with natural reality, what is before us, what is seen. That’s why, like Dr. Johnson’s rock, it can be kicked.
Marriage existed before the Lord walked in Palestine and wiped clean the slate of the legal accretions allowed to blight the original, primordial meaning of marriage and which tolerated divorce because of the Jews’ hardness of heart. “But from the beginning of creation, God made the male and female,” Jesus said. “For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. . . . What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Mark 10:6-9; Matt 19:7-9)
Marriage has been there from the beginning. It is part of created reality, of what is, a place where reason reigns. It is not part of supernatural reality, where faith comes into play.
If marriage existed before Jesus Christ walked on this earth in the third century A.D., it certainly existed before the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, ordained and …
One simple trick to help your kids do better in school and life
Studies are revealing that babies who hear a lot of words in their daily life from birth, do better than kids that hear few. It doesn’t seem to matter what the words are, just that they hear them.
A study done Betty Hart and Todd Risley at the University of Kansas showed that children need to hear approximately 21,000 words per day “to develop at an appropriate pace,” according to Providence Talks, a pilot program designed to coach parents to talk more to their babies.
Generally speaking, middle-class parents have gotten the word that they need to talk to their children in order for them to develop normally. Parents from lower socioeconomic classes tend to speak much less to their children. It doesn’t help that they generally have to work more and get to spend less time with their children and that they might not be up-to-date on the latest parenting practices.
Studies show that children growing up in low-income households will hear 30 million words fewer than their middle- and high-income peers by their fourth birthday.
As a society, we have spent billions on trying to close achievement gaps between the wealthy and middle-class students and the low. It is understood that there is no inherent difference in ability at birth between the classes. Instead, educational gaps develop over time. Billions have been spent in an effort to close the gap, often with only marginal success.
The finding that children who hear more words do better offers an inexpensive and practical solution to the problem. While it may not erase all inequality, it can help close the gap. All parents need to do is make sure they talk to their babies as much as possible, every day.
Studies have shown that the more words a child hears as a baby, regardless of their background, the better they seem to do. More words equals a higher IQ. However, the child’s progress seems to level off at the same place as their parent’s. This can cause achievement gaps to become generational in nature.
Another crucial caveat was discovered by study. Television talk, meaning speech provided by a television, doesn’t help. In fact, it makes things worse. So putting your child in front of uncle television to close the word gap will backfire.
Parents and caregivers need to talk to their children, and that’s all there is to it.
It does not matter what you talk about, as babies do not understand speech in their first months. All that matters is that you talk. You can narrate what you’re doing, coo and sing all you like, just talk.
Knowing this critical piece of information is powerful. Parents equipped with this knowledge can start giving their children an edge on life, even before they start school or learn to talk. It’s an important lever that can help break cycles of poor achievement and poverty that often plague children from low-income households. It’s also a critical reminder for others.
The Providence Talks program will provide further data and more conclusive results as the program is launched in 2014. However, you don’t need to wait to help your kids, all you need to do is start talking.
© 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Tunisian Salafists storm female student hostel to stop dancing
Tunisian Salafists storm female student hostel to stop dancingTarek Amara (Reuters, April 22, 2013)
Tunis – Hardline Islamists threw stones and bottles at young women in a student hostel in Tunis to stop them staging a performance of dance and music, witnesses said on Thursday, in another blow to secular freedoms in the country that spawned the Arab Spring.
Since secular dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fell two years ago in the first of multiple revolts across the Arab world, moderate Islamists have won election and radical Muslims have targeted symbols of a hitherto mainly secular society.
Female university students housed at the Bardo district hostel in the capital were just starting a weekly show of dance and music on Wednesday evening when dozens of hardline Salafists broke into the premises after scaling its walls, witnesses said.
“They smashed windows on our building and threw stones and bottles at the students, stopping the performance,” said Rim Nsairi, one of the students, who are aged 19 to 24.
The disturbance lasted almost an hour before the assailants fled. There were no serious injuries and no arrests.
“This is unacceptable … The police were present and did not move. It just raises anger and fear,” said Ameni, another student who did not want her last name used. The Interior Ministry, which runs the police, had no immediate comment.
Hostel administrator Raja Madyouni said the university had now tightened security. Salafists had previously threatened female students because of their Western dress and in some cases smoking and relations with young men, according to Madyouni.
It was the latest in a spate of Salafist assaults in the North African state, long among the most secular in the Arab world, over the past year.
Last week, Islamists burst into a secondary school and assaulted its principal after he barred entry to a teenage girl wearing an Islamic face veil. Police fired at Islamists, killing one, after their station came under attack in a southern town.
Tunisian police blamed Salafists for the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid in February, which provoked the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the overthrow of Ben Ali in January 2011.
Salafists have also attacked wine sellers in several Tunisian cities, prompting secularists to accuse them of having formed a religious police and threatening the state.
Salafists intervened to scuttle the staging of several concerts and plays in several cities last year, declaring that they violated Islamic principles. Last September, hardline Islamists ransacked the U.S. Embassy in Tunis during worldwide Muslim protests over an anti-Islam video posted on the Internet.
In another sign of growing Islamist-secularist friction, Habib Kozdhogli, head of the arts faculty at Tunis university, is go on trial on May 2 charged with slapping a veiled student who insisted on entering a class last year.
Moderate Ennahda Islamists who won a free election now head a coalition government in Tunis. But Salafists are pressing for Islam to be made the law of the land and secularists say Ennahda is doing little to safeguard individual and women’s rights.
Coptic Pope courageously criticizes Morsi for failing to protect Christians
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to monopolize power, according to Morsi’s opponents.
The civil strife in Egypt is beginning to embroil many entities that might not normally participate in political divide. The Military became a party to the conflict when it was placed in power following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the U.S. supported dictator who ruled Egypt for years.
More recently, religious institutions have been caught up in the conflict as the conflict becomes one between dominant conservative Muslims and more moderate, and secular elements of Egyptian society.
Tawardos II said the Morsi promised to protect his church and people, “but in reality he did not [do so].” He added, “This is a society that is collapsing. Society is collapsing every day. The church has been a national symbol for 2,000 years. It has not been subjected to anything like this even during the darkest ages … There has been no positive and clear action from the state, but there is a God. The church does not ask for anyone’s protection, only from God.”
Morsi did publicly condemn the violence against the church, saying that an attack on those institutions was an attack on him personally. He has taken some recent steps to preserve equality in the increasingly divided country such as ordering an investigation into the violence and reviving a state panel called the “National Council for Justice and Equality.” That council is intended to promote equality between all Egyptians regardless of their background.
Mosri’s aides have also visited the Cathedral to inspect damage and offer condolences to the Pope.
Tawardos says he remains skeptical of Morsi’s promises. The true value of those promises will not be known until later, and if the perpetrators of crimes against Egypt’s Christians are brought to justice.
© 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Coptic Pope courageously criticizes Morsi for failing to protect Christians
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to monopolize power, according to Morsi’s opponents.
The civil strife in Egypt is beginning to embroil many entities that might not normally participate in political divide. The Military became a party to the conflict when it was placed in power following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the U.S. supported dictator who ruled Egypt for years.
More recently, religious institutions have been caught up in the conflict as the conflict becomes one between dominant conservative Muslims and more moderate, and secular elements of Egyptian society.
Tawardos II said the Morsi promised to protect his church and people, “but in reality he did not [do so].” He added, “This is a society that is collapsing. Society is collapsing every day. The church has been a national symbol for 2,000 years. It has not been subjected to anything like this even during the darkest ages … There has been no positive and clear action from the state, but there is a God. The church does not ask for anyone’s protection, only from God.”
Morsi did publicly condemn the violence against the church, saying that an attack on those institutions was an attack on him personally. He has taken some recent steps to preserve equality in the increasingly divided country such as ordering an investigation into the violence and reviving a state panel called the “National Council for Justice and Equality.” That council is intended to promote equality between all Egyptians regardless of their background.
Mosri’s aides have also visited the Cathedral to inspect damage and offer condolences to the Pope.
Tawardos says he remains skeptical of Morsi’s promises. The true value of those promises will not be known until later, and if the perpetrators of crimes against Egypt’s Christians are brought to justice.
© 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Grim report: New bird flu causes brain damage, multi-organ failure
In the early days of an outbreak of a new influenza virus, H7N9 had never been seen before in humans. H7N9 has infected at least 40 people in four Chinese provinces and killed 11 in the past two months, Chinese authorities say.
Patients included two men, ages 87 and 27, both from Shanghai, and a 35-year-old woman from Anhui. All had pre-existing health conditions and two had been exposed to chickens at live poultry markets in the previous week. All three fell sick between Feb. 18 and March 13 and died between March 4 and April 9 of severe complications, the report said.
Traced to a re-assortment of genes from wild birds in East Asia and chickens in east China, the flu “raises many urgent questions and global public health concerns,” the U.S. researchers wrote.
The virus clearly has the potential to create critical illness and has genetic characteristics that suggest that it might be better adapted than other bird flu strains to infect mammals — including humans. Even worse, humans have no resistance to it, U.S. scientists report.
The virus is even far more insidious as it doesn’t make birds sick, so it may spread widely and remain undetected until people become ill.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they received specimens of the virus from China this week and were continuing to rush efforts to create a vaccine, a process that could take several months.
Scientists are expected to start growing more of the virus to share for development. CDC officials will also use it to create a diagnostic test that could be used to detect infection in travelers who return to the U.S. from China with symptoms of flu, or those who’ve been in contact with someone who’s been sick.
In addition, the CDC is urging local public health officials to watch for signs of sick travelers from China. About 10 people who recently traveled from China to the U.S. have been tested for the H7N9 virus because of suspicious symptoms, officials said. Everyone that has been tested in the U.S. has been negative – thus far.
© 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.