Res Publica Newsletter

The new Res Publica Newsletters offers a thematic review of religious and cultural news in America and around the world. For each theme there will be different points of view regarding various current news sources. Original links for the news stories cited are included below.

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"Clash of Covenants" Makes Any Middle Eastern Settlement Unlikely

January 16, 2008

Why is the United States so fixated on the Middle East in general, and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular?

Edward Luttwak, Senior Fellow of Center for Strategic and International Studies argues that the Middle East is best ignored, given that the dead in the Arab-Israeli Conflict from 1921 is less than 100,000. Arab nations sustain excellent insurgencies but poor armies, he argues, and besides oil, the Middle East provides little of economic value to the rest of the world to justify the West's interest in the region. Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria provide equivalent shares of American oil imports to Saudi Arabia, while Mexico exports a stream of illegal immigrants to the United States. Yet the United States does not attempt to intervene so directly in the affairs of any of these countries.

The United States has been preoccupied with the Middle East since the end of the Vietnam War, and particularly since the fall of Communism? It continues to look for rational reasons for disputes that can be resolved by the rule of law and by compromise. In the case of Gulf War, the initial irritant was a dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over drilling rights.. In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, the debate is always reduced to land claims and United Nations resolutions that attempt to govern what a settlement between Israel, the Palestinians and her neighbors must look like. Nothing on the surface appears like the sort of issue that would invite foreign interest let alone intervention.

When we peer deeper, we see that the social systems of the Middle East are very different and operate on much different assumptions than our own. As David Price Jones has pointed out in his work The Closed Circle people in the Middle East operate on the basis of tribal and familial ties overriding any obligation to outsiders or to society as a whole. Within the family, members find themselves jockeying for power, sometimes challenging elders or one's own brothers for status..

All Muslims may be equal in the sight of Allah, but in practice, the emphasis on family above all else results in strict hierarchical relationships with individuals having few rights and little autonomy. A person defines himself in terms of relationships to superiors and inferiors, with little room for autonomy as an individual. It is a social system that has persisted in the Middle East at least since the Islamic conquest and probably since Biblical times.

Islam gives sanction and support to this social system. Particularly in terms of relationships with non-believers, Islamic law mandates inferiority on the part Jews and Christians. At their most benign Jews and Christians are given autonomy as dhimmi, but under restrictions and humiliations that clearly establish their inferiority to Muslims. And Sunni Muslims, when in a position of authority also treat Shia Muslims in this manner.

But this subordination and humiliation is not just between Muslims and non-believers, but also can be found within Muslim society. When one tribe or family gains the upper hand in a given area or organization, it extracts all possible resources from those whom it has subjugated, reserving positions of authority for family members, whether competent to exercise that authority or not. This system of privilege is not considered corruption. After all, what kind of man would not provide for his family?

Given the religious sanction to these social relationships, they can be defined as covenantal, that is, unchangeable. The Sharia, the code of Muslim law derived from the Koran and the Hadith (stories of Muhammad's life) is unchangeable, handed down by Allah, and can only be interpreted by judicial authorities, just as the Torah is among Jews. Shia Muslims, though, vest authority and the power to innovate and write new law to their most revered leaders, the mujtahidim or the ayatollahs. The idea that human beings can govern themselves and have individual, unalienable rights, is foreign to Middle Eastern thinking.

When Americans encounter the Middle East, they bring to bear their own covenant, however. The United States Constitution did not start out as a covenant in 1789, but as a compact between sovereign states. And the states often honored many of the Constitution's provisions, particularly when it came to restrictions on interstate commerce, in the breach. When the Southern States attempted to secede from the Union over high tariffs and slavery issues in 1860, it was put down violently. At that point, sanctified in blood, it can be argued that the Constitution became a covenant, one which could be amended if sufficient consensus existed, no state could leave the Union and the replacement of the Constitution by another constitution in a constitutional convention, though provided for within the Constitution, became unthinkable.

While the United States was content to keep its faith in its own country for the next 60 years, during and after World War I, President Woodrow Wilson (the son of a Presbyterian minister and profoundly influenced by Scottish Covenanter teachings) proposed his Fourteen Points and the Covenant for the League of Nations. Wilson even used the term covenant, referring to principles of international relations that extended Americanism to the rest of the world. The League of Nations was a bit too much for the U.S. Senate, which rejected the League treaty in 1919, but those principles persisted and would be amplified a little over 20 years later by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the United Nations Charter.

Because of built-in difficulties in making amendments, the UN became in effect, an unchanging covenant. And a world that had been badly scarred by war embraced the UN Charter and Organization to a greater or lesser degree, and it became a covenant between nations.

For the most part, national governments, whether democratic or dictatorships, found it appropriate to at least give lip service to the UN system, because it served to confirm these rulers in their power over their people. China's rulers, for example, got title and the right to control almost all territory that the previous Chi'ng Dynasty controlled, including Tibet but excluding Outer Mongolia, which they recognized as independent. In the Middle East and Africa, however, the principles of unchangeable national boundaries led to situations where borders drawn by former colonial masters resulted in countries with differing and often mutually hostile ethnic groups in one country. In the Mideast one specific result was a family, or one ethnic or community group (for instance, House of Saud in Saudi Arabia ,or the Alawites in Syria), ruling entire countries.

That was fine for the group which could exercise control, and for foreign business interests which only needed to appease one small constituency in a country instead of dealing with democratic decision making. Problems have arisen, however, in the Middle East when these two covenants conflict. And conflict they do. For in the Middle East, a conflict is not over unless there is a clear winner and a clear loser. The Wilsonian method of conflict resolution, in which cease fires are declared, negotiations entered into and a legal compromise reached in the form of a treaty, only results in at most, a truce, a hudna in Arabic, in which both sides lick their wounds and prepare for the next round of fighting.

A good example of a Mideast conflict with a clear winner and a clear loser was the Armenian Genocide. The Armenians, buoyed by the experience of Eastern European nations in casting off the Turkish yoke began to agitate for independence from Turkey. The genocide was definitely an atrocity and a holocaust, but had the Turks not engaged in it, there would likely be an independent Armenia and Turkey would be half the size that it is today. The conflict in Darfur is another example. Again, the janjaweed attacks are atrocious, but they were precipitated by demands by the Fur for independence or autonomy, as the Southern Sudanese have received in their long war with the Muslim northern Sudanese.

The conflict between Iraq and Kuwait, though, crossed those arbitrarily drawn lines. It originated because Kuwait was allegedly slant drilling in an area on the border of Iraq. Worse, Kuwait had lowered its oil prices to a point where the world price of oil was too low for Iraq to pay off its war debts, and Saddam to pay his supporters). Saddam had just concluded a truce with Iran that ended a long, disastrous war, and he needed to retain the respect of the rest of the country, particularly Iraq's Shiite majority.

Had Saddam confined his military activity to the disputed border region, it is likely that he would have prevailed and there would have been no international response. But that would not have brought the price of oil high enough to save his regime under the circumstances he faced. His occupation of Kuwait, however, violated the covenant between nations established under the UN Charter. A sitting member of the UN had just had its independence taken away by military action. Had the action gone unchecked, not only would Saddam be in a position to control the price of oil, but the integrity of the covenant by which international relations were conducted.

The United States was bound in its military options by the same covenant that permitted it to act in the first place. As a result, while the US could go into Iraq, it was obliged to withdraw as soon as its immediate objective (the restoration of the Emir of Kuwait) was achieved. Saddam,. for his part, lost no face from being routed by the alien United States, but gained much face from standing up to the US as long as he did. And the Coalition forces accomplished his objective of killing off the very Shiite troops that would have threatened him the most. And President George H.W. Bush, fearing a breakup of Iraq, even permitted Saddam to put down a Shiite revolt, which he did in typically bloody fashion. In this way, paradoxically, the Gulf War cemented Saddam in power, much to the disappointment of the Bush and Clinton Administrations.

It is this stigma, which more than anything else, helps to explain why in 2003, President George W. Bush found it necessary to occupy Iraq. For in 2002, the regime of sanctions that were keeping Saddam's Iraq impoverished and his oil off the world market were being violated by fellow Security Council members, France, Russia and China. This raised the prospect that Saddam, a violator of the UN covenant, could once again be a power broker in the world oil market. For the United States and Great Britain, this would have been an intolerable foreign policy defeat and a breach of the international covenant. The integrity of the international covenant demanded this action, and it is very likely that Al Gore, had he been president at the time, would have done the same thing, especially since he urged the same sort of action on President Clinton over Kosovo for similar reasons.

Saddam had to act as he did to retain power according to the covenant that exists in the Middle East. That covenant conflicted with the covenant that has governed international relations since the end of World War II. Saddam had little choice to act as he did and neither did either President Bush. It is possible that the Iraq situation may be resolvable with enough patience on the part of the US, but even here resolutions are only occurring at the local and tribal level. There are plenty of worse scenarios.

Similarly, the Arab-Israeli conflict can be seen as a conflict between covenants. Unlike the previous example, one party, the Israelis, actually believes in the international relations covenant and supports it wholeheartedly. That this covenant does not work in the Middle East as a whole is both problematic and tragic. The big problem that Israel represents for the Arabs is not the land that it occupies, but the confusion of social relationships that "Zionism" represents. The existence of Israel upends the dhimmitude and subordination that Jews enjoyed in the Middle East, and the egalitarian nature of Israeli society, especially equal rights for women,.has the same effect.

For better or worse, Israel was established by international covenant in a vote of the United Nations. Unfortunately, that vote constituted an exception to the general rule that former League of Nations Mandates were to become UN Trusteeships before its inhabitants eventually achieved full independence. It is this exceptionality that is the basis for claims that the existence of Israel is a historic injustice under international law, claims that underlie, for example, the perpetuation of Palestinian refugee status under the United Nations Relief Works Agency. .

It is of the Wilsonian with the Middle East convenant that continues to draw the United States and other powers into these talks. The fact that it cannot be resolved according to Wilsonian principles throws the entire Wilsonian covenant into doubt. The problem with covenants is that while they are strong, they are also "carved in stone". Covenants can be broken, and with disastrous consequences, but they cannot bend.

Therein lies a challenge the West does not yet have the knowledge or the temerity to face.

Martin Katchen

Links

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59707

(Jan 16) A new textbook that will be used in middle schools in California and other states has defined “jihad” in general as an effort by Muslims to do good works, and at its most violent, as a defensive effort by Muslims to protect themselves. However, one parent alleges that while the book attempts to pass itself off as an egalitarian world history book, it has an extreme pro-Muslim bias. According to the woman, while seven chapters deal with Islam or Muslim subjects, it gives superficial mention of Christianity and only refers to Jews on one page.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080116_Temple_announces_gift_for_interfaith_chair.html

(Jan 16) One month after a $1.5 million arrangement for an Islamic studies chair, Temple University has announced it has received an equal fund for a chair in interfaith dialogue. The money comes from the Enlightened World Foundation, the organization of a local energy executive and former Catholic seminarian, Harry Halloran. Halloran is also donating $300,000 towards the $1.5 million needed to create the Islamic studies chair.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA17Ak01.html

(Jan 17) The Turkish government may be a participant in the “war on terror,” but its’ activities are seen in general as a struggle against Kurdish militants, and only to a lesser extent al-Qaeda. Now, Israeli intelligence has warned of a possible terrorist strike by al-Qaeda operatives against Israeli institutions in Turkey. It is known that al-Qaeda has previously planned attacks against Israeli targets in the country.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=4160

(Jan 16) According to Father Mikhail Prokopenko, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations’ communication service, the Russian Orthodox Church is still being intentionally ignored by the majority, including mass media. According to Fr. Mikhail, the current situation is one of the lasting consequences of the Soviet years.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/religion/ci_7985922?nclick_check=1

(Jan 16) The gay woman seeking ordination as a Presbyterian minister may soon be ordained. After a debate last week, the San Francisco Presbytery voted 167 to 151 to consider Lisa Larges for the ministry. Although an appeal could delay the final decision by over a year, Larges could be ordained before opponents can act. The debate drew record attendance from the presbytery. Larges directs That All May Freely Serve, a national organization that supports and advocates for gay Presbyterian clergy. However, the slim vote of approval shows how divided church leaders remain over the issue.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17606

(Jan 16) According to Amnesty International, Jehovah’s Witnesses are facing increasing levels of discrimination, abuse and persecution in Armenia. As of last September, there wer 82 Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned as conscientious objectors in the country. Imprisonment is a result of the religion’s prohibition of engaging in military service, which is required for young males.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7502

(Jan 16) San Joaquin’s Bishop, Schofield, has criticized the Episcopal Church for its actions which inhibited him from duty for breaking away from the Church last year. The Episcopal Church is facing major legal and ecclesiastical battle that will likely end up in secular law courts. According to Schofield, the recent actions are not about Christianity, but about politics, power, money and property.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/galileo-protest-halts-popes-university-visit/2008/01/16/1200419882893.html

(Jan 17) Pope Benedict has cancelled a scheduled speech at Rome’s most prestigious university after students and professors protested. According to a petition signed by 67 professors, the Pope should not be allowed to speak because he puts religion before science. Students staged a sit-in at the chancellor’s offices, declared an “anti-clerical” week and hung banners against the Pope’s visit. Protestors cite their view that in a speech nearly twenty years ago, the Pope stated agreement with the church’s 17^th-century declaration that Galileo was a heretic.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080116/30870_Episcopal_Church_Attempts_to_Ban_Another_Bishop.htm

(Jan 17) The head of the national Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, attempted this week to enact a ban against Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. However, senior bishops refused to give their consent, but certified that Duncan had abandoned his duties to the Communion of the Church. Duncan and members of his diocese are currently moving towards a split with the Episcopal Church over its liberal direction on scripture and homosexuality.

http://christiannewswire.com/news/522675377.html

(Jan 16) China Aid Association has announced that a House Church leader in China’s Xinjiang Province was detained in secret this week for an accused “national security issue.” This is not the first time that government officials in the province have persecuted Christians. Last month, a Christian employee of Xinjiang Pacific Agricultural Resources Development Company, Ltd, was detained and sentenced to 2-3 years reeducation through labor for allegedly revealing State secrets.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080116/30876_Indian_Leaders_Determine_Root_Cause_Behind_Anti-Christian_Violence_in_Orissa.htm

(Jan 16) A number of opposition parties in India have unanimously named the former ruling party and a Hindu fundamentalist organization as the root perpetrators of last month’s violence against Christians in Orissa state. Opposition parties claim that the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian Popular Party) and the Sangh Parivar led to the large-scale communal violence and attacks on churches. Over the course of several days, at least four people died while 95 churches and 730 houses were burnt down or destroyed.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL1756116220080117

(Jan 17) Britain’s Home Secretary is set to announce plans to crack down on websites aimed at spreading extremism and terrorism. Jacqui Smith will call for help from Internet service providers to remove illegal, radicalizing material.

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/6599

(Jan 17) The Methodist church in Britain has launched an alternative Credit Card program designed to challenge consumerism. The new “credit cards” cannot actually be used to make purchases, but they will encourage holders to buy less and live more by being placed in the wallets with the other cards as a reminder.

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2096

(Jan 17) Darool-ul-Deoband, an influential Islamic institute in India, has issued a fatwa citing that Muslims can use temporary contraceptives for better nurturing their children. However, the fatwa maintains the view that permanent contraceptive methods that make physiological changes in the body are banned by Islam. Some countries, including Turkey and Iran, allow contraceptives without any hesitation, while Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are against contraceptives. In India, only about 40% of Muslims use contraceptives.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=4167

(Jan 17) According to a new survey, 55% of Russians believe that Russia’s next president should prefer the Russian Orthodox Church to other religious organizations. However, 45% think he should not be a religious person himself. Only 10% believe the new president should be a religious person and support the Church actively, and one-third think the new president should treat all religions equally and maintain the separation of church and state.

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/bel080117-anti-Islamisation-mc

(Jan 17) Far-right groups in the Netherlands have launched an anti-Islamisation campaign and called for a ban on the building of new mosques. The Vlaams Belang party has teamed up with radical groups from Austria and Germany. The coalition believes mosques will act as catalysts for the Islamisation of entire neighborhoods.

http://www.pr-inside.com/turkish-court-warns-against-lifting-ban-r392180.htm

(Jan 17) Turkey’s chief prosecutor has warned against moves to lift a ban on women wearing Islamic-style headscarves in universities, claiming that the injunction is key to maintaining the country’s secular traditions. The warning comes in response to moves to draft a new Constitution that would allow headscarves on campuses. Turkey’s current constitution was written during the military rule that followed a 1980 coup.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/01/7352e002-bf55-4dfc-8cef-4b0fdd8c6572.html

(Jan 17) Just one year after eliminating hijabs in public schools, Tajikstan’s education minister has ordered male students at the Islamic University of Tajikistan to don suits and ties and shave their beards. The move comes as part of a larger efforts to make sure unsanctioned religious practices do not get a foothold.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-31456320080117

(Jan 17) A new survey reports that France’s Muslim minority, the largest in Europe, is becoming increasingly more observant. According to the survey, more than half of the Muslims say daily prayers, visit mosques and fast during Ramadan. Mosque attendance for Friday prayers has risen to 23 percent, up from 16 percent in 1994, and Ramadan observance has increased from 60 to 70 percent in the same time. Drinking alcohol has also declined 5%.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/01/19/cult_uprising_kills_at_least_80_in_iraq/

(Jan 19) As worshipers marched, chanted and beat their chests in Basra and Nasiriya as part of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest holiday, members of a messianic cult fought against Iraqi security forces. The clash marked the first major test for Iraqi security forces since they took over responsibility for the region in December. At least eighty people were killed, another sixty gunmen were arrested and large quantities of weapons were seized from a mosque linked with a group.

http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/291146.html

(Jan 19) As churches increasingly manage real-estate portfolios including sports centers and shopping malls, their leaders are being faced with visits from tax collectors. Government officials say they are levying taxes because the churches are running businesses that don’t have a charitable mission. Church leaders argue that they are trying to find entrepreneurial ways to serve the poor and the faithful, not turn a profit.

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=51589

(Jan 19) Saudi Women’s Rights Activist Wajiha Al-Huweidar has criticized Middle Eastern men and Saudi society. Al-Huweidar claims that a patriarchal culture has flourished under the guise of religion.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hh_WlU126gWQ9RmcbRwbDfTVdL3Q

(Jan 19) Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on Muslims to unite against extremism. Karzai told about 2,000 people gathered at a Kabul mosque that Muslim nations should work together to safeguard their religion, especially against “tyrants” carrying out suicide attacks under the name of Islam.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/kunong436.html

(Jan 13) The Anglican Province of Central Asia has revoked Bishop Nolbert Kunonga’s clergyman’s license and those of priests aligned to him. The decision to revoke the licenses was based on their encouragement of homosexuality and general misconduct. At the meeting, representatives also accepted Kunonga’s personal resignation and withdrawal from the province. The decision comes after the bishop of the Episcopal diocese of San Joaquin was banned from practicing his ministerial duties after the congregation voted to sever ties with the Episcopal Church.

http://www.chicagopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/5206644

(Jan 13) LGBT families have invited six mega-church leaders and congregation members to talks this spring. The organizers include Soulforce, the National Justice Coalition and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. The hope is that the pastors, who represent a new generation of evangelical leaders, can demonstrate a new kind of leadership that models compassion and justice for all people.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080113/30822_Spanish_Gov't,_Church_Spar_Over_Liberal_Policies.htm

(Jan 13) The Roman Catholic Church and Spanish government continue to spar over the liberal social policies of the government. The relationship between the two started souring after the Socialist Party came to power in 2004 and started to accelerate social liberal policies by legalizing gay marriage, introducing fast-track divorces and ending religious education in schools. Tensions increased after a Dec. 30 rally in which Catholic leaders criticized the government policies.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59662

(Jan 13) A U.S. Coast Guard officer and devout Catholic has filed suit to prevent being forced to receive a vaccination derived from the lung of an aborted child after a higher ranking officer disputed his understanding of Church theology. The officer has charged the government with using its own arbitrary judgment of what constitutes Catholic theology but permiting religious exemptions to other groups. His request for religious exemption cited a 2005 letter from the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, which condemns the use of cell lines from abortions in vaccines and supports Catholics’ right to refuse them.

http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/node/1531

(Jan 14) Four priests and a nun have been expelled from Moldova as part of the country’s latest efforts to crackdown on religious freedom. In addition, the leader of the Bessarabian Orthodox Metropolitante, secret police intimidate priests in the country to get them to renounce their faith and switch churches.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=dujour&div=157

(Jan 14) Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the government is indebted to the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, he has promised to facilitate the revival of religion in the country. According to Putin, the state has done much over the past few decades to undermine the roots of the local history and culture.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/13/44162.html

(Jan 13) The leading Lebaese Shiite cleric and spiritual leader of Hezbollah has urged his followers and fellow clerics to stop traditional Ashura rituals that cause pain or injury to themselves. In Shiite tradition, the annual Ashura ceremony commemorates the killing in Karbala of Imam Hussein – grandson of the Prophet Mohammad – and Shiite volunteers wear a white burial shroud and flay themselves with chains or slice their scalps to express remorse and guilt for not saving him.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEJp8g5Ip07SZM6RoHz9OlRs5zBg

(Jan 13) A new film giving an Islamic view of Jewus Christ is in cinemas in Iran starting this week. The film, which the director hopes will show common ground between Muslims and Christians, is an attempt to answer Western productions of the biblical account of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Islam, Jesus is viewed as a prophet, but not the son of God, and it is not believed that Jesus was crucified.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=January2008&file=World_News2008011441659.xml

(Jan 13) Egypt’s attorney general has ordered the release of a Coptic Christian woman. The woman was arrested after an alleged mix-up over her religion after her father briefly converted to Islam more than 45 years ago. She was sentenced to three years in prison after she listed her religion as Christian, not knowing her father’s three-year term as a Muslim in 1962 made her official religion Islam.

http://www.macon.com/198/story/236501.html

(Jan 13) Two years ago, lawmakers in Georgia agreed to let public highschools teach a course on the Old and New Testaments. However, at least ten school systems have said they neither offer a Bible course nor plan to. They assert that such instruction is better left to churches. Other reasons for deciding to not offer the course are the costs of materials, scheduling conflicts, and possible legal implications.

http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view.bg?articleid=1066297&srvc=home&position=also

(Jan 14) Islam-inspired music has made its way to Boston’s rap and hip-hop scene. According to one rap group, the incorporation of Islamic ideas into their music is meant not to be preachy, but they hope its good music that is thought-provoking enough that listeners might learn something.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-14-0113.html

(Jan 14) Three men will be honored at the 2008 First Freedom Awards for their efforts to protect religious freedom. The recipient of the International First Freedom Award is Jakob Finci, the president of both the Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina and La Benevolencija. The National First Freedom Award winner is John Witte Jr., a professor of law and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. The Virginia First Freedom Award will go to Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Washtington.

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=4265

(Jan 14) According to a new study, college students’ attendance at worship services may decline during time on campus, but their interest in spiritual matters grows. UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute compared the views of students as freshmen in 2004 with the same students’ views last year. The survey included responses by more than 14,000 students.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/173186,va-rep-wants-annual-religion-week.html

(Jan 14) Virginia House Representative Randy Forbes has introduced a House resolution to establish “American Religious History Week.” The congressman states his hope that the annual week would counter efforts to remove all religious reference from political discourse.

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=10132

(Jan 14) Christian, Hindu and Muslim scholars, mostly from India, have announced a joint interest in a creative science-religion dialogue to maximize the benefits of globalization while minimizing its negative effects on the poor. Approxmiately 100 university professors, researchers and activists from India and overseas supported the announcement.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-monks14jan14,1,3917559.story?coll=la-headlines-world&track=crosspromo

(Jan 14) During a lecture this week, a Buddhist monk in Myanmar sent a strong message to give Buddhists hope after the recent crackdown by the junta: the regime is doomed if they continue to mistreat monks. He told the legend of a king who ruled more than 2,500 years ago. The king believed spitting on a hermit brought him good fortune. Although it worked at first, his realm was soon annihilated under a rain of fire, spears and knives.

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=33116&cat=15

(Jan 14) Pave the Way Foundation, a non-sectarian organization founded to remove obstacles between religions in hopes of fostering cooperation and ending the misuse of religion to justify violence and terrorism, has begun a project to investigate the Papacy of Pope Pius XII, who held office during World War II. The project will identify conflicting information about his actions during the war, which continue to cause discord.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7488

(Jan 14) The head of the Anglican church in Europe, Dr. Geoffrey Rowell, was locked out of six churches in Turkey by their congregations, after his decision to ordain a local convert to the priesthood. The bishop was going to conduct the ceremony at one of the churches this past weekend, but he was forced to carry out the ordination in a small chapel in Istanbul due to fears that the ordination would endanger the lives of congregants in the mainly Muslim country. The secretary of Istanbul’s church council has called for the bishop’s resignation for endangering the Christian community.

http://www.eni.ch/news/item.php?id=1535

(Jan 14) Bishop Kunonga, formerly of the Province of Central Africa has formed his own church, the Anglican Province of Zimbabwe. The move comes after the Anglican Church stripped him of his credentials to function as a priest in the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7490

(Jan 14) The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has released a list of 22 clergy who have been inhibited from their duties. According to Bishop Samuel Howard, the clergy are accused of abandoning the communion of the church. The priests were inhibited last September, and will be officially deposed this coming March. The Anglican Alliance of North Florida has reported that, as of January 14, twenty-one congregations had left the diocese.

http://www.wfn.org/2008/01/msg00086.html

(Jan 14) Clergywomen of color from the United Methodist Church recently met for the first time in twenty-five years. The intent of the meeting was to worship, network and organize efforts to increase their influence within the denomination. During the meeting, attendees reviewed a 2004 study that found that United Methodist clergywomen of color in the U.S. do not feel substantive support from the denomination, struggle with lack of opportunities for appointments and visible leadership roles, and receive salaries lower than their male and female counterparts.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/31491/Outcry-as-Muslim-M-S-worker-refuses-to-sell-unclean-Bible-book

(Jan 14) A Muslim employee at Marks & Spencer in Britain has sparked controversy after refusing to touch a book at the checkout counter. The employee claimed that the book, “First Bible Stories” was unclean, and summoned another member of the staff to finish the transaction. The incident has reignited debate over religious beliefs in the workplace.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=almJ.nL_9eNc&refer=india

(Jan 14) According to a government minister in the Maldives, recent events have prompted the the current administration to take steps to prevent the spread of Islamic extremism in the archipelago. The Maldives is made up of 1,190 islands over 900 kilometers. The population, around 370,000, is composed of mostly Sunni Muslims. The administration is attempting to promote moderate thinking and has banned veils in some places. In addition, Muslim prayer groups without a license are banned.

http://rousehill.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/muslims-reach-out-on-australia-day/1162532.html

(Jan 15) A number of Muslims from Rouse Hill, Australia are celebrating Australia Day with a special service and invitations to visit a local mosque. One goal of the program is to celebrate Australian identity while reaching out to the broader community. In addition, one coordinator believes there is a growing understanding of Islam in Australia. According to one imam, Australia is a good country with generally tolerant people.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080115/30854_Williams_Condemns_Harrassment_of_Churches_in_Zimbabwe.htm

(Jan 15) The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the Zimbabwean Government after reports that authorities have disrupted church services and intimidated opponents of an ousted bishop. The Archbishop stated that he is opposed to any state actions intended to intimidate opponents of the deposed bishop. The bishop, Nolbert Kunonga was deposed after separating from the Anglican Central African Province. The Archbishop also claims that Kunonga had refused to maintain appropriate levels of independence from the government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/33439ADB-D41E-45B1-AEAA-3A20997D52EA.htm

(Jan 15) The United Nations recently supported a forum aimed at encouraging understanding between the West and Muslim countries. Tshe two-day conference was held in Madrid, Spain. The event was attended by dozens of government members, representatives of international organizations, civil society, the media, and philanthropic foundations.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080115/30860_Churches_Offer_Spiritual_Help_for_Weight_Loss.htm

(Jan 15) Churches across the U.S. have began bolstering efforts intended to help members lose weight. A number of people have been turning to their local church to help shed extra pounds for various reasons: self-improvement, closer relationships with God, raising funds for their church, etc. In Houston, Weight Watchers has teamed up with churches to help people lose weight.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/episco436.html

(Jan 15) In an interfaith ceremony this past week, the new Episcopal Bishop of Nevada was blessed by a Catholic Bishop, Hindu chaplain, Muslim Imam, Jewish Rabbi, Bahai leader, Baptist minister, and Native American faith leader. While blessings differed by person, they all signified a welcome the new Bishop to Nevada and wished him success in his mission.

Richard Bishop