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Archbishop on British PM: Big Society Policy is "Aspirational Waffle"
The Observer newspaper in the UK published extracts from Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams' new book:
Religious Violence In Nigeria Continues: 52 Dead In Latest Attacks
Agence France-Presse report on the lastest incidents of Christian-Muslim fighting in Nigeria:
"The streets of Nigeria's Kaduna city were mostly empty Monday a day after suicide blasts on three churches carried out by Boko Haram Islamists and subsequent rioting killed at least 52 people.
Robert Redford: Quit Funding Dirty Energy!
Writing for The Huffington Post, actor and environmental activist Robert Redford argues:
"Every year, around the world, almost one trillion dollars of subsidies is handed out to help the fossil fuel industry. Who came up with the crazy idea that the fossil fuel industry deserves our hard-earned money, no less in economic times of such harsh human consequence? We fire teachers, police and firemen in drastic budget cuts and yet, the fossil fuel industry can laugh all the way to the bank on our dime? Something doesn't add up here.
Affordable Care Act: What Could Happen?
CNN examines some of the possible outcomes of the Supreme Court's imminent decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act:
"The election-year rulings will not only guide how every American receives medical care but will also establish precedent-setting boundaries for how government regulation can affect a range of social areas. Your health and your finances could be on the line.
Vargas: Journalist and Immigration Rights Activist
A year after publically admitting his status as an undocumented immigrant, journalist Jose Antonio Vargas writes for Time Magazine:
"There are an estimated 11.5 million people like me in this country, human beings with stories as varied as America itself, yet lacking a legal claim to exist here. It’s an issue that touches people of all ethnicities and backgrounds: Latinos and Asians, blacks and whites. (And, yes, undocumented immigrants come from all sorts of countries like Israel, Nigeria and Germany.) It’s an issue that goes beyond election-year politics and transcends the limitations of our broken immigration system and the policies being written to address them."
Read more and follow Time's coverage here
Meritocracy Has Failed
Salon's Editor-at-Large, Joan Walsh writes:
"Thanks to OWS and the work of writers like Stiglitz, 2012 was supposed to be the year America rediscovered and tackled economic inequality. Time magazine closed 2011 by naming OWS its top story of the year, a pretty big honor for a movement that only revved up in the year’s final quarter. But that’s how much its “We are the 99 percent” framing seemed to change the political debate."
Read her full article here
Senate Seeks Greater Respect for Human Rights in Russia
The Hill reports:
"A Senate panel on Tuesday will move human-rights legislation that lawmakers of both parties say is critical to gaining their support for establishing normal trade ties with Russia.
The Atlantic: Give Us Your Geniuses
From The Atlantic, a plea for an immigration policy that encourages the movement of high-skilled foreign nationals to the United States:
In this age of extreme polarization, it seems unlikely that there would be an issue where the benefits were so large and the correct course of action so clear that it would unite liberals and conservatives, allowing Democratic and Republican congressmen to pause in their struggle and rocket it through Congress. But it is not wishful thinking. There exists such a policy. The United States must admit many more high-skilled immigrants.
Read the full article here
God's Economy?
Paul Froese offers some interesting insights for Religion & Politics:
Perhaps it is the fervent individualism of American Christianity which makes free market capitalism seem like a Divine mandate. Because evangelicals assert that you alone are responsible for your eternal salvation, it makes sense that the individual is also responsible for his or her economic salvation without government assistance, especially if God is the only assistance you really need.
Can Technology Bring about World Peace?
A fascinating essay on 'geo-economics' for The Atlantic by Ayesha and Parag Khanna:
Still, technology is playing a great role in not just the events of geopolitical history but its course. If military power is inherently competitive -- the stronger your army and the weaker your neighbor's, the more powerful you become -- then economic power is more cooperative. After all, much of America's power today is economic, but that power would decrease if China's economy collapses. Technological power is also cooperative in this way, perhaps even more so.
Read more here
Teens Struggle to Find Summer Jobs
A record number of teens will be able to find work this summer, The Associated Press reports:
Once a rite of passage to adulthood, summer jobs for teens are disappearing.
Doubting God
On the CNN Belief Blog, Dan Merica reports:
Creflo Dollar: Police Release Daughter's 911 Tapes Reporting Assault by Father
According to CNN:
ATLANTA, Ga. – With a calm voice and collected manner about her, a 15-year-old girl called Fayette County 911 to report that her father assaulted her. The call led police to the suburban Atlanta home of megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar and ultimately resulted in a night behind bars on Friday.
The audio from the phone call was released Tuesday.
“I just got into an altercation with my father. He punched me and threatened to choke me,” the girl told a 911 dispatcher. “Um, this is not the first time that this has happened. I feel threatened by being in this house. Um… I don’t know, I don’t know what can be done. But I’m scared, I’m shaking.“
Dollar publicly denied punching or choking his teenage daughter during Sunday service at World Changers International Church, but in the police report, he admitted emotions ran high very early Friday morning and he attempted to “restrain” his daughter when she became “disrespectful.”
In the 911 tapes, the teen explained to the dispatcher that her father attacked her because of grades and a dispute about a party that she wanted to attend.
Read more HERE.
Iran Releases Christian Pastor, Two Others Remain Imprisoned
TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran has released Pastor Mehdi “Petros” Foroutan who served about one year in prison following a police crackdown on his and other house churches, a spokesman told BosNewsLife late Tuesday.
Jason DeMars, who helped the 27-year-old pastor with advocacy, explained that Forouton was released on June 10. He added that the pastor "In total served about one year in prison for 'crimes against national security' because of his Christian faith."
At least two other Christian clergymen — Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and another Christian leader, Behnam Irani — remain imprisoned. Nadarkhani faces the death penalty for refusing to abandon his Christian faith and return to Islam. He remains in Lakan Prison in the city of Rasht where he is still awaiting an official response from the local court about his future, DeMars said. Irani is held in Ghezal Hezar prison in Karaj city, despite his poor health. Prison officials reportedly refuse to allow him to visit a doctor.
Read more HERE.
Deadly Earthquake Hits Afghanistan
From The Associated Press:
"As many as 100 people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried more than 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.
US, Pakistan Fail to Agree on Afghanistan Supply Routes
Carlo Munoz reports for The Hill:
"American negotiators working with Pakistan to reopen critical supply routes into Afghanistan have been called back to the United States, casting further doubt on whether the lines will ever be reopened to U.S. and coalition forces. Defense Department spokesman George Little told reporters on Monday that several members of the U.S. negotiation team had already left Islamabad, with the remaining members scheduled to depart the country within days."
Read the full story here
The Atlantic: The Geography of Abortion
Richard Florida examines how geography impacts abortion in the United States, and what it tells us:
"Few issues divide Americans more severely than abortion. Even accounting for changes in the nation's political climate over time, polling numbers consistently show a close to even split in the percent of the population who identify as pro-life or pro-choice. And given the variation in abortion laws across the 50 states, that divide has a definite geographic dimension as well."
Read the full story here
What good is oil when there's nothing to eat?
For Salon, Fred Pearce writes:
Saudi Arabians have grown colossally rich on the country’s oil reserves. They have grown used to the idea that petrodollars can buy them anything. But Saudis are waking up to the fact that all their wealth will count for nothing if they have nothing to eat. And — despite the conference tables heaving with French, Persian, American and Arab cuisine — that is a growing threat. “If we want our grandchildren to live as we are, we need to change now, or we will be like an African country in 50 years, asking for aid,” Adil Bushnak, a former member of the Saudi Supreme Economic Council, told me during a conference session I was chairing
Learn more here
Tutu: To live sustainably, we need to talk
Writing for The Huffington Post, Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, a Nobel Peace Laureate and Chair of The Elders writes on why inter-generational dislogue is so important in tackling the big issues of the day:
For the sake of our planet, a conversation that needs to be heard is the one between generations, between elders and young people around the world -- and those who are in between.
Jonathan Merritt on the changing political culture among young Christians
Author Jonathan Merritt sets our the seven reasons why Christians should "change their political tune":
Aristotle is credited with saying, "Change in all things is sweet." And perhaps no change of late is as sweet as that among young Christians in the public square. While the last several decades of Christian engagement have often been marked by partisan tactics and a polemical tone, a new generation is changing its political tune. These individuals aren't leaving the public square altogether, but they are looking for less divisive and less partisan ways to engage. They want to follow Jesus without fighting the culture wars.
Read the full list here