Religion
Egyptian Salafist Muslims in the Spotlight
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After deadly sectarian violence in Cairo this week, everyone in Egypt seems to be talking about the Salafists. They’re a broad section of ultra-conservative Islamists. And some of them are engaging in political life like never before. The World’s Matthew Bell reports from Cairo. Download MP3
Turkey: Where politics and religion mix
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Matthew Brunwasser reports on the funeral Tuesday of a former Turkish Prime Minister, now considered the father of political Islam in Turkey, one of the few countries in the Middle East region to successfully mix religion and politics. Download MP3
Denmark’s ‘Christian cultural heritage’
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Anchor Lisa Mullins has details on a new Danish government directive that requires the state broadcaster to emphasize its role as a promoter of Danish culture including the nation’s “Christian cultural heritage.” Download MP3
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
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Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed for nearly a half century. Now it could be part of the next Egyptian government. It officially advocates sharia law but members have their differences. The World’s Ben Gilbert has the story. Download MP3Egypt coverage on The World
Targeting Iraq’s Christians
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The UN Security Council has condemned the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq. The attacks are targeting Iraq’s large Christian minority. Five people died in attacks on Christian targets in Baghdad on Wednesday, last week, insurgents linked to al-Qaeda declared that all Christians in Iraq were legitimate targets. Jane Arraf is Iraq correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. Download MP3Pope urges Britain to resist secularism
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Pope Benedict has said he wants to “extend the hand of friendship” to the whole of the UK during his visit. He also urged the British to resist “more aggressive forms of secularism” after being welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh. Tens of thousands of people attended an open-air Mass in Glasgow, while Protestants, secularists, and other groups had planned protests against Vatican policies on birth control, gay rights and abortion, although police did not report any large demonstrations. Laura Lynch reports. Download MP3
Church and state in Britain
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Download MP3Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Patricia Fara, who teaches the history and philosophy of science in Clare College at Cambridge University, about the role of religion in British society, and how it compares to the situation here in the United States.
Hawking: “No place for God”
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There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking has said. He had previously argued belief in a creator was not incompatible with science but in a new book, he concludes the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics. The Grand Design, part serialized in the London Times, says there is no need to invoke God to set the Universe going. Alex Gallafent has more. Download MP3Buddhism and Islam in America
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Heated rhetoric continues to swirl around the proposal to build an Islamic community center a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Historians say this sort of debate has many precedents in American history. Scott Kurashige sees a parallel between the current controversy and efforts to block Japanese immigrants from building Buddhist temples in the decades surrounding World War II. (flickr image: Jukka Vuokko) Download MP3Eco-Islam in Africa
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Green is the color commonly associated with Islam and some scholars say the Koran also commands Muslims to be green in the modern environmental sense. In East Africa, a development project using Islamic ethics has taught locals the Koranic imperatives of conserving natural resources. Some say eco-Islam has taken root. From Pemba Island in Tanzania, Matthew Brunwasser reports. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser) Download MP3Jewish activists find inspiration in their faith
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Israel and the Palestinian Authority are talking to each other again, this time through American mediation. And one of the most contentious issues is still the settlements. When Jewish settlers move into Palestinian parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, they are often motivated by religious ideology. But among their political opponents inside Israel, are a minority of Jewish activists who also find inspiration in their faith. The World’s Matthew Bell reports from Jerusalem. (Photo: Matthew Bell) Download MP3
Senegal street children
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In most any city in the world, you’ll find beggars — the homeless, the disabled, those down on their luck. In the West African city of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, many beggars are children. How those children end up on the streets is a complex tale that often involves Senegal’s religious schooling system. It’s a system that many now want to reform. Jori Lewis has the story from Dakar. Download MP3(Photo: Jori Lewis)Play deals with Catholic sex abuse
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An orphaned choir boy is abused by his Catholic priest, and grows up to be a troubled parent. That’s the plot of a play that opened last month in Regensburg, Germany, just as that city’s real-life clergy abuse scandal came to light. Susan Stone travels to the Bavarian city, where stunned audiences are considering their own tragic past. Download MP3 (Photo: Juliane Zitzlsperger)
Street names, Bible translators and locavore language
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When it comes to naming a street, you can go with the bland: Bella Vista Ave. Or not: Mugabe St. In the Palestinian city of Ramallah, some recently named streets celebrate “fallen matyrs”. Israel too, memorializes its “freedom fighters” from the early 20th century. Also, a conversation with the head of the world’s largest Bible translation organization. The group wants to translate the Bible into every language by 2025. Finally, language journalist Michael Erard declares why henceforth he will use only words that are locally grown and sustainably packaged. Download MP3New Catholic child sex abuse allegations
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Questions are being raised about whether Pope Benedict was personally involved in covering up a case of child sex abuse by a Roman Catholic priest. Documents seen by the New York Times newspaper suggest that in the 1990s, before he became pope then Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to letters about a US case. Marco Werman talks with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter. Download MP3 (Photo: Sergey Kozhukhov)
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