Topic: War and Peace
US Muslim leaders joined together to denounce extremism and terrorism. The brutality of the ISIS militant group “has no basis in the teachings of Islam,” says Azhar Azeez, president of the Islamic Society of North America. More
Religious freedom activists are raising new concerns about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. “It is nothing less than ethnic cleansing, and we cannot continue to be silent,” says Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. More
“There’s a fear among large segments of the Buddhist population in Myanmar,” says Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, an independent organization to protect and defend human rights, “that the country is at risk of being taken over by Muslims. It’s a very unreasonable, irrational fear.” Originally broadcast April 18, 2014 More
“Behind each of these wonderful people is a life that is completely disrupted. We see God in all of these people. We see that these are brothers and sisters like us,” says Catholic Relief Services president Carolyn Woo. More
“Of course I was angry for everything that was happening to me, but as time went on in captivity, I just realized for my own self, for self-preservation, that I couldn’t stay trapped in that emotion, that I had to try to find ways to let it out, and that’s when I started developing practices like choosing forgiveness in captivity.” More
Extremist rebels have expelled virtually the entire Christian community in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. “It’s mass cleansing based on religion,” says the Syriac Catholic leader of the region, Patriarch Ignatius Youssef III Younan. More
“The greatest passport I have personally to work across the world is what I’ve lost,” says Father Michael Lapsley, who lost both hands in an assassination attempt. “When people see me, they know I’ve suffered loss, and even though their loss may be very different, they’re still able to identify.” More
“You may come home feeling good, you did your duty, you helped people, you helped keep your unit alive. Then at some point you may start to think,” observes Rita Nakashima Brock of the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinty School, “who am I that I could do those things? That’s when moral injury kicks in.” More
(Photo: AP) “When I first saw him, I was so traumatized I had to be taken to the hospital for 10 days,” says Alice Mukarurinda, recalling her first encounter with Emmanuel Ndayisaba at a reconciliation group. He nearly killed her during the genocide. “I managed to forgive him. I believe it was God’s power.” More
“There’s a fear among large segments of the Buddhist population in Myanmar,” says Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, an independent organization to protect and defend human rights, “that the country is at risk of being taken over by Muslims. It’s a very unreasonable, irrational fear.” More