March 23, 2012
The year from spring 2011 to the coming spring of 2012 has been a year full of women proclaiming "Peace!" at the top of their lungs. Not quiet wishes for tranquility or ease, but bold pushes toward equity and right-ness, even as they are buffeted in the process. Faced with such conviction, I wonder if their demands don't carry the same weight we assign to formal "prayer": an act moving people beyond themselves in acknowledgement of Something bigger, Someone more gracious and powerful. Across boundaries of age, economic status, nationality, and religion, women are reaching for more. Praying.
by: Jessica Mussro | Categories: Global Issues
March 16, 2012
As people of faith, both Christians and Muslims, God calls us to face this issue head on from both the macro level (thinking about the poorest of the poor worldwide) and the micro level (what we can do locally). God also expects us to work simultaneously on long-term solutions, tackling systemic injustices globally, nationally, and even locally; and on short term poverty alleviation, that is, assisting victims of floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
March 13, 2012
You are already aware of what comes to mind when people think of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: young Israeli soldiers with machine guns. Palestinian boys throwing rocks at these machine gun-toting Israelis. Palestinian suicide bombers blowing up buses of Israelis. The massive cement wall snaking its way through this divided country bringing "security" to Israelis and "oppression" to the Palestinians. I just spent 10 days in the un-holy land and I, too, picture all of the scenes above. But I now have a new way of seeing the threats upon Israelis and the occupation of the Palestinians.
by: Rick Love | Categories: Global Issues
February 28, 2012
Last week I happened to see Newsweek's cover article, "The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World," and read it immediately. My reaction was that, like Ayaan Hirsi's other writings, it is less than truthful. In short...
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
October 6, 2011
A reader of my previous blog, “Fear, Inc.,” asked a very reasonable question. He or she had wondered how accurate my placing Robert Spencer among the “purveyors of hate and misinformation” actually was. I like this. I know everyone on the PCI team wants open and transparent communication. Indeed, let’s urge one another to speak the truth and to speak it in love, as Paul challenged the Ephesian church.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
September 15, 2011
The flames of suspicion, hate and fear swept over our country in the 1940s and 1950s, fanned by the zealous anti-Communist Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. Government employees, people from the entertainment industry, the unions and universities, were dragged before interrogation panels, some staged by the government, some privately sponsored. Thousands lost their jobs and reputations as a result, and hundreds were imprisoned. More gravely, the whole country was caught in a vortex of hysteria, mutual denigration, and bitter debates. The current campaign in the United States to vilify Muslims is certainly reminiscent of the McCarthyism of the 1950s.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
August 25, 2011
Our challenge, as we think about Muslim women, is to admit that the hijab opens up complex issues that won’t fit into catchy media sound bites. Each of these women, who for the most part have chosen to wear the head covering and dress modestly, is a unique individual with her own set of issues. In the end, it’s our common humanity that will help us break down stereotypes and develop a better understanding of one another.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
August 23, 2011
First, when it comes to women and clothing, let’s get one misconception out of the way: “Islam oppresses women.” That is the default statement that, even when not stated outright, is assumed by non-Muslim westerners while their minds dance with this image of Muslim women waddling down the road covered in black cloth from head to toe.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
August 16, 2011
You know from my last blog that large majorities of Muslims worldwide believe that women should have the same civil, political and professional rights as men. Many of you are thinking, "but doesn’t 'Islam' oppress women?" Let’s unpack that statement and see 1) what’s behind this perception, and 2) why Muslims themselves fiercely disagree with one another on these issues.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
August 12, 2011
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving. Many leading princes among the more than 5,000 of their peers favor a lifting of the ban. But many others side with the conservative elements in Saudi society and see this as kowtowing to western norms. For them, allowing women behind the wheel is to slide down the slippery slope of women’s liberation with all the immorality and filth it leads to.
by: David L. Johnston | Categories: Global Issues
