religious fundamentalism
British historian Karen Armstrong (born 1944) has appeared previously in TdJ, most recently two months ago. Here is an excerpt from a book she wrote, one that seems more relevant today that when it was...
View ArticlePope Francis and environmental protection
Free market conservatives hate it, it fails to address the threat of overpopulation, and it dismisses carbon credits as a way to combat global warming. Nonetheless Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato...
View Articlechanging views of Saudi Arabia
Something is changing in the west’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. You can read it in the newspapers. You can hear it from politicians. And you can see it in shifts in policy. Hostile articles about...
View ArticleAngela Merkel, FT person of the year
The Financial Times has named Angela Merkel “Person of the Year” for 2015. Stefan Wagstyl, the FT’s Berlin bureau chief, has written an excellent profile for the occasion. His column is interesting...
View ArticleAmerican exceptionalism
The idea of American exceptionalism, together with past American greatness, is often discussed in US politics, most recently in the 2016 presidential campaign. The concept of American exceptionalism...
View Articlethe UK as a Christian country
Some days “letters to the editor” is the best section of the newspaper. Today is one of those days. This is a superb letter, from a reader in the UK. David Cameron’s assertion that the UK is a...
View ArticleIslamophobia encourages terrorism
I do not always agree with Hungarian-American billionaire/philanthropist George Soros, but one paragraph of his recent column caught my attention: ISIS (and Al Qaeda before it) has recognized the...
View Articleabolition of the death penalty
Returning from his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis once again urges the world to abolish the death penalty. “The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has absolute value and concerns both the innocent and...
View Articleengineers of jihad
Among Islamist activists, why do we tend to see a “massive overrepresentation” of engineers and medical doctors, compared to graduates in law, humanities and “softer” social sciences? Two European...
View Articlethe Spanish inquisition
After the conquest of [the Muslims in] 1492, the [Spanish] monarchs inherited Granada’s large Jewish community. The fervid patriotism unleashed by the Christian triumph led to more hysterical...
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