Archive for the ‘Human Rights’ Category

Welcome Home, Gilad Shalit.

Gilad Shalit was welcomed home today after five long years in the Hamas prison system. (The Telegraph is live-blogging his homecoming for those interested.) The 477 Palestinian prisoners who were freed today in exchange for Shalit are also celebrating their own homecoming, albeit under different circumstances....
October 18th, 2011 | Culture, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Other, Other Religions, Politics, Religion, Social Justice | Read More

What if Spock Was Right: Gilad Shalit, the Many, and the One

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas announced yesterday that Gilad Shalit, the young Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas since 2006, will be released. In exchange for Shalit’s freedom, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, hundreds of them convicted terrorists, will also be released. The...
October 12th, 2011 | Culture, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Social Justice | Read More

All For One, Not One For All: Thoughts on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy

“It is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” This age-old attitude is at the heart of the drama in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, which begins with the international best-seller, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. A confession:...
October 11th, 2011 | Art & Literature, Book Reviews, Culture, Ethics, Human Rights, Media, Moral Philosophy, Social Justice | Read More

US Support for Yousef Nadarkhani Grows as Iran Denies Its Own Apostasy Charges

In a move more reminiscent of a badly regulated nursery than of a foreign power, Iranian officials have now denied that Yousef Nadarkhani is to be executed on charges of apostasy. Instead, the young Iranian Christian will be executed on charges of rape, treason, and Zionism. Maybe. Or maybe not; a statement...
October 4th, 2011 | Culture, Evangelicals, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Other Religions, Politics, Religion, Religious Liberty, Social Justice, The Gospel | Read More

Abdolreza Haghnejad and Yousef Nadarkhani: Christians in Iran

Yousef Nadarkhani still looks set to become the first Christian executed for apostasy in Iran since 1990. Unfortunately, he may be merely the first in a new wave of Iranian persecutions–yet the media has hardly noticed. Abdolreza ‘Matthias’ Haghnejad, a pastor in the Evangelical Church...
August 26th, 2011 | Culture, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Other, Other Religions, Politics, Religion, Religious Liberty, Social Justice | Read More

Good News From Libya–For Now

As Libyan rebel forces occupy the capital at Tripoli, it’s natural to wonder whether the presumed ousting of Moamar Qaddafi will lead to something even more insidious than his tyrannical regime. It’s a distinct possibility, but perhaps not for the reasons you expect. Unlike in Egypt, where...
August 23rd, 2011 | Culture, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Other, Other Religions, Politics, Religion, Social Justice | Read More

Pornography, PETA Style

I would have thought that anyone arguing for a connection between PETA and pornography would have to suggest that objectification of women expressed via pornography was comparable to the objectification of animals in the meat industry production lines. Treating women like pieces of meat and then treating...
August 22nd, 2011 | Creation Care, Culture, Featured, Human Rights, Politics, Social Experiments, Social Justice | Read More

Freedom Sunday 2011

March 13 was Freedom Sunday, an international effort by congregations around the world to raise awareness about the problem of human trafficking and organize efforts to oppose it around the world. Freedom Sunday coincides with the first Sunday of Lent in the western calendar for a reason. It was for...
March 13th, 2011 | Culture, Ethics, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Social Justice, The Gospel | Read More

Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak is gone: Long Live the Muslim Brotherhood?

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down this morning, and there’s no way to know what will happen next. While one should, on principle, welcome the departure of a tyrant, the fact is the Egyptian people might very well become less free now that Mubarak is gone. That’s because—as anyone who...
February 11th, 2011 | Culture, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Other Religions, Politics, Religion, Religious Liberty, Social Justice | Read More

Egyptian Turmoil is Among the Least of Democracy’s Worries

The news from Egypt is different every hour, but right now it looks as if the Egyptian people may soon enjoy the democratic elections they have so firmly demanded. (Either that, or a messy military-led coup.) But would elections do them any good? It’s hard to know. Freedom and democracy are devoutly...
February 10th, 2011 | Culture, Foreign Affairs, Global War on Terrorism, Human Rights, Other Religions, Politics | Read More