Muslim leaders ‘failing to tackle extremists’
Muslim leaders have been criticised by a University of Oxford academic for not doing enough to tackle extremists. At the same time a parliamentary committee has attacked a central plank of the Government’s counter-extremism programme by arguing that its ‘Prevent’ strategy has ‘stigmatised and alienated Muslims'. Nick Chatrath, a researcher at Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, claims in a paper to be published this week that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists’ points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam’s ancient texts. In an essay in next month’s Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Mr Chatrath calls for a more open engagement by moderate Muslims with the arguments of extremists. Mr Chatrath says: ‘Moderate Muslim leaders are doing a poor job of tackling extremism in Britain.’ He called on moderate community leaders to do more to counter this.
Pray: against those who promote extreme ideas in any form that they would be moderated. (Ecc.7:18b)
More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7082139.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
Brussels: Rebuilding Afghanistan
A senior European commission official told a Brussels conference on Wednesday that Afghan’s drug dependency will make reconstruction of the war-torn country very difficult. One of the things Afghanistan needs is long-term development of its civil service so that Afghans themselves can take over control of future events. The aim has to be to allow the Afghan economy to become free of its dependency on drugs which continue to be the main source of illegal revenue in the country.There are 30,000 European troops in Afghanistan aiding the US-led war. Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said he will stay in Afghanistan because it is a fight against terrorists and he does not want the Taliban to make a martyr out of Afghanistan nor allow Pakistan with its nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.
Pray: for God to give His strategy to the leaders attempting to free the region of death, deception and disorder. (Is.61:1)
Brussels: Rebuilding Afghanistan
A senior European commission official told a Brussels conference on Wednesday that Afghan’s drug dependency will make reconstruction of the war-torn country very difficult. One of the things Afghanistan needs is long-term development of its civil service so that Afghans themselves can take over control of future events. The aim has to be to allow the Afghan economy to become free of its dependency on drugs which continue to be the main source of illegal revenue in the country.There are 30,000 European troops in Afghanistan aiding the US-led war. Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said he will stay in Afghanistan because it is a fight against terrorists and he does not want the Taliban to make a martyr out of Afghanistan nor allow Pakistan with its nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.
Pray: for God to give His strategy to the leaders attempting to free the region of death, deception and disorder. (Is.61:1)
EU to defend Christian minorities
The European Union has announced the creation of a working group to assist Christian minorities in countries around the world where they are persecuted. The initiative launched by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is to help EU member countries' embassy staffs know how to intervene on behalf of persecuted Christian minorities. Frattini says that before action the first step will be to write a manual that will be given to the embassy staff of all EU member nations. It is the first European government organisation devoted to addressing the persecution of Christians, he said in an interview in the Italian newspaper Avvenir. EU analyst Jonathan Racho says ‘This panel will be an official EU governmental agency designed to intervene on behalf of a nation's Christian minority,’ Racho said. ‘They will advocate on behalf of persecuted Christians even though the report we have from our sources doesn't go into a lot of detail.’
Pray: for this initiative to bring God’s help to those persecuted for their faith in Jesus. (Ps.9:13)
More: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=132577
