海角大神

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2017
August
22
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 22, 2017
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

The custom was, on the face of it, indefensible. Before today, a Muslim man in India could divorce his wife simply by saying 鈥渄ivorce鈥� three times, and there was nothing his wife could do about it. For her to get a divorce, she needed her husband鈥檚 consent.

On Tuesday, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that the practice, called 鈥渢riple talaq,鈥� is unconstitutional and un-Islamic. Islamic scholars agree that the custom has no basis in the Quran. Countries from Pakistan to Egypt have already banned it.

Wisely, India has long tread carefully around religious freedoms, and the board that governs Muslim policy in the country asked for the court not to intervene. The practice is wrong, but let us find our own solution, it said.

Muslim women answered: You鈥檝e had long enough. 鈥淚t is not a victory that has been achieved after one or two years,鈥� one activist . 鈥淢uslim women have been coming to courts and filing petitions and laying the groundwork for this for years.鈥�

In a turbulent world, their victory of patience and steadfastness is a lesson that echoes far beyond India.聽

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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Afghan plan: Why Trump is making longest US war his own

( 6 min. read )

We all know how greatly the American president values winning. By reengaging in Afghanistan, his administration might help redefine what that means militarily in a post-9/11 world. 聽

By Howard LaFranchi
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Ross D. Franklin/AP/File
In 2009 in Phoenix, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio ordered some 200 convicted unauthorized immigrants handcuffed together and moved into a separate area of Tent City for incarceration until their sentences were served and they could be deported.

Trump, Sheriff Joe, and the future of immigration law

( 6 min. read )

At times, President Trump's approach to race and the rule of law feels a lot like "America's toughest sheriff," Part 2. Tonight, at a racially charged moment,聽Mr. Trump is visiting Arizona, home to former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. What message will he send?

By Lourdes Medrano and Henry Gass , reporting from Tucson, Ariz. and Boston
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Where the monument debate may ripple next

( 6 min. read )

Statues, ultimately, are just finely carved lumps of stone. It's what we bring to them that matters. And that appears to be changing.聽

By Peter Grier , reporting from Baltimore, Md.
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Alfredo Sosa/Staff
Farmers Jesus Alebio Portillo and Blanca Lilia Iba帽ez work in their black-pepper farm in La Esmeralda, Putumayo, Colombia.

Edging past coca, Colombia confronts some fresh challenges

( 6 min. read )

Farmers in Colombia are willingly ripping out coca plants that fuel the cocaine trade, hopeful that a new peace means a new start. But that trust needs to be reciprocated, presenting Colombia with a problem: How do you bring prosperity to the country's remotest corners?

By Camilo Mejia and Steven Cohen , reporting from La Carmelita, Putumayo, Colombia
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American close-ups

Reports from the road
Doug Struck
Elsie Eiler's "World Famous Monowi Tavern" is the only business in an out-of-the-way spot in Nebraska, but it gets plenty of visitors. Ms. Eiler is the town's only resident.

A Nebraska town, population 鈥� 1 鈥� but not alone

( 5 min. read )

It must be lonely in a town where you are the only resident. Except, for Elsie Eiler, it's not.聽

By Doug Struck , reporting from Monowi, Neb.
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The Monitor's View
Michael Dwyer/AP
Police prepare to escort organizers from the bandstand on Boston Common after a 'Free Speech' rally staged by conservative activists Saturday in Boston.

Safe protests and uncomfortable conversations

( 3 min. read )

Boston avoided violence at its 鈥渇ree speech鈥澛爎ally on Saturday聽by keeping right-wing organizers and counterdemonstrators strictly separate. Some 500 Massachusetts police officers lined up along barricades to enforce a large 鈥渘eutral zone.鈥�

The security plan largely worked. Boston saw no repeat of the deadly violence at a similar event in Charlottesville, Va., a week earlier.

But the view from those barricades suggested that the 鈥渘eutral zone鈥� for free speech in America is becoming harder to defend.聽

Supporters of the event saw it as an affirmation of the right to speak out on controversial issues. Counterprotesters saw it as an apology for white nationalism. The space between them was generally inhabited only by police.聽

Organizers of the counterprotest urged activists to not engage in discussion with the other side but rather to shame them.聽

鈥淪hame works,鈥� said activist Shel Raphen, on the barricades at Boston Common to support the counterprotest. 鈥淩esearch shows that if you feel bad about what you鈥檙e doing, you鈥檒l stop doing it.鈥�

When a protester activist tried to engage counterprotesters on the other side of the barricades, he was shouted down with chants of 鈥渄on鈥檛 engage.鈥� 聽

In the few moments when those with strong views met and talked, the contact was often militant.聽

Retirees James and Susan Reilly held an American flag on ground occupied by the counterprotesters. Some who passed by jeered, and they were pushed down twice and spat on once, they said. But one young man in a mask stopped to listen. The conversation went something like this:

鈥淭he flag is our history. It鈥檚 how we became free,鈥� said Mr. Reilly.聽 鈥淗ow do you feel about that?鈥澛�

鈥淭he flag is a slave symbol,鈥� said the masked activist.聽

鈥淔or you to say that the American flag is a sign of slavery 鈥� I don鈥檛 get that. We the people here right now had nothing to do with slavery,鈥� Reilly聽said.

鈥淚 would expect them to think about history and think about all of the deaths, destruction that was caused [by slavery],鈥� the activist said, and moved on.

Did that conversation matter?

Reilly鈥檚 response: 鈥淭here is a lot of work to do.鈥� What would help? 鈥淕od. Having faith. Having a good debate.鈥�

And the activist鈥檚: 鈥淚 have absolutely nothing in common with them. They fly the same flag they flied聽with slavery. They preach hate and violence.鈥澛�

After the protesters wound down their event early, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh declared a victory over 鈥渂igotry and hate.鈥� President Trump, widely criticized for blaming 鈥渂oth sides鈥� for the violence in Charlottesville, tweeted his congratulations: 鈥淥ur great country has been divided for decades,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淪ometimes you need protest in order to heal, and we will heal, and be stronger than ever before.鈥�

The absence of violence in Boston deserves praise. Maintaining the safety of protesters and counterprotesters will be essential in the days and months ahead. Yet the conversation between the Reillys and the activist was essential, too. As uncomfortable as it was, it was the basis of some small spark of understanding 鈥� and in that way, a聽small step away from a nation in need of barricades.聽

鈥淚 honestly went there because I'm somewhat ignorant about what some of these groups think and why they feel the way that they do,鈥� Reilly said after the event. 鈥淚f I don't talk about it and go where they are, I鈥檒l stay ignorant about it.鈥�

By The Monitor's Editorial Board
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A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥� in its various forms 鈥� is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥� The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥� whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

A spiritual uplift that heals without drugs

( 3 min. read )

Increasing reports about the frequency of drug use for everything from helping to improve focus, to relieving anxiety, to relaxing are a growing concern on college campuses and beyond. But there鈥檚 another option 鈥� one that brings lasting healing. Prayerfully listening for inspiration from God, divine Mind, brings fresh ideas infused with hope and faith that uplift our thoughts and actions, and enable individuals to discern God鈥檚 infinite love for each one of us. God, who is all Love, all Truth, knows us to be spiritual, pure, joyful, and cared for. As we come to realize this more and more, we are comforted and inspired in ways that bring permanent peace and healing to our thoughts and lives.

By Susan Tish
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A message of love

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
A young South Sudanese refugee eyes the sky in Imvepi refugee settlement camp in northern Uganda Tuesday. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced recently that the number of displaced persons from South Sudan had passed 1 million. That flow has been growing since late 2013, when conflict deepened in the country just two years after its break from Sudan. The European Union has reportedly boosted funding to the International Organization for Migration, with funds earmarked for improving conditions for South Sudanese refugees in the communities in Uganda that host them.
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( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Ken Baughman/Special to 海角大神. )

A look ahead

Thanks for reading tonight. Come back tomorrow. One of the stories we鈥檙e working on: Leftists in Europe have long given Venezuela a pass, heralding the socialist government despite its populist and authoritarian tendencies. Now, events there are giving Europe鈥檚 left wing pause.

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2017
August
22
Tuesday

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