2017
April
18
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

April 18, 2017
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

At around noon today, a nationwide manhunt ended. Steve Stephens was accused of murdering an elderly man and posting the video to Facebook. He was cornered by police in Erie, Pa., Tuesday and committed suicide. Even before police found Mr. Stephens, we in the newsroom were struggling with the significance of the event. Has murder become entertainment in a society coarsened by social media? What should Facebook do to stop such posts in the future?

But there was an overlooked question, too. Is this really a problem of technology or of social media? Technology and social media simply amplify us, our best – and our worst. Yes, technology can be made a better tool. But perhaps the best way to improve social media is to improve ourselves.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Should public money go to religious schools? Thirty-eight states say no. But the Supreme Court is hearing a case tomorrow that could change all that and reshape school voucher programs nationwide. At issue: America's bedrock views of religion and education. 

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Trump holds a baby upon his arrival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 18, 2017.

Donald Trump's presidency has been a disaster. This, of course, is about all you hear from many sources. But one important group disagrees: His supporters. They don't see a floundering president, they see one finding his footing – and deserving a little time. 

Are young Americans yearning for a return of traditional gender roles, with women staying at home? That's what one recent study appeared to suggest. But diving deeper, we found that the research shows an unsettled society is perhaps just seeking a little more mother love.     

SOURCE:

The Council on Contemporary Families

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

Overlooked

Stories you may have missed
REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
Eritrean refugees wait to get registered on arrival at the Indabaguna refugee reception and screening center in Tigrai region near the Eritrean border in Ethiopia, February 9, 2016.

The global story about refugees at the moment, we all know, is about disruption and backlash. But not everywhere. In Ethiopia, taking in refugees from a former enemy represents an opportunity to change how the world sees Ethiopia.  

When we wanted to tell a can-do story about addressing climate change, we went to the pipsqueak Danish island of Samsø. They're energy independent now and hailed as an environmental leader. Just don't tell them that. They didn't care about climate change, really. They cared about making their community better.


The Monitor's View

AP Photo
A man sales flags with Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk near the Eminonou mosque in Istanbul April 17.

For nearly a century, Turkey’s political history has been one of largely secular rule over a mostly Muslim people. Its model of balancing divine faith and earthly governance, however, may soon be sharply reshaped. In an April 16 referendum, Turkish voters narrowly approved a plan to grant semi-authoritarian powers to a presidency now controlled by a man who founded the governing Islamist party.

The vote itself remains contested because of a crackdown on dissent since last July by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Yet the plebiscite’s near-even split did make clear that Turks have now joined the rest of the Muslim world in the struggle to redefine the proper role of religion in the public sphere.

From Tunisia to Indonesia, the rise of radical Islam has forced Muslims to debate the overlap of mosque and state. In Turkey, President Erdogan has promised to “raise pious generations,” a goal he could soon pursue by dictate. The approved changes to the Constitution are expected to keep him in office until 2029 and will give him strong powers over the legislature and judiciary. Yet about half of Turk voters indicated they prefer the secular system set up by the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. His reforms undercut the notion of religion as a source of authority for the state in a diverse society.

At the same time, the Ataturk model also repressed many outward expressions of faith, such as women wearing head coverings. The fact that Turkey may now be swinging the pendulum toward a new accommodation of religion might be welcomed – except for the fact that its democracy will soon concentrate many powers in the hands of one person. Democracy itself, in other words, may be at stake, perhaps leading Turkey toward the Iran model that blends religious and secular authority.

If anything, religious faith calls for humility in ruling over others, not coercion, and a wide respect for the dignity of the individual in choosing faith. At the same time, secular rulers must recognize that that the moral precepts of governance, such as rights and liberties, have their origins in religion.

Turkey could easily be the world’s most important Muslim country. Both its economy and its military are the largest in the Middle East. And it has long served as a bridge between East and West, serving as a member of NATO while regarding itself as the leader of the Muslim world.

It has also struggled over its national identity, not only in matters of faith but in dealing with ethnic minorities and in its leanings toward being European.

A country that straddles the Bosphorus can also learn to straddle the sometimes difficult divide between Islam and modern governance. Ataturk may have gone too far in secular governance, but now Erdogan could also go too far the other way. As long as Turkish voters are in charge and Erdogan does not further erode the democratic process, they can keep searching for the right balance.


A Christian 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 – in its various forms – 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 – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Stranded in at a remote border crossing without any resources, one might instinctively reach out to pray for help. Praying not out of fear, but out of love – out of an understanding that Love is a higher power, and that all are included in Love's care – was an inspiration that provided real help for two travelers whose car broke down in the desert on a 12,500 mile journey to India. Their prayers were answered by passing strangers in a way they had never imagined. God's love provides, everywhere. 


A message of love

Jorge Silva/Reuters
Revelers take part in a water fight during the Songkran Festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Bangkok on Friday.

Below: Revelers take part in a water fight during the Songkran Festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Bangkok on Friday.

( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and . )

A look ahead

Thank you for taking the time to think more deeply about the day’s news and how perspective matters. Come back tomorrow, we’re working on this question: Are Earth's simplest creatures capable of benevolence? 

 

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2017
April
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