U.S. senators urge release of Islamists in Egypt • Jackie Robinson Statue in Brooklyn Marred By Swastika and Anti-Semitic Slurs • Addicted to Prayer • Contraception and Corporations • Satellite Images Of Aleppo, Syria, Reveal Shocking Destruction Of City
Last week's top stories, from our perspective:
U.S. senators urge release of Islamists in Egypt
Two U.S. Senators traveled to Egypt last week to encourage the military-backed leaders to release Islamist figures as a gesture to the Muslim Brotherhood. The message from Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham met with a sharp response, denounced by interim President Adly Mansour in a brief statement as "unacceptable interference in internal politics."
The new leadership, emboldened by mass demonstrations of support, showed no sign of willingness to release Muslim Brotherhood figures whom McCain called "political prisoners" and whom the government plans to prosecute for allegedly inciting violence.
Jackie Robinson Statue in Brooklyn Marred By Swastika and Anti-Semitic Slurs
Vandals defaced a statue of barrier-breaking baseball star Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn, scrawling a racial slur, a swastika and anti-Semitic language on the figure outside a minor league baseball park, police said on Wednesday.
The hate crimes task force was investigating and no arrests had been made, a police spokeswoman said.
In this op-ed column, the author explores an atheist's self-created god, an evangelical who wondered whether her immersion in prayer was making her crazy, and whether online gaming can be a religious experience,
Contraception and Corporations
At least three dozen lawsuits have been filed by private businesses challenging, on religious grounds, the new health care law’s requirement that most company health plans provide no-cost coverage of contraceptives. The lawsuits share a basic flaw: Profit-making corporations are not human beings capable of engaging in religious exercise to begin with.
Satellite Images Of Aleppo, Syria, Reveal Shocking Destruction Of City
New images have laid bare the destruction caused by the Syrian civil war in the country's largest city.
Satellite images from human rights organisation Amnesty International show scenes of "devastation" in Aleppo – which has been the arena for much fighting between those loyal to president Bashar Assad's regime and rebels seeking to oust it. (Photo credit from Huffington Post)