Peace

Seventy-five years ago, the Samuel Goldwyn masterpiece “The Best Years of Our Lives” premiered to universal critical and popular acclaim. Reviewing the film now, two overarching contrasts between past and present are clear.

The Holy Week Reader: Palm Sunday witnessed the rise of two cities in the world of humanity. Christians are citizens of both. Attendant responsibilities follow.

In 1946 when the prospects for what would become the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) appeared dim, President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to a UN committee where she could promote universal human rights.

The normalization between the Arabs and Israelis diminishes Turkey’s role as the chief mediator between Israel and the Muslim world, so Erdogan’s anguish probably comes from fear of an “Arab option.”

Quoting Romans 12:20, the message to feed and help the enemy is simple, but oftentimes the simplest command can be the hardest to fulfill. So the reminder is always timely in every age.

Numbers and statistics can desensitize students of war to real tragedy. But Keefe’s focus on Jean McConville’s murder in Say Nothing gives readers a detailed examination of the Troubles while reminding them of the victims.

Although liberty movements swept the Middle East during the Arab Spring, an assessment of citizen’s rights and liberties in 2021 is disheartening. Little has changed.

Polarization in the United States in recent years has both increased in intensity and transformed into a different type. These changes, in my view, are very dangerous for the future of the Republic.

Despite the many challenges Sudan faces, its government’s defense of religious freedom gives reason for optimism that it is on the path to a more prosperous and more peaceful future.