Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Malala’s 2012 shooting came at time of high social hostilities in Pakistan

Five years ago this week, Taliban gunmen tried to kill Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan in response to her advocacy of education for girls. The Taliban justified the attack by claiming the then-15-year-old’s education efforts were pro-Western and anti-Islamic. The shooting came at a time when social hostilities involving religion were at a high point, both globally and in Pakistan. More recently, these hostilities in Pakistan have ebbed somewhat, though the country still faces many challenges in this area.

The partisan divide on political values grows even wider

A new Pew Research Center report on the growing partisan divide in political values includes several findings about religion. For example, there is a widening gap between Democrats and Republicans over whether it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values. The survey also asked Americans whether society should accept homosexuality and whether the government should support religious values and beliefs.