(RNS1-NOV6) Sugar Moon, 22, left, whose father is Thai and mother Burmese, works part-time at Lutheran Social Services in West Springfield, Mass. She is talking here with recent immigrants San Naing Chaw, 35, middle, and Lae Way, 46. For use with RNS-BURMESE-REFUGEES, transmitted Nov. 6, 2009. Religion News Service photo by Michael S. Gordon/The Republican. | Download/Purchase this photo
Refugees find a home in Mass.
By Elizabeth Roman
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) Sugarmoon didn’t have a last name. No one in her tribe does, but in the United States first and last names are required, so now her legal name is Sugar Moon.
“It’s very strange to separate my name that way,” the 22-year-old said.
Home for Moon until just a year ago was a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand. Moon is part of the Karen tribe, a group of Burmese people who fled their country, now called Myanmar, seeking refuge from the ruling government.
In Myanmar, many were forced to work in labor …
Friday, November 06, 2009
Friday’s round up
The Fort Hood shooter attended a mosque for five years in Maryland, where people are trying to figure out what made Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan turn violent. Muslim groups are condemning the attack as "blatantly ...against the teachings of Islam." A co-worker of Hasan's told Fox News that Hasan said "Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor," presumably referring to the U.S.
Washington voters approved an "everything but marriage" law for domestic partnerships. A Senate committee is working through religious exemptions in a …
RNS BERLIN WALL b (RNS4-NOV5) St. Nikolai Evangelical Lutheran Church in Leipzig was the nerve center of a non-violent movement that helped break down the Berlin Wall. For use with RNS-BERLIN-WALL, transmitted Nov. 5, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.
(RNS1-NOV4) Ethicist Stanley Hauerwaus is an expert on just war theory and believes Christians have been too passive about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For use with RNS-TEN-MINUTES, transmitted Nov. 4, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy of Duke Divinity Schoo. | Download/Purchase this photo
10 Minutes with … Stanley Hauerwas
By Kevin Eckstrom
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) Remember that book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”? Let’s just say that Duke University ethicist Stanley Hauerwas has been hugely influential, but that doesn’t mean his salty tongue has made him a lot of friends along the way.
Hauerwas, a self-described Christian pacifist, is an expert on just war theory. As Hauerwas sees it, not only did Iraq and Afghanistan fail to meet the criteria of a just war, but neither did World War II. Now, as the Obama administration weighs its options in Afghanistan, Hauerwas remains decidedly pessimistic not only about American …