ROUND UP: on the subject of Islam

FROM SIOE:

A Broad Dialogue With Muslims Worldwide

Interviewee:
Farah A. Pandith, U.S. special representative to the Muslim communities, U.S. State Department
Interviewer:
Toni Johnson, Staff Writer, CFR.org

Farah PandithThe Obama administration has created the post of special representative to the Muslim communities with the goal of building trust with the world's Muslims. The first person to serve that role, Farah Pandith, a Kashmir-born Muslim, says the U.S. role in Muslim engagement includes working with the local communities, to try to provide an opportunity across the board in every region, and opportunities to build on initiatives for the common good. The new initiative will employ social media and a host of other tools to help meet the needs of diverse Muslim communities. "The United States is not engaging with a particular kind of religious leader or endorsing a particular type of Islam," she says." Our effort is to engage with a wide scope of civil society, included in that will be people who have influence whether they're religious leaders, scholars, academics, teachers, businesspeople."

Europe Must Stop 'Fetishizing' American Relationship

In a week when European affairs are prominent, a study by an influential Brussels think tank suggests the EU is going about things the wrong way. The Europeans must stop being so submissive, they must present a united front on foreign policy and they must work toward a "post-American" state of affairs, the study says.

It's Europe Week in Washington. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been asked to speak to a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday as part of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Only about a hundred world leaders have ever addressed a joint session of Congress. The last German chancellor to be bestowed the honor was Konrad Adenauer, who spoke before the US legislature in 1957 during the Cold War.

Shortly after on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will also greet top European Union leaders at the EU-US summit. A special strategy meeting is planned on energy issues.

A Muslim woman's place is in society: Nobel Laureate

- Iranian Nobel Laureate and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi on Monday implored Muslim women to assume a wider role in their home countries through education and active participation in politics.

"Women must fulfill their duty to society and not stay at home," she told participants in the Festival of Thinkers forum in Abu Dhabi.

Should prayers be covered?

WASHINGTON - -- As the health care battle moved forward last week, Phil Davis, a senior Christian Science church official, hurriedly delivered bundles of letters to Senate offices promoting a little-noticed proposal in the legislation requiring insurers to consider covering the church's prayer treatments just as they do other medical expenses.

Critics say the proposal would essentially put Christian Science prayer treatments on the same footing as science-based medical care by prohibiting discrimination against "religious and spiritual health care."

VIA: Islam In Europe
News and Opinions about the Muslim
and Islamic Community in Europe and the West
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com