As the UK prepares to secede from the European Union, David Mcilveen writes about faith-based education in Belfast—arguably the UK’s most divided city—and from the province that will form the UK’s only land border with the EU.
A very unusual political and social event happened in a Muslim country in May 2016. Rasheed Ghannouchi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Ennahda Party in Tunisia, announced his decision to separate the political element of the party from religious activities. He stressed that he was aware of the advances the country had made in the fields of education, women’s rights and health and would strive to further them while distancing religion from political conflicts. This move, which runs contrary to the tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood, can be attributed to the powerful political and social developments taking place in Tunisia. Ennahda believed—however reluctantly—that it had to make these changes in order to survive.
The appalling massacre at Pulse, the gay club in Orlando, Florida yesterday, fills us all with a terrible sorrow and pain. Forty-nine people who went out to enjoy themselves have lost their lives and almost 53 others were taken to hospitals, following the worst mass shooting in US history.