European court upholds blasphemy standard

EUROPE: The European Court of Human Rights upheld lower court decisions that defaming Islam’s Muhammad “could stir up prejudice” and thus exceeds the limits of free expression. The ruling—stemming from a nearly decade-old case in which an Austrian woman was accused of disparaging Muhammad’s marriage to 9-year-old Aisha—in effect sides with blasphemy laws in Islamic-led countries. Download and read the decision and case details.

NORWAY: Temperatures fell below freezing across central Norway, giving NATO forces on the largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War a taste of what it means to defend the alliance’s northern flank.

JAPAN: Journalist Jumpei Yasuda returned to Tokyo on Thursday after being freed from more than three years’ captivity in Syria. Captivity at the hands of al Nusra Front, he said, was “hell.” The arms-supply policy of the United States under President Barack Obama actually helped the al-Qaeda affiliate.

SAUDI ARABIA: The eldest son of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has arrived in the United States with his family, after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed Saudi authorities to remove an order barring his travel. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called changing Saudi accounts of the murder “comic” and demanded Saudi Arabia—which now holds 18 men in connection with the killing—reveal where his body is located. Khashoggi’s high-level contacts and fear for his life raise questions about why he visited the consulate in the first place. And The Washington Post, where Khashoggi often published commentary, continues with inane coverage of the now three-weeks-old disappearance.

IRAQ: Targeted minority communities have waited years for U.S. aid in rebuilding their communities, where 2 million people remain displaced, and this month the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced $178 million in U.S. foreign assistance to support such communities. This week, I spoke with Christianity Today editor-in-chief Mark Galli and producer Morgan Lee about the ongoing needs, threats, and hopes.

YEMEN: The UN warns that half Yemen’s population—14 million people—could soon be on the brink of famine and dependent on humanitarian aid, which Saudi-linked forces have blocked.

COLOMBIA: More than two decades after guerrillas released Ray Rising, the missionary still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Harrowing experiences for church-based workers, who intentionally risk embedding in forsaken and sometimes hostile communities, can leave lasting trauma: “You wake up, not sure where you are, but glad you’re not where you thought you were in the dream.”

WORLD: No one ever tires of looking at the world’s best libraries.

BRITAIN: A 2018 State of Theology survey found a third of Brit adults “don’t know” basic Bible literacy, and a majority disagreed that the Bible has authority.

UGANDA is no different than America when it comes to finding better things to do on Sunday than church, but friend and World Journalism Institute alum Eddie Ssemakulu writes, “We kick radical postmodern individualism in the teeth by displaying to the world around us how a people so different, so weird, selfish, narcissistic, yet redeemed, can gather to both display and worship a sovereign God who transferred them from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light.”

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