Radio release–Religious Minorities in the Middle East
Submitted by admin on Sun, 07/08/2012 - 08:11(Washington DC – July 3, 2012) America Abroad’s July radio documentary is “Religious Minorities in the Middle East.”
The Middle East is largely Muslim but it’s also the birthplace of Christianity, Judaism, and many other religions. Many non-Muslims have left in recent decades, leaving relatively small populations of non-Muslims and Muslim minority sects. Now, the rise of Islamist political parties in the Mideast raises questions about the rights and protections such minorities can expect or whether they can expect them at all.
Segments include:
• Coptic Christians make up nearly ten percent of Egypt’s population. Will their rights be protected under Mohammed Morsi, the newly elected Islamist president? Nadeen Shaker reports from Cairo.
• Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and most top government officials are Alawis, a Shi’a-affiliated religious group that represents only 20% of the country’s populace. Host Katherine Lanpher talks with Jocelyne Cesari of Harvard University about Alawi beliefs and their role in Syrian society and politics.
• As one of the earliest Jewish settlements in the world, Tunisia was home to over 100,000 Jews in the mid-20th century. Today that number is less than 2,000. America Abroad reports from Tunisia on life for those who remain, and their hopes and concerns under the new moderately Islamist regime.
• The Middle East, once a region of great religious diversity, has in recent decades seen a mass emigration of minorities – now making it one of the most religiously monolithic regions in the world. Joseph Braude reports.
• What role should the U.S. play in ensuring religious freedom in the Middle East? Elliott Abrams, former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, talks with Katherine Lanpher about what the U.S. is and should be doing.
• Should religious minorities be concerned about the rise of Islamist governments? Katherine Lanpher discusses the issue with two professors, Saba Mahmood of the University of California, Berkeley, and Aomar Boum, of the University of Arizona