Roundup: Muslim protests, freedom of speech, evangelical left, the place of the church, Obama

The UN and the Muslim protests

Haris Tarin, director of the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, is trying to persuade other Muslims around the world that putting any kind of limit on free speech is dangerous. He says the idea of free speech is a foundational part of the Quran itself.

One year on: how to twist and shout down a legal judgment

“The lesson that is ripe to be drawn from the facts of this litigation is, we suggest, not that section 18C should be repealed but, rather, that Mr Bolt should go back to journalism school.”

The evangelical left in an age of conservatism

The problem was not that these activists overestimated the average evangelical’s capacity for compassion, but that they underestimated evangelicals’ fear of social change and socialism.

The place of the church

The culture that inhabits us – and by us, I mean Christians – is a subtle and seductive one. It tempts us to believe we are free of place. It tempts us to believe that we do not have the time to do what needs to be done, so we must constantly hurry.

President Obama delivers tough love speech

In addressing the 2012 United Nations General Assembly, President Obama condemned ‘mindless violence’ in anti-American protests, said Syrian President Assad’s regime must end and affirmed support for new democracies that rose from the Arab Spring.