Pope's New Book Criticizes Capitalism

Pope's New Book Criticizes Capitalism

By NICOLE WINFIELD

The Associated Press
Friday, April 13, 2007; 4:31 PM

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI offers a personal meditation on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in his first book as pontiff, criticizing the "cruelty" of capitalism's exploitation of the poor but also decrying the absence of God in Marxism.

In "Jesus of Nazareth," released Friday, Benedict touches on themes that have begun to emerge in his 2-year-old papacy: the spiritual weaknesses of modern materialistic life, in which people seem to think they can do without God. continue...

Divisive Scholar Draws Parallels Between Islam and Democracy

Ramadan Says Tensions Are Rooted in History, Not Incompatibility

By Pamela Constable

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 11, 2007; Page B06

Tariq Ramadan has a huge following in Europe but a controversial profile in the United States. The Islamic scholar has been barred from entering the country since 2004, when he was denied a visa he needed to accept a professorship at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Yesterday, however, students at Georgetown University heard and questioned the influential Egyptian-born writer as he gave the first of three public lectures to be delivered on the campus by satellite video hookup from London. For 90 minutes, he appeared on a large screen in Gaston Hall, seated and wearing a sports jacket and open shirt, with Big Ben in the background. continue...