JULY 29–AUG. 5, 2013 $3.50 THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES part from a few members of Turkish national motto: “Sovereignty EDITOR IN CHIEF Cairo’s Muslim Brotherhood, unconditionally belongs to the Nation.” Matt Malone , S.J. you’d be hard pressed to find Turkey, say the generals, is a thoroughly A MANAGING EDITOR anyone willing to defend Muhammad secular democracy; should the “religious Robert C. Collins, S.J. Morsi’s record as president of Egypt. fanatics” threaten the public order, then DIGITAL EDITOR Long before he was forced from the the military will intervene, effectively Maurice Timothy Reidy Heliopolis Palace last month by a quick burning the village in order to save it. LITERARY EDITOR and dirty military coup, Mr. Morsi’s While the military has now been tamed, Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. incompetence had earned him the per - they will surely remain on the lookout POETRY EDITOR fervid distrust of gigantic swaths of the for religious interference in government Joseph P. Hoover, S.J. Egyptian electorate, most of whom had affairs. Religion and government, after ASSOCIATE EDITORS voted him into power just 12 months all, are a volatile, even dangerous, mix. Kevin Clarke earlier. Or are they? In this issue William T. Kerry Weber And that, as they say, is the rub: Mr. Cavanaugh questions some of our basic Luke Hansen, S.J. Morsi is Eqypt’s legitimate, democrati - and perduring assumptions about reli - EDITOR AT LARGE cally elected head of state. As a general gion and violence. It’s important to get James Martin, S.J. rule, democratically elected govern - one thing straight from the get-go: ART DIRECTOR ments should be changed by ballots, not Professor Cavanaugh does not deny Stephanie Ratcliffe bullets. The most unsettling bit, howev - that some religious people are violent. ASSISTANT EDITOR S er, is not that the condition of Egyptian What he questions is the notion that Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. democracy has been downgraded from religion is inherently violent or danger - Olga Segura serious to critical, but that there are any ous. Perhaps the Egyptians and the COLUMNISTS number of parties who would be Turks are right; perhaps certain forms Angela Alaimo O’Donnell pleased to write a do-not-resuscitate of political Islam, in that particular part Colleen Carroll Campbell order on the patient’s chart. of the world, at this particular moment John J. Conley, S.J. Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M. Even the United States seemed in history, are dangerous. Professor James T. Keane unperturbed by the return of mobo - Cavanaugh isn’t addressing that issue, John W. Martens cratic rule to Cairo. The U.S. State merely questioning the notion that such Bill McGarvey Department, aware that calling a spade movements are dangerous simply Margot Patterson a spade would set in motion a legally because they are “religious.” Between Michael Rossmann, S.J. mandated response, went to the most 1998 and 2008, for example, the WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT incredible lengths to deny that what European Court of Human Rights John Carr had taken place was a coup, the sort of made more than 1,600 judgments SUMMER INTERNS forceful denial of an objective reality against Turkey for human rights viola - Jake Bonar David Quigley that in another context might constitute tions; yet no one has suggested that this prima facie evidence of one’s clinical is evidence that secularism is somehow CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Lisa Pope derangement. For State Department inherently violent. officials, however, such linguistic con - One can quibble with Professor 106 West 56th Street tortions are an ordinary day’s work. Cavanaugh’s thesis, but his basic point New York, NY 10019-3803 And why not? The coup d’état, after all, is compelling: In a strange sort of way, Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 is an ordinary means of governance in the myth that religion is inherently many so-called democracies. prone to violence, that religion and poli - E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Take Turkey, for example, where this tics shouldn’t mix, distracts us from the Web site: www.americamagazine.org. month the Turkish parliament acted to fact that politics and violence almost Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 amend army regulations that have often always mix. The difference is that when © 2013 America Press, Inc. been used as legal justification for the violence is done in the name of religion, military’s intervention in politics. The it’s called fanaticism; when it’s done on Turkish military has staged three coups behalf of the state it’s called patriotism. since 1960. Each intervention, the mili - In both cases, though, more often than tary claimed, was in defense of the state not, God has a different name for it: Cover: Man with Molotov cocktails. ideology, succinctly expressed in the sin. MATT MALONE, S.J. Shutterstock.com/forest badger CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 209 NO. 3, WHOLE NO. 5018 JULY 29– AUGUST 5, 2013 ARTICLES 11 THE ROOT OF EVIL Does religion promote violence? William T. Cavanaugh 15 FROM JOPLIN TO BOSTON The spiritual trauma of public tragedy Patrick Fleming 19 ON THE ‘LIGHT OF FAITH’ First responses to ‘Lumen Fidei’ Drew Christiansen • Robert P. Imbelli • Christiana Z. Peppard 11 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial Save Voting Rights 6 Signs of the Times 9 Washington Front Shifting Winds John Carr 23 Faith in Focus Shelter From the Storm Randall Woodard 34 Reply All 37 The Word The Inheritance; An Alert Faith John W. Martens 15 BOOKS & CULTURE 25 FILM Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” OPINION Finding Melville at Woodlawn BOOKS Hope Sings, So Beautiful; The Good Son; Bruce ON THE WEB ON THE WEB William T. Cavanaugh , right, talks on our podcast about the myth of religious violence. Plus, Ellen K. Boegel on the Supreme Court and same-sex marriage and, from the archives, Richard A. Blake, S.J., on the films of Woody Allen. All at americamagazine.org. 25 CURRENT COMMENT birth in the United States in 2012 was $9,775. For cae - Brazil’s Progressive Moment sarean deliveries it was $15,041. A strange paradox is unfolding on the streets of Brazil. A Maternity care is crucial to the health of children and country with a low unemployment rate and a growing mid - mothers. Yet high cost does not guarantee the best care; dle class is facing urban unrest not seen in decades. Hun- infant and maternal death rates in the United States remain dreds of thousands of people have marched in cities too high. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans throughout the country protesting higher transportation must cover maternity care, but what, exactly, this includes is costs and excessive spending on the World Cup, which will unclear. Care for mothers-to-be must become more take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2014. Observers have long straightforward and comprehensive. Couples should be able predicted a bright economic future for Brazil, which just to obtain reasonable estimates of costs quickly and easily— surpassed Britain as the world’s sixth largest economy. So and the costs should be reasonable. More hospitals should what gives? offer basic maternity care packages for a flat, affordable fee. Poverty, for one thing, remains very high at 21 percent. Making maternity care affordable will help ease the burden And those who have managed to escape poverty are unsat - on women who may feel they are not financially stable isfied with the level of government service they are receiv - enough to raise a child, or even to give birth to one. This is ing. Brazil’s taxes are among the highest in the world at 36 one way to advocate for life and honor what Pope Emeritus percent of gross domestic product; the public is simply not Benedict XVI has described as “the human freedom…to seeing a return on their investment. Infrastructure, while welcome the life of a new human being.” better than it once was, is still in need of improvement, especially as Rio prepares for an unprecedented string of ‘Hulk. Catholic. SMASH!’ international events: this month’s World Youth Day, next In the latest cinematic incarnation of the Avengers, the year’s World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2016. not-so-jolly green giant Hulk made short work of the The bishops of Brazil see the protests as the result of godling Loki, literally casting him to the ground as a “puny Brazil’s history of inequality. They are no doubt correct. god.” A snarky aside, yes, but perhaps also a small sugges - Democracy cannot flourish when a large gap divides the tion of the Hulk’s true religious sensibilities, which, rich and the poor. The lesson for the international commu - according to astute observers of American comic culture at nity is clear, if sobering: inequality must be addressed, even L’Osservatore Romano, are Catholic. if it leads to short-term turbulence. A healthy democracy This is not the first time L’Osservatore has discovered will endure some growing pains. There are signs that the Catholics in odd places. A few years back it provided protesters—peaceful thus far—could bring about much- detailed evidence of Homer Simpson’s faith; more recently needed government reforms. If they succeed, Brazil could it tracked James Bond’s Catholic roots through a Scottish become a model for fledgling democracies everywhere. “priest’s hole.” Evidence for the Hulk’s Catholicism, accord - ing to the Vatican paper, are a rosary clutched by a de- The Cost of Pregnancy Hulking Bruce Banner and his own Catholic wedding.