Of the many things we have learnt about Joe Biden over his decades in politics, one of the most important is that the Democratic candidate for US president is serious about his Roman Catholic religion. There was no attempt to deflect from that at last week’s Democratic Party convention.
Speaker after speaker, including the former Republican governor John Kasich and both Michelle and Barack Obama, referred to Mr Biden's faith as the cornerstone of his character. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said: “Joe Biden’s faith in God gives him the strength to lead.”
In the view of the US religion writer Jack Jenkins, “the convention itself was unusually spiritual. Speakers, organisers and delegates appealed to a conciliatory, inspirational form of religion with a fervency not seen at any party convention in recent memory – Republican or Democratic.” The online events included a “Believers for Biden” party, an interfaith council and a Muslim delegates’ assembly.
Some overt display of piety is almost compulsory for politicians in the US. But this was different. This was not just ticking the box for public consumption. As Senator Chris Coons put it, “For Joe, faith isn’t a prop or a political tool. Joe knows the power of prayer, and I’ve seen him in moments of joy and triumph, of loss and despair, turn to God for strength.”
The convention, and Mr Biden’s campaign, are putting religion in the public square in an unabashed way that has become rare in many Western countries. This reticence stems from various factors, ranging from a sense that faith is a personal matter best not addressed at length in public, to an overdeveloped notion of separation of church and state that has – in the case of France, for example – led to outright hostility to religion and the state-sponsored persecution of schoolchildren who want to wear headscarves or crucifixes.
The overall attitude was most famously summed up by Alastair Campbell, spin doctor to then UK prime minister Tony Blair, when he told an interviewer, “We don’t do God.” Years later, in 2008, Mr Blair explained his reasoning for not doing so: that others may assume that people of faith are trying to impose their beliefs on others, and that those who talk openly about their religious convictions “may be considered weird”.
Mr Blair was, sad to say, not wrong to warn about that. Over the last 20 years, the small but highly influential band of “New Atheists”, such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens, have openly sneered at the religious. Mr Dawkins, for instance, once tweeted that “30 per cent of Australians say they have no religion. It’s what any intelligent person would say". That was a mild example, but the dismissal of vast swathes of humanity as “unintelligent” is typical of this group.
The reality, unless you believe most people are stupid, is quite different. In the latest survey by the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, the worldwide percentage who identified as “unaffiliated” with any religion or belief system was a mere 16.4 percent – a proportion that is predicted to go down to just over 13 per cent by 2050. The numbers of Christians and Muslims, meanwhile, are expected to soar, with the two religions coming close to parity in terms of their adherents by mid-century. Mr Dawkins’s characterisation also sits oddly with most of human history, for until the 20th century it was difficult to think of any society in which religion did not enjoy a prominent position.
A reticence to allow religion in the public square has led to outright hostility to it in places like France
Those who wish to banish religion to the margins have focused on extremist, and frequently deviant, versions of faiths. They ignore the history of great traditions of tolerance among believers, such as the glorious and intellectually enriching multireligious diversity of the great Islamic empires. They also ignore the modern heroes who continue this struggle, from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, organiser of the Cordoba Initiative in New York, to the Muslim World League Secretary-General Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al Issa, who was recently awarded the first-ever Combat Anti-Semitism Award in the US.
In his address at the award ceremony, which was attended by the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, Dr Al Issa stated the need for “outreach to all of Allah’s children — Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. For our battle against intolerance and division is the same".
We need to hear more about this, and about the huge amount of work that religious charities are doing around the world – often in the fields of health care and education – that receives next to no coverage in international media.
When Martin Luther King, Jr and Jesse Jackson are discussed in American discourse, it often seems as though they have been shorn of their priesthoods; they were “just” civil rights leaders. But as Mr Blair said in his 2008 speech, "If you are someone 'of faith', it is the focal point of belief in your life. There is no conceivable way that it wouldn't affect your politics." So their status as ordained ministers was not incidental. They were inspirational leaders because of their belief.
This brings us back to Mr Biden, who without the sustenance offered by his faith may have been incapacitated by grief after the deaths of his first wife and daughter in 1972 and his son Beau in 2015. In his view, it was his trust in God that saved him, and it is through that faith that he has enlarged that capacity for empathy that so many admire in him.
The emphasis on his religion brings no harshness to Mr Biden's campaign, excludes no one and declares no one under any obligation to live according to highly prescriptive or proscriptive rules. Instead, it is inclusive, compassionate, loving and forgiving. Religion can bring a moral centre to a campaign whose candidate promises healing. For that, America, and the rest of the world, should be grateful.
Sholto Byrnes is a commentator and consultant in Kuala Lumpur and a corresponding fellow of the Erasmus Forum
Result
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m; Winner: Brraq, Ryan Curatolo (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m; Winner: Bright Melody, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Naval Crown, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m; Winner: Volcanic Sky, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Zainhom, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
On sale: now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
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- Price: Not announced yet
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
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SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
