Terrorists, International Religious Freedom. Marxism, Ad-Deir

Guest: Tim McCormack, PhD, Professor of Law at Melbourne Law School and Current Special Advisor on International Humanitarian Law to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague  US Special Operations forces are heading into the fight to target top Islamic State leadership. In wrapping up three days of climate talks in Paris yesterday, President Obama found himself again defending his strategy to oust the terror group from Syria and Iraq. As the fight continues, there will undoubtedly be ISIS combatants captured. But what then? Do we detain them indefinitely at Guantanamo? Do we try them? If so, where and under who’s jurisdiction? These questions have plagued the US – and the rest of the international community - from the start of the self-proclaimed “War on Terror” in 2001.

Guest: Katrina Swett, PhD, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice  When you consider the violence, pain and suffering being inflicted around the world in the name of religion, it’s tempting to wonder whether the world might be a more peaceful, prosperous place without religion.

Guest: Grant Madsen, PhD, Professor of History at BYU  This week, we continue our discussion regarding the impact Karl Marx had on economic theory.

Guests: Cynthia Finlayson, PhD, Professor of Archaeology at BYU; Josie Newbold, Graduate Student in Archaeology at BYU  Also known as the Rose City because of the color of the sandstone out of which the ancient city is carved, Petra in Jordan is an international heritage site and an archaeological treasure dating back to around 300 BC, or earlier. You’d think that such a well-known series of monuments might have been studied to death. But, there’s one structure in the Petra Archaeological Park that’s only now being comprehensively examined. It’s called “Ad Deir” and it’s a spectacular columned façade carved into a sandstone cliff like something straight off an Indiana Jones movie set. And like a movie set, it’s just a façade. The 26-foot tall doorway into the ornate temple-like structure opens into merely a small, simple room.