Religion Dispatches
…owers that would have to be involved: Indonesia and Turkey. Indonesia, because it is the world’s largest Muslim democracy, and is far enough away to be presumed neutral. More important still is Turkey, the power in the region with the diplomatic skill and flexibility to handle this charge. If we ask ourselves, who else would the Egyptian people trust, we would find ourselves forced to admit that in the last week we have lost what little leverage w…
Read More…lled the rally, being organised by activist group Roopbaan — which says it promotes freedom of love and gender equality — at the last minute, after Islamists threatened to beat up participants… Gays and lesbians suffer discrimination and worse in Bangladesh where homosexuality is a crime punishable by a maximum life term, although prosecutions are rare. However, the Roopbaan rally, which was denied permission late on Wednesday, had been allowed to…
Read More
…tion. As Rev. Osagyefo Sekou has noted here on RD, this has led to discord between activists and black churches with the former accusing the latter of Civil Rights era “respectability politics.” As Black Lives Matter has gained a foothold in the American consciousness, the sentiment among some in the city has become, if your pastors aren’t directly speaking to the challenges we face in the headlines and in the household, perhaps it might be time t…
Read More
…ple. It’s what you can do for yourself and others. As it is, White evangelical Protestants have it both ways. A vote for apartheid free of consequence, free of guilt….
Read More…y quotes Funda Soldaat, who runs a shoe-string support organization called Free Gender: “Even if you know how the constitution works, you don’t know how to use it to protect yourself. If you don’t have money you don’t have access to the justice system. Violence in the townships is normal. Homosexuality is [seen as] un-African. Patriarchy is everywhere. The way religious leaders read scripture is painful. Children start raping at 14, 15 and take pi…
Read More…at remain) has been attacked or threatened, is evidence of the strong ties between Christian and Muslim in this country. Seeing the immensely polite attitude of people searching those coming into Tahrir. The free teas that were spreading all around Tahrir, no doubt paid for through the charitable support of someone in the crowd, or donated by the tea-shop owner – its just another part of the Egypt I have always known. But the Egypt I have known wo…
Read More
…attend church—conservative, liberal, whatever—do so, at least in part, because of mystery. They may never use that word, but there it is nonetheless. This is not to say that all are motivated by mystery in exactly the same way. Some people attend church in order to receive answers to the hard questions life throws at them, to shield them from the dark realities of modern life, to seek reliable absolutes by which to measure the world. That is, thos…
Read More…es. Lebanese Muslims work predominately as businesspeople in the lucrative Free Trade Zone, one of the largest free trade ports in the world. In the city center, many residents are descendants of West Indian laborers on the Panama Canal throughout the twentieth century. The city has one of the highest rates of poverty in the country. Every year, a group of black Muslims in Colón hosts an event to celebrate Eid-ul-Udha, a holiday that marks the end…
Read More
…the intellectuals knew it) in assuming that there was an inherent conflict between individual freedom and group well-being, between true democracy and the highest moral values. Why should we make those assumptions? Or, more precisely: Who would make those assumptions? There is a mass of research (which Haidt rejects, as noted above) to demonstrate the answer quite empirically: people who are afraid of rapid change, which they interpret as a threat…
Read More…havior and unusual but largely harmless traditions is blurred. In the most extreme examples, shining a spotlight on a dangerous religious movement, such as that of Jim Jones or Heaven’s Gate, is not only newsworthy, but a call to give protection and a voice to those who have none. So feel free to serve douse those Cheerios in soy milk or top your pizza with soysage so long as we keep in mind that sloppy reporting doesn’t only damage the credibilit…
Read More