…ment approved the Principles of the Islamic Bylaw and the Islamic criminal code, which created new discriminatory offenses that do not exist in the Indonesian national criminal code. The bylaws extend Sharia to non-Muslims and criminalize consensual same-sex sexual acts as well as all zina (sexual relations outside of marriage). The criminal code permits as punishment up to 100 lashes and up to 100 months in prison for consensual same-sex sexual a…
By Randall Balmer, Anthea Butler, Evan Derkacz, Jeff Sharlet, and Diane Winston
…ssed by the breadth of Edwards’ intellectual interests and announce him to New Yorker readers as a “new evangelical.” Lesser journalists would take note of Edwards’ emphasis on natural science, on Newton’s Opticks, and herald a trend in American evangelicalism as Christianity remakes itself for the bold new world of the 18th century. And all these stories would be correct; indeed, they are, more or less, correct when applied to American evangelica…
…at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary’s Parochial School in Newburgh, New York, causing minor injuries to several of the students. The majority of attacks during this time period were by students on other students or teachers, and usually involved stabbing with knives, or hitting with stones. 1900–1930s There are very few reports of mass or multiple school shootings during the first three decades of the 20th Century, with the three…
…awa’i,’ or remainders. Back from when most Spaniards spoke Arabic. 19. FOX News “FOX News” by Summer Putman Because what else would they talk about? 20. Band practice The Ottomans invented military parades, and attached military bands (with drums over horns) to battle formations, to boost troop morale and freak out whoever was being attacked. They attacked often, which was not cool. But pretty soon everyone who was anyone was doing it, and then it…
…rters regularly use legal and extralegal means to infringe on the academic freedoms of our India-based academic colleagues. They’ve successfully banned texts and authors who refuse to toe the Hindutva line, appointed unqualified ideologues to prestigious academic posts, cancelled lectures by renowned scholars, vilified academics as ‘anti-national,’ and even physically assaulted students on campuses. Our alarm at seeing some of these tactics adapte…
…nce Sikh voices? The timing of the action and Facebook’s relationship with India—along with the history Sikhs have with the Indian government—makes it difficult to believe that this was merely a coincidence, rather than a deliberate attempt to suppress the voice of an entire religious community. Facebook and Instagram have allowed hate speech and other questionable posts to continue for years—notoriously so in recent days—but banning an entire com…
…m this weekend. Swamy, who has been affiliated with right-wing politics in India, is India’s version of Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos, or Nigel Farage: a polarizing figure with a long history of demonizing statements. India’s Muslim and LGBTQ communities have been particularly targeted by Swamy, and he’s a prolific user of Twitter, underscoring the argument that right-wing septuagenarians and social media don’t mix. While Swamy is a trained e…
…ir Kakar analyzes examples of this rhetoric of violation. The Partition of India, which Hindu nationalists blame on Muslims, is described as “chopping the arms off” of the Indian nation. Separation is figured not simply as distinction, but rather as dismemberment and disintegration. According to Kakar, Rithambra, an ascetic orator and ardent nationalist, describes government policies for inclusion of Muslims as “cutting open the Hindu chest” like…
…my narrative engaging. What alternative title would you give the book? The Indian edition of the book has a different title. It is Cosmic Love and Human Apathy. I like it as much as I like this title. How do you feel about the cover? The cover reflects the theme of the book perfectly. It is about Swami Vivekananda creating a religion that is least religious and disenchanted. Is there a book out there you wish you had written? There are so many bo…
…cosmology held until the 16th century, when European explorers arrived in India with a new religion and a new cosmology. The Earth, these visitors insisted, is not flat or disc-shaped, but is instead an enormous ball. This idea met with stiff resistance from the natives. There were problems. For example: Where in this universe was Mount Meru? On the surface of a sphere there is no central or special point for it to rest. Of course, the modern sci…
