Religion Dispatches
…nd 39, which according to LaHaye are about contemporary Russian and Middle Eastern politics, he claimed that: “For the first time in world history the Russians are working openly with the Arab world; that kind of makes you think [the fulfillment of prophecy] could be very close at hand.” Asked about the impact of such thinking on government policies during the Bush administration, LaHaye began by claiming “I’ve never been asked that before.” He di…
Read More
…h the fact that homeless people are sleeping outside of the seminary; that East Harlem and West Harlem are increasingly economically polarized; and that a household of four making between $100,681-$138,435 is now considered “middle income” in New York City. Union’s decision to proceed with the condominium project is a decision to ignore a persistent socio-economic crisis. It is a decision to ignore the all-important conclusion of a 2007 affordable…
Read More…ked by Iran) make a mockery of simplistic schemas to understand the Middle East. But sometimes, it seems, there is one and one motive alone that trumps all, which unites forces that would otherwise find themselves at opposite ends of global affairs. Consider this excerpt from the Times’ article: After the missiles were shown destroying Syrian military helicopters, the matter took an unusual turn when a state-controlled newspaper in China, apparent…
Read More…permanent frontier. In 1980, twelve thousand Jews lived in the West Bank, “east of democracy,” Beinart writes; now they number more than three hundred thousand, and include Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s wildly xenophobic Foreign Minister. Lieberman has advocated the execution of Arab members of parliament who dare to meet with leaders of Hamas. His McCarthyite allies call for citizens to swear loyalty oaths to the Jewish state; for restrictions on h…
Read More
…may be so. Yet, I think there is much worth investigating in the relation between religious worlds and games, both in their board and video versions. For those still baffled as to why religion works so well in a modern/postmodern world, games might offer some insight. Take some of the recent board games that deal with religious themes: Missionary Conquest, BuddhaWheel, The Mahabharata Game, Catholic-opoly and Mormon-opoly (the goal of the latter…
Read More…he West is certainly doing neither Israelis nor Palestinians any favors. It is also fatally undermining its own ability to successfully navigate, build relationships and promote its own interests in a rapidly changing Middle East by ignoring Gaza and Palestinian disenfranchisement.”…
Read More
…the French who trace their origins to the Maghreb, West Africa, and South East Asia, or the immigrants who live beyond the confines of Paris’ périphérique. The “we” that needs to be reminded that it is at war is the “we” that has been waging it for over a century. This is the (generic Western, liberal, mostly white) “we” whose punditry rallies to the strong rhetoric of war when something tragic occurs in New York, Madrid, London, and Paris, but w…
Read More…te in 1870. And Mormon women in the late nineteenth century were sent back east to train as medical doctors, encouraged by Brigham Young himself, who said in 1869: We believe that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds and raise babies, but they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge their sphere of us…
Read More…ove for Allah: as the greatest principle of Islam. My own shaykh is on the east coast and a visit to him and some time in retreat is already on my calendar after I visit with my family. What was particularly striking for me last night, is that this particular company among Sufis was also made up of mostly well-educated, American professionals, over 50. Let me be direct here about what it means to say that one is American in the context of identity…
Read More
…, basic mandates for synagogue design: that the Ark of the Torah be on the east side; that there be a window to the community, to prevent isolation from society; and that the bimah, or altar, be no more than six steps above the congregation, to curb haughtiness among the clergy. With the basic scriptural requirement of a synagogue being not a building, nor having a rabbi, but merely a quorum of ten Jews, Friedman says that the form of synagogues h…
Read More