Religion Dispatches
…s are not open in the night though, just the markets. Then I moved to Southeast Asia. This was more to my standard. The work day started at 7:30 no matter what the season. My first Ramadan, my students sat for their final exams during the first three hump days. I got a migraine just having to proctor, not produce. The only difference — the work day was one hour shorter. In fact, since no one took off an hour for lunch, it was like an exchange. The…
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…rts failed, but he was followed by thousands of immigrants from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia and by African Americans, who converted to varying forms of Islam, some of which, such as the Nation of Islam, were distinctly a product of African American experiences. They built American mosques and Muslim institutions in such diverse places as Brooklyn, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Ross, North Dakota, and Cedar Rapids, Io…
Read More…reflexively defends the Israeli government’s policies, but it is actively promoting the idea that the conflict there is not over land or politics, but is a clash of civilizations and religions. “Freedom” is not about human rights for all; it’s about Christianity ascendant. At the Freedom Federation Summit in Lynchburg, Virginia, last month, an entire session was devoted to “Israel, the Middle East, and Military Readiness.” (The event as a whole w…
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…wish base. At the same time, if American Jews are not willing to support the president, they risk a diminishment of their own political capital if he does it anyhow. The J Street data, if nothing else, indicates that there is at least the potential for collaboration between the administration and the Jewish community on a more even-handed American engagement with the Middle East. But we’ll have to wait and see what happens when the Obama doctrine…
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…ions and philosophies. Many people felt that the ancient traditions of the East might hold the answers to their modern longings. As a result, there were many gurus, yogis, and spiritual teachers that headed to America eager to establish themselves and build a large following. Since Sri Chinmoy had been raised in an Indian ashram, he believed he had the proper credentials to become a guru. How did Sri Chinmoy court fame? How did he make his publici…
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…inously rearing its seven heads and ten horns. Finally, a servant of this beast will arrive on the stage, a “false prophet” (16:13)—the Antichrist—who will lead his international satanic army against the forces of God. All these satanic forces will be gathered together “at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (16:16). Abruptly, a white horse bearing a divine warrior will appear from heaven, a warrior described as “The Word of God” (19:13), whom…
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…ey might begin to take a closer look at that relationship, or at the very least demand more cooperation in return for the billions of dollars in aid the United States delivers to Israel every year. In 2006, the Iraq Study Group was excoriated by many on the pro-Israel right for making the linkage argument,stating in its final report (pdf): “The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli…
Read More…, and French. English Puritans bracketed Dutch settlement to the north and east, in New England and Long Island. African slaves began arriving in the 1620s, and twenty-three Sephardic Jews, refugees from Recifé, came to New Amsterdam aboard the Sainte Catherine in 1654. Early reports filtering back to the Netherlands, the most tolerant society of the seventeenth century, told of Huguenots, Mennonites, Brownists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Catholics,…
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…states that have brought little economic benefit or sense of dignity. (At least a Chinese citizen can reconcile an absence of political freedoms with an obvious escape from poverty). Egypt is, in this sense, the most excellent example. Hosni Mubarak has presided over the impoverishment of a country that used to be at the center of Arab culture. Once among the wealthiest provinces of the Ottoman Empire dating all the way back to the Roman Empire (w…
Read More…k of Ezekiel, leading to an “inferno [that] will explode across the Middle East, plunging the world toward Armageddon” . . . . In Hagee’s telling, Israel has no choice but to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, with or without America’s help. The strike will provoke Russia—which wants Persian Gulf oil—to lead an army of Arab nations against Israel. Then God will wipe out all but one-sixth of the Russian-led army, as the world watches “with shock…
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