Religion Dispatches
…mbay from Moesha,” her roommate Titus replies, “Whoo, things are behind in Indiana.”) One by one, though, the supporting cast gradually learn that she is one of the famous Indiana “mole women” – the media’s nickname for the group, and an identity that Kimmy prefers to hide. But what about her optimism, loyalty, and sincerity? And what about Kimmy’s ability to call BS on some of the more vapid trends of 2015? (SoulCycle groupies, you are warned.) A…
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…he United Nations. People from Syria—but also Mali, Gambia, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere—are streaming into Europe by sea or by foot. Most of them are not Catholic, but Muslim. As I wrote earlier this year, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of welcoming migrants in Italy; more recently, Pope Francis has called on parishes to take in migrant families. At Centro Astalli, Muslim men go to a back dining room in a loud, crowded…
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…American forces in the manner the mujahideen had gone after the Soviets in Afghanistan. Only years later did we realize that this was bin Laden’s hope for the September 11 attacks all along: To drag the US into costly quagmires which would bleed us, financially and literally, into decline. Bin Laden’s strategy did not work out for him, in large part because his Iraqi franchise was too murderous. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was known, for some time, as the Is…
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…numbers of refugees, many of them Syrian, but many from the Balkans, Iran, Afghanistan, or Pakistan. The key word here is “peacefully,” as in the likelihood of “peacefully absorbing a migration of that size and scale of cultural difference.” (I will overlook the use of the word “migration,” although Syrians, at least, are fleeing a war zone, not simply making a radical life choice.) Because Douthat is, on this, not wrong. As Douthat notes, the arr…
Read More…for Muslim tourism, pulling out all the stops to attract Muslim travelers. (Halal food, prayer spaces, targeted advertising, etc.) As an aside, the majority of Muslims live east of Afghanistan, meaning that the majority of Muslims’ primary experience of other faiths is Hinduism and Buddhism, not Judaism or Christianity….
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…his first book, The End of Faith, the United States was at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The direct after-effects of September 11th continued to shape domestic and global politics. Twelve years later, with attacks on American Muslims on the rise, and a serious presidential contender claiming that “Islam hates us,” it’s much easier to see the resemblance between New Atheist invectives against Islam and other, more traditional forms of American bigot…
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…heir lives. The United States is now one of only eight countries—including Afghanistan and South Sudan—where the maternal mortality rate is actually increasing. These numbers are even bleaker for women of color in the U.S., where black women are four times more likely than white women to die in childbirth. The pervasive health disparities among communities of color can be traced back, in part, to a long legacy of reproductive coercion. In 2003, th…
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…-law and a brother-in-law were both serving abroad, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. They both lived in the area, and I had to figure out what it would mean if they were killed in action, and I had to attend a funeral picketed by my research subjects. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. But something else did that thrust WBC into my personal life. They threatened to picket a mass shooting at an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, an ev…
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…ancis to dismiss Carinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, who activists accuse of “promoting hatred” against LGBT people. Other activists Belize: Government will challenge anti-sodomy-law ruling, create ‘public morality’ commission In the aftermath of a recent ruling by the country’s Chief Justice against the sodomy law, the government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow has agreed to set up a “church state commission on public morality” that will consider “how…
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…or added to the pressure to cancel the Massimadi festival, saying it would promote homosexuality and that impoverished Haiti had other priorities.” Australia: Poll confirms majority support for marriage equality, rejection of plebiscite A new poll released this week that most Australians support marriage equality but not the government’s plan to hold a national plebiscite on whether the law should be changed to recognize same-sex couples’ right to…
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