Religion Dispatches
…n. In a state that openly discriminated against the religious, a religious party is part of the healing. But Turkey has come far enough. Kemalism is a spent force. (Though Erdogan’s intransigence may revive it; how’s that for irony?) The religious have asserted their rights, and reshaped Turkey so that it more accurately reflects itself. At this juncture, identity politics is not irrelevant—but is outright harmful, backwards-looking, and pointless…
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…or outside Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Bellah undertook comparative sociological work on Japan when virtually no one else did. In addition, he did so with the dedication and integrity few American social scientists were willing to invest in the study of another culture, much less Japan. (A small personal note might bring out what demands this dedication made on Bellah. At a critical point in my own career, I needed advice about the…
Read More…ster-sounding “rule of Islamic law.” The 9/11 Museum, in both its film and paneled exhibition, assumes wrongly and ahistorically that the motivational and propaganda statements of Al-Qaeda, with their inherent subjectivity, can be taken at face value; the Holocaust Museum, in its ultimate removal of Hitler’s Christian quotations and general preference for detailed historical context, provides the better approach. The civil rights organizations—Sik…
Read More…erence on the theological basis for affirming same-sex marriage. Among the participants were Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, and Rev. Andrew Foreshew-Cain, “who was the second Church of England priest to marry his same-sex partner in June, who said he had lsot respect for his bishop, after he was disciplined for getting married,” according to Joseph Patrick McCormick at Pink News. Spain: Catalonia Passes Anti-Homophobia Law On Thursday, the…
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…nd textually faithful conversation. Far from it. As a postscript, Iran and Pakistan are both Islamic Republics. The latter is a parliamentary democracy, whereas the former is, well, a constitutional… theocracy, for lack of a better term. So what then is an Islamic Republic? 4. Islamic law Not Shariah. Confusion of the two is rampant and unfortunate. Islamic law is an interpretation of Shariah; while various interpretations may be authoritative, an…
Read More…himself completely for her. When a man and a woman marry in the Lord, they participate in the missionary life of the Church, by living not only for themselves or their own family, but for all people. Therefore the life of the Church is enriched through every marriage which shows forth this beauty, and is impoverished when marriage is disfigured in any way. A couple which faithfully and courageously lives the grace of this sacrament assists the Chu…
Read More…ong after, the former acquaintance called to threaten Subhi from a Turkish phone number. Power noted that Subhi spoke at a recent UN Security Council Session, the first-ever dedicated to LGBT rights, which she said was an important precedent to set: But also, it allowed us to convey, in a single voice, and with the authority of the Security Council – which is the premiere global enforcement body for peace and security – it allowed us to convey tha…
Read More…d that the film was intended to be a provocative political statement assailing the religion. He denied being Sam Bacile, the pseudonym for the video’s purportedly Israeli Jewish writer and director, but AP said the cellphone number it called for a telephone interview with Bacile on Tuesday matched Nakoula’s address. —- For more RD coverage of the events in Libya see “Tragic Violence in Libya: No Excuses,” by Haroon Moghul — ed….
Read More…maybe I will go again—but if I do, I would know better what to avoid in terms of choosing a company. Right now, I cannot seem to get them to answer my next question regarding the visa application so I can go ahead and send it to them with my immunization records. But now, I’m taking it as part of the process: part of the uncertainty of life in general and of making hajj for the first time. It was strange though that when I got that call yesterday…
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…ve Christians have married their self-understanding to the fortunes of the Republican Party’s presidential candidates. Even if that candidate manifestly aims only at self-aggrandizement, well, so be it. In the Bush years, conservative Christians were triumphant—and triumphalist. They celebrated Bush’s election as a reassertion of America’s essentially Christian character. Richard John Neuhaus, the founding editor of First Things, wrote in 2005 tha…
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