Religion Dispatches
…went to the famous al-Azhar university and secured a shahadah document in French, Arabic and English. I returned to the embassy and was told one has to be Muslim for at least six months to make hajj. So I go to the American embassy and secure an affidavit stating I have been practicing Islam since 1972. When I brought that to the embassy they said: you need to have a mahram, the male guardian. At the time I was divorced and my son, Muhammad was o…
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…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…
Read More…of the Roman Curia believe Stefanini’s appointment is a provocation by the French Government and the president of French anti-gay marriage group Manif Por Tous, Ludovine LaRochere, has contacted the Apostolic Nuncio in Paris to object to his appointment. FirstPost.com cites French daily LeJournal du Dimanche quoting a Vatican source saying the rejection is due to “a decision taken by the Pope himself.” Ireland: Archbishop says Christians persecute…
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…n euros for the card to be activated for three days and to get three paper tickets. Up to the manuscript room, where I handed the ID card and one ticket to the clerk. She gave me a key to a locker, where I had to leave all my belongings except one pencil (not a pen, with which I could deface a manuscript) and a notebook. Reentering the reading room, I had to display my pencil and notebook to the clerk to get back my ID card and the ultimate prize:…
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…the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.” And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic….
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…% in 2006 to about 14% at present (though they continue to vote in greater numbers than the general population, giving them disproportionate representation in elections). And in the 2020 election, nonreligious voters, a strongly progressive-leaning demographic, made up a full quarter of the electorate, for the first time outnumbering white evangelical voters who made up 19% of the electorate. It’s hard to know exactly how to square the Pew data su…
Read MoreInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed around the world this week. While America’s globetrotting anti-gay religious activist Scott Lively may blame gays for the rise of the Nazis and the Holocaust, journalist Karen Ocamb and gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell review the actual history at Frontiers and Huffington Post. More from Liam Hoare at Slate and Michelle Garcia at the Advocate. In the US Congress, The International Human Right…
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…t Haitians swearing a pact with the devil in exchange for freedom from the French is an allusion to an event that took place in Haiti on August 14, 1791. On that date, several hundred slaves from different ethnic groups came together in a place called Bois Caiman to conduct a Vodou ceremony. They sacrificed a pig to the lwa (the spirits of Vodou), and vowed that they would do whatever it took to break free from their bonds. What followed was the o…
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…reason would bring freedom and “maturity” to mankind. When applied to the French Revolution, the religious parallels are striking. To an arguable extent, Enlightenment ideas formed the basis of the French Revolution. After the Revolution, of course, reason and fraternité did not prevail—there was hoarding during food shortages, the provinces were restive, and many religious people clung to their practices. Like the Xhosa, the leaders of revolutio…
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…ans would be attracted to, appreciate and consider careers in science (the number is decreasing annually). I bet we’d have more productive conversation among students and leaders of science and religion around the many profound issues in our nation that engage both: abortion, medical care, stem cells, homosexuality, and genomic research. The battle rhetoric would fade and, more than likely, movies like Expelled wouldn’t be made in the first place….
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