Religion Dispatches
…a dormitory and besides going to class and a small part time job, I was a free bird. In Ramadan a free bird, flies high on the rituals of the month. I stood for 20 units or tarawih every night that I was fasting. Like the first time reading through the Qu’ran in Arabic on my own this was exhilarating. Somewhere around 12 or 14 units, I lost track of everything outside of the recitation and the ritual performance—the zone. It was even more intense…
Read More
The systematic abuse of the free exercise clause strikes again. In this latest episode, according to bloggers at Hot Air and the American Conservative, “[t]he Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a priest must testify in a case about what he heard in a confessional,” and “Fr. Bayhi will have to go to jail to protect the seal of the confessional.” These pundits can, to some extent, be forgiven for these misleading statements since the Catholic C…
Read More
…sidered equal during carnival. Here, in the town square, a special form of free and familiar contact reigned among people who were usually divided by the barriers of caste, property, profession, and age.” During carnival license was given to abolish the regular world; frequently the crowds would crown an “Abbot of Unreason” or a “Lord of Misrule,” a mocking pantomime of ecclesiastical and royal authority who was allowed to endure during that Tuesd…
Read More…think they’ve found a clever way to bring the Commandments in through the back door by invoking a “free speech zone.” They have to understand what that means—free speech means free speech for everyone. Those courthouse plazas may get awfully crowded….
Read More…on several occasions in retribution for her journalism and activism. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports on the plight of lesbians in Chechnya, recouting the story of a young woman whose planned escape was foiled by a taxi driver who heard her discussing plans, locked the doors, and drove her home; she was dead within a week, with family members claiming it was due to kidney failure. Noting that lesbians have not faced the same kind of high-pr…
Read More…oing his best to spread the message through Israel HaYom (Israel Today), a free tabloid that is the country’s must-read news outlet. Adelson told reporters at the Jerusalem gathering that he does not dictate the newspaper’s coverage or editorials, but that both reflect his point of view and that of his close friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a nation of news junkies, Israel HaYom is trying to steer public opinion to the right. And it’s…
Read More
…re, he argues, nothing is sacred): No ideas, religious or otherwise, get a free pass. The notion that some idea or concept is beyond question or attack is anathema to the entire scientific undertaking. This commitment to open questioning is deeply tied to the fact that science is an atheistic enterprise. Krauss is right to draw the connection between science and the concept of a secular public square. Both emerged around the same period in history…
Read More