Religion Dispatches
…e in the face of violence directed at religious minorities. Meanwhile, at least since last summer’s “elevatorgate”, outspoken atheist feminists describe continued, aggressive harassment from men in the atheist community. In response some atheists have broken off and created “Atheism Plus” which aims to make space for women, people of color, and other marginalized groups within an atheist movement that’s historically white and male. The idea crysta…
Read More
…e it’s genital,” as Young told the Hillsong gathering—and there is no self-promotion. It is, or at least strives to be, an actual conversation. “If people are hooking up or having sex, and they don’t seem to have any problem with it, there’s no judgment from me,” Aaron Monts, pastor of IKON Christian Community in San Francisco, says. “I simply want to walk and have a loving conversation with them about why they’re doing what they’re doing… as oppo…
Read More
…pt the position that we set forth.” Similarly, on February 6th, the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) released a statement expressing “grave concern” that Ellis’ “removal from his teaching and administrative duties without a hearing…may be motivated by Professor Ellis’ views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” While noting that the information was based on information provided “primarily” by Ellis, the AAUP letter pr…
Read More…s out, whether it is temporal or spiritual. But many Americans looking for eastern enlightenment have hit up against a cultural confusion that makes discernment almost impossible. Over at Sweeping Zen, Erik Storlie has written a strong critique of the unexamined aspects of the east-west teacher-student relationship, while lamenting this “old and discouraging story.” In forty-six years of Zen practice I’ve observed Asian (and now Western) swamis,…
Read More
…to RD about this new role as he and his American Episcopalian guides drove East from Denver to Louisiana, up through South Carolina to Washington DC. ______________________ RD: A number of American human rights experts have said that the killing and forced displacement of the Ngok Dinka people from Abyei in May, and their replacement by the Arab, northern-aligned Misseriya, constitutes “ethnic cleansing.” Is ethnic cleansing part of what is happe…
Read More…of their respective civilizations, whose essences, based on the flags at least, are found elsewhere. Bosnia isn’t a place, then, it’s an intersection, and at dark times, an unfortunate collision. Thus Bosniaks remark that they’re holding the line. If they fall, “Muslim territory” will continue its retreat south and east of the Mediterranean. This has happened before—and they point to Iberia’s Muslim past, beautiful, brilliant, expired; although t…
Read More…e. A four-alarm fire engulfed a 110-year-old synagogue on New York’s Upper East Side Monday night. The building was empty and under renovation at the time and the cause was unknown. A Manhattan judge threw out an ex-firefighter’s lawsuit attempting to stop the building of an Islamic center blocks away from Ground Zero. Facon offers Jews an option for making it through America’s “Bacon Boom.” Israeli “Freedom Riders” are women exercising their rig…
Read More
…assionate, the god of mercy). Marketers have exploited this dualism, and a promotional website for the film carries the title: twowaysthroughlife.com. Comments on the film (by critics and in the comment sections of major media outlets) typically ape this dualistic proclamation. But as I watch my daughters play, in amiability and animosity alike, I realize The Tree of Life is not merely about parental spouses acting out nature and grace in diverg…
Read More…y Dubai in the south, central Europe in the west and probably India in the east to get this kind of economic power. It doesn’t deserve to be second fiddle to anyone, and with Turkey’s rise, I can see it playing a global role, in the near future, commensurate with its historic one. At the moment I’m overlooking the last stop on the European rail network. From here, you can go all the way to London. There’s another rail station on the Asian side of…
Read More…rely white—and European only with difficulty. Many Muslims view the Middle East, sometimes defined generously to include Berbers, Turks, or South Asians, as a kind of Islamic heartland, where the “real Islam” exists; those from outside the region are assumed to be more recently converted, and thus less authentically Muslim. This frame’s even used by those who consider it charitable: Indonesia’s Islam is often described as syncretic, which means mo…
Read More