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Interview with Karen Armstrong

By Andrea Bistrich

…estern greed. In the West, in order to preserve our strategic position and cheap oil supply, we have often supported rulers (such as the shahs of Iran, the Saudis and, initially, Saddam Hussein) who have established dictatorial regimes which suppressed any normal opposition. The only place where people felt free to express their distress has been the mosque. The modern world has been very violent. Between 1914 and 1945, seventy million people died…

Wall St., Main St., Religion, and the Bailout

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ident that it can do so right here in Quitman. Yet there were a perplexing number of Antique and Gift Shops, the sorts of thing that normally require a significant tourist industry or leisure class to support. That kind of shopping takes place on the weekends, yet all but one store on Main Street in Quitman was closed this Sunday. I was especially taken by the two largest of them, both of them going out of business. Romine’s Furniture especially c…

Memo to David Brooks: Francis Is Not Naïve For Criticizing Capitalism

By Peter Laarman

…credit: the man has balls to say this. Yes, fracking gives Americans more cheap carbon energy—for a while. And then we’re left with ruined landscapes, ruined aquifers, and our same old dependence on foreign energy sources, having failed to turn to renewables while mindlessly pumping more cheap petroleum into our veins. Like other critics of the new encyclical, Brooks chalks up the pope’s hostility to capitalism as the product of naivete or perhap…

Contraband Valentine

By Svend White

…more religiously liberal neighboring countries, Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, to celebrate. Here we have valentines being smuggled like contraband. (Will we be hearing of Valentine’s Day “speakeasies,” next?) Were it not affecting the lives of millions of people, this would be comical. Even as a kid growing up in a Muslim-American family Boston in the 1970s, I found Saudi Arabia’s “Islamic” pretensions exceedingly fishy and hard to swallow….

Muslim Women Go Public

By Fatemeh Fakhraie

Last week, the United Arab Emirates appointed its first female marriage registrar, Fatima Saeed Obeid al-Awani. It’s the first country in the Arabian Peninsula to do so. This follows Egypt’s decision to appoint Amal Suleiman to the same position a few months ago. India also saw a woman preside over marriages as early as last August. Al-Awani’s appointment and those like it look to be following a wider trend of women playing a more public role in…

Grab ‘n Go – Investigative Thriller Follows Covert Efforts to Control the Source of Life But Comes Up Short on Analysis

By Peter Laarman

…nts, in turn, are revealed to be a UAE sheik in charge of security for the Emirates and (wait for it) China. Some measure of useful exposition follows. The filmmakers want us to understand that the thing many Arab states and China fear most is instability created by food shortages. The African continent encompasses something like 50-60 percent of “undeveloped” arable land, making it the obvious target of a new scramble for Africa that echoes the o…

Religious Conservatives Mobilize Internationally Against Spanish Nondiscrimination Bill; And More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…er: “Mrs Lam has no intention to push for same-sex marriages.” United Arab Emirates: Singaporeans detained, deported for gender expression Human Rights Watch denounced the arrest, conviction, and sentencing of two Singaporean nationals “for attempting to resemble women.” The two, a cisgender male fashion photographer and a transgender woman were deported after spending three weeks in custody. Mexico: Puebla legislators resist court ruling on marri…

House Health Care Bill Discriminates Against Religious Freedom

By Gordon D. Newby

…. For the Malikis in North Africa and the Hanbalis of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, ensoulment occurs at day 40, with abortions allowed up to that time. On the basis of Qur’an 2:233, which states that the mother should not be made to suffer on account of the child, many Muslim jurists allow abortion even after the period of ensoulment, particularly if the life of the mother is threatened, since the life of the already living mother is viewed to h…

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Heretic: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Jihadis?

By Haroon Moghul

…on subsequently blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.” Exactly. 2) “Muslims … use cell phones and computers without necessarily seeing a conflict between their religious faith and the rationalist, secular mindset that made modern technology possible.” Driving on an interstate highway? You can probably thank the Nazis for that. What about nuclear power, radioactive isotopes, etc.? Guess who got us started there. First…

Fatwa Allowing Women to Hit Their Husbands is Useless

By Fatemeh Fakhraie

…to keep quiet as she suffered domestic and sexual abuse to a mufti in the Emirates who told a woman whose alcoholic husband was sexually and physically abusing her to get him to “find help” rather than divorce him, it seems that those in positions of knowledge just aren’t aware of the issues and dangers surrounding domestic violence. Until imams and scholars can understand the damaging effects of domestic violence and are willing to listen to wom…