Search for "cheap airline tickets from us to europe phone number 1-800-299-7264"

“Muslim Gospel” Revealing the “Christian Truth” Excites the Da Vinci Code Set

By Annette Yoshiko Reed

…arn, which is otherwise known from only two surviving manuscripts, both in European languages. The possibility of a third, with text in Syriac (i.e., Christian Aramaic), would be momentous, even if it were to date to the year 1500 rather than to 1,500 years ago. Some reports, however, have suggested that it isn’t a copy of the GBarn at all. Nevertheless, the notion of the manuscript’s connection with the GBarn continues to attract attention. In 20…

How Did the Buddha Become a Medieval Saint?

By Peter Manseau

…story of the Buddha, also known as Prince Siddhartha Gautama, traveled to Europe through the writings of Marco Polo and others in the fourteenth century, it became clear that no matter the names used in each, stories about the Buddha and stories about Josaphat were most likely about the same man. How, then, did the star of one religious tradition come to play a bit part in another tradition born six hundred years later on the other side of the wo…

Monstrous Futures: Dungeons & Dragons, Harbinger of the “None” Generation, Turns 40

By Robert M. Geraci

…gence of interest in stories of direct divine intervention, and Protestant Europe in the sixteenth century saw a “boom” in compendia of miracles… The Monster Manual is likewise a product of its time, an expression of the secular age. One of its accompanying texts, Deities & Demigods (later renamed Legends & Lore), taught religious pluralism to countless children. As a reader turned the pages, he or she saw one religion transition into another, eac…

In Gaza Siege, Atheist Author Sam Harris Finds Yet Another Opportunity to Disparage Islam

By Usaid Siddiqui

…: “imported into the Middle East in the nineteenth century on the heels of European colonialism.” Even Bernard Lewis, whose work on Islam has been met with severe criticisms (and rightly so), maintains his position that any inherent hatred within Islam for Judaism or Jews is simply a falsehood. In his book Jews of Islam, Lewis reveals that Muslim Jewish relations were far more amicable under the umbrella of Muslim rule than in Christian Europe, a…

Talking Justice on Twitter: “We Are Breaking Down Barriers”

By Arafat Kabir

…ave lived more in harmony with each other than we have with Christians and Europeans. Some of the greatest cultures and civilizations ever to develop were in Muslim-Jewish Babylon, Muslim-Jewish Ottoman Empire, and Muslim-Jewish Spain. We must remember our history and build on it. When Jews and Muslims attack each other with European and American weapons and money, we might remember that Christian crusaders saw Muslims as pagans and Jews as Christ…

Do We Owe Human Rights to the Christian Right?

By Austin Dacey

…h to the human person” that was “the conceptual means by which Continental Europe initially incorporated human rights—and, indeed, became the homeland of the notion for several decades.” Resting his case largely on the 1930s and 1940s work of French Catholic personalist intellectuals and on the spread of “human dignity” in Western European constitutions, beginning with the 1937 Christian Democratic constitution of Ireland, Moyn concludes that “thr…

Pigging Out: What ‘Radically Unkosher’ Jewish Foodies Like Michael Pollan Are Missing

By Jonathan Schorsch

…on of those who refused to eat pig—Jews and Muslims—typified life in rural Europe, as outlined in The Singular Beast (Columbia U. Press, 1999), a powerful, disturbing, and at times gruesome, study by French anthropologist Claudine Fabre-Vassas. Body parts of the pig were given Jewish names; Jews were called pigs (conversos were called “porkchops”); pigs served as stand-ins for Jews in Easter processions; Judas in Passion plays would be sprinkled w…

Enlightenment Values Aren’t Just the Solution to Racism, They’re Also the Problem

By Hussein Rashid

…lightenment is actually a collection of philosophical movements throughout Europe, spanning nearly a hundred years. While lauded for focusing on individual liberties, it was conditioned by the historical realities of the time; these liberties were not intended to be truly universal. The Declaration of Independence famously declares that “all men are created equal,” excluding women, while the US Constitution considers black people only 3/5th human….

More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…om international organizations assuming “a model of social change based on European and North American histories, cultures and styles of government.” Indonesia: More on ‘bleak time’ facing LGBT community The Australian Broadcasting Company reported on the “bleak time” facing Indonesia’s LGBT community, which has been under rhetorical assault from religious and political leaders, and could be on the verge of being criminalized if the Constitutional…

Tutu’s Daughter Marries Woman & Loses Anglican Priest License; Romanian Anti-Marriage Activists Get 3 Million Signatures; Australian State Apologizes For Harmful Sodomy Laws; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…anti-gay rhetoric, created an offensive “queer dictionary.” Sample definition: “Gay community: People busy killing each other then blaming heterosexuals.” Turkey: Roundtable on LGBTI planned by European Intergroup on LGBTI Rights The European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBTI Rights will host a roundtable on LGBTI rights in Turkey on Tuesday in Brussels….