Is Religion to Blame for Violence? Karen Armstrong’s Flawed Case
Just as I finished Karen Armstrong’s Fields of Blood, which is a very extended attack on…
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Karen Armstrong, Caped Anti-Anti-Muslim Crusader?
When a friend recently saw me carrying around a galley of Karen Armstrong’s latest book Fields…
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Two Cheers for British Museum’s Sanitized Hajj Exhibition
After two years of planning and development, “The Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam” was launched this week. But the project does not come without hope and expectation in this post-9/11 era.
Read MoreFour Reasons Why Egypt’s Revolution Is Islamic
As Islamic political thought evolves, no easy answers to how events in Egypt will unfold.
Read MoreCompassion for AZ Shooter?
Talk of compassion in the wake of the shootings seems like the typical namby-pamby response of religious liberals. Could it be the answer?
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Telling the World a ‘Big Story’: RD in Conversation with Karen Armstrong
Compassion is not just a sloppy emotional bonhomie; it requires a serious intellectual effort to learn about one another, even if it’s unflattering to ourselves. RD contributor and religion scholar Laurie Patton interviews Karen Armstrong upon the launch of her global call to action, the Charter for Compassion.
Read MoreIs Karen Armstrong Right? Was Religion Always About Belief or Not?
A commenter from a recent review of Karen Armstrong’s new book writes that a central claim of hers is “utterly false.” Our blogger examines that claim.
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Religion is Not about Belief: Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God
Of all the monotheisms, Christianity has come to depend the most on the idea of belief, or doctrine. But there is a strong countertradition, now submerged, that insists that any time we say we know who God is, or what God wants, we are committing an act of heresy.
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Interview with Karen Armstrong
The best-selling scholar says that the Bible is more violent than the Qur’an, that religious fundamentalism is political, and more.
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