Clipmarks | arifsali's 'christianity' clips

Islam: Past, Present and Future by Hans Kung

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:32:21 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: revelation-online.blogspot.com

For more than two decades the world religions have been a central topic for Hans Kung. In books which have inspired millions throughout the world, he has pioneered work towards a new dialogue between cultures. In this extraordinarily comprehensive book, he gives an in-depth account of Islam, the second largest world religion after Christianity. Describing paradigm shifts in its 1400-year history, outlining the various currents and surveying the positions of Islam on the urgent questions of the day, few people alive today could have written such a complete analysis.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Küng studied theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained in 1954.

In the late 1960s Küng became the first major Roman Catholic theologian after the late 19th century Old Catholic Church schism to reject the doctrine of papal infallibility, in particular in his book Infallible? An Inquiry (1971).

In 2007, he received a Masonic award for his entire life's work.

Tags: books, islam, theology

Harmony among the three most important religions of Indonesia: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:47:24 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.paulstravelblog.com

A parade float on Flores suggesting harmony among the three most important religions of Indonesia: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism

Tags: islam, indonesia, christianity, hinduism

Religion Begets Prejudice

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:45:57 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: ....
Today it is from this same part of America, the most overtly religious part, that most of the hostility toward equality in the pursuit of justice for gay and lesbian people comes. The question that should be asked is: What is there about religion in general and Christianity in particular that continues to fuel the prejudices of our day?

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Far from my religion tempering my prejudices, racial prejudice was actually instilled in me by my evangelical Christian church. I grew up in North Carolina in what we call the Bible Belt. My church taught me that segregation was the will of God and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that men were by nature superior to woman and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that it was o.k. to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that homosexual persons were either mentally sick or morally depraved and, of course, quoted the Bible to prove it. So the idea that being religious might make one less prejudiced is a fantasy. It appears to make people more prejudiced, or at the least, not to confront their prejudices.

Tags: religion

The Army Fights "With God on Our Side"

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:30:38 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Retired Army Lt. General William Boykin was involved in many perilous operations during his 30-year military career –missions that included the Desert One attempted rescue of Iranian hostages in 1980, Grenada, and serving as commander of Delta Force during Black Hawk Down in Somalia.

Despite all he has endured, Boykin says one of his most traumatic fights came in 2003, when he found himself the subject of a media firestorm after comments he made to a Christian audience were publicized. According to accounts of his speech, Boykin referenced a Somali Muslim warlord he encountered in battle and said "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real god and his was an idol."

Continue »

Tags: army, christianity, united states

The Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:32:52 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy.

This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

The biggest threat to the West lies within itself, not with Islam

The chief threat to world security at present lies in the capacity of tiny groups of political Islamists to goad the West into a rolling military retaliation.

Extremists on each side feed off the others’ frenzied scenarios so as to garner money and political support for their respective armies of the night. Each sees the other as a cosmic menace and abandons communal tolerance and peaceful diplomacy to counter it.

To portray Islam as a whole as a concerted threat to western security, and to imply that the West’s democratic institutions and freedoms are not proof against that threat, is absurd and close to treason. Then to demand that western freedoms be dismantled and stored away for the duration of a “war on terror” is to wave the flag of surrender.

I believe in the robustness of the democracies created in the West over the past half-century. I am not sure that our leaders do.

Tags: terrorism, islam, christianity, religion, freedom, war, peace, democracy, west, torture

Now, an Indian film on Apostle Thomas

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:22:25 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: in.news.yahoo.com

The Rs.500-million ($12 million) project is being supported by the St. Thomas Apostle of India Trust, set up by the Catholic Archdiocese of Mylapore.

Biblical stories identify Thomas as the disciple who doubted the resurrection of Christ. According to several edicts, Kushan king Vasudeva sent Thomas' remains to Syria in 232 AD.

The Roman Catholic and Anglican calendars honour Thomas July 3, the day on which his relics are believed taken from Mylapore, on India's east coast, to Edessa, Syria, where his remains are worshipped as that of the Apostle of India. Then it was taken to the Greek island of Chios in 1258 AD and then to Ortona, Italy, where it rests now.

In the 'Acts of Thomas', written in 200 AD, the original key text to identify St. Thomas with India, historians agree that two people, followers of Jesus Christ, arrived first in Sandaruk (one of the ancient Alexandrias) in Balochistan.

Tags: india, christianity

Hebrew tablet suggests tradition of resurrected messiah predates Jesus

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:10:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

JERUSALEM: A 3-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

When David Jeselsohn bought an ancient tablet, above, he was unaware of its significance.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, because it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era - in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

Tags: christianity, history

Anglican rift: Conservative v Liberal

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:03:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Anglican Communion is closer than ever before to a major split, as conservative bishops gather in Jerusalem to discuss their vision for the future.

Most of those attending the Jerusalem conference (Gafcon) will be boycotting July's Lambeth Conference - held once every 10 years.

They are divided on a number of issues from the ordination of gay priests to the need to convert members of other faiths.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS ACTIVE HOMOSEXUALITY

ORDAINING GAY PRIESTS AND BISHOPS

THE NEED FOR A SHARED UNIVERSAL DOCTRINE

THE OBLIGATION TO FOLLOW A UNIVERSAL DOCTRINE

ORDINATION OF FEMALE BISHOPS

THE NEED TO CONVERT PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS

Tags: christianity

Jordan cave may be oldest church

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:04:53 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: And they must be following the Didache as their guide.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Archaeologists in Rihab, Jordan, say they have discovered a cave that could be the world's oldest Christian church.

Dating to the period AD33-70, the underground chapel would have served as both a place of worship and a home.

It is claimed that it was originally used by a group of 70 persecuted Christians who fled from Jerusalem.

These early Christians lived and practised their faith in secrecy until the Romans embraced Christianity several hundred years later.

Rihab is in Northern Jordan. The cave is beneath the ancient church of St Georgeous, itself one of the oldest known places of worship in the world.

According to Dr Abdul Qader Al-Hassan, the director of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological studies, the cave site shows clear evidence of early Christian rituals that predate the church.

Dr Al-Hassan said: "We found beautiful things. I found the cemetery of this church; we found pottery shards and lamps with the inscription 'Georgeous'"

Tags: jordan, archaeology, christianity

Against Islamic Extremism

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:30:10 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: It is for this reason that one must approach Islam from Islamic sources if one wants to understand it. This doesn’t mean one will have to accept all that one reads, nor that one can’t be critical after you have studied it: but you will then be able to be critical of something which is true and representative of the faith, not something made up.

Clip Source: vox-nova.com

What has become one of the most difficult things for Westerners to understand is that Islam is not a monolithic religion. There are many ways Islam has manifested in history, both in its normative forms, but also in its secondary and under-represented forms. Just as it would be wrong to form one’s understanding of Christianity by looking to Christian slave-owners in the 19^thcentury (even if they could have appeared as normative to many looking to the Christian faith at that time), so it is wrong to form one’s understanding of Islam based upon 21^stcentury radicals.

Just as it is wrong to read an anti-Catholic polemical tract to understand Catholicism, so it is wrong to read anti-Muslim polemical tracts to understand Islam (even though the tracts will indeed “quote from legitimate sources” they will do so carefully, cherry-picked for the most shock value, and without a legitimate hermeneutical approach to help the readers properly understand the context of the quotes themselves).

Tags: islam, religion, faith, culture

Vatican Unveils Newly Restored Pagan Tomb

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:40:28 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Largest And Most Luxurious Of The Pagan Tombs Under St. Peter's Basilica Reopened

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work.

A family of former slaves built the Valeri Mausoleum during the second half of the second century, when Emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled. It is one of 22 pagan tombs in the grottoes under the basilica.

The newly restored tomb was shown to media Tuesday. Visitors can have a guided tour of the grottoes by appointment.

Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, had the pagan burial grounds covered up in the fourth century so the basilica could be built over the site holding St. Peter's tomb.

Tags: pagan, vatican

Dead Sea Scroll Put on Rare Display in Israel

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:36:16 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls is going on display in Jerusalem this week—more than four decades after it was last seen by the public.

The 24-foot (7.3-meter) scroll with the text of the Bible's Book of Isaiah had been in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum since 1967. It went on display two years earlier, but curators replaced it with a facsimile after noticing new cracks in the calfskin parchment.

The museum decided to put the scroll back on show for three months as part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.

The priceless manuscript, written by a Judean scribe around 120 B.C., was in a long glass case Tuesday, its neat rows of Hebrew letters distinct and legible.

The Isaiah manuscript was the only complete biblical book discovered among the Dead Sea scrolls, one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th century.

(See a time line of early Christianity.)

Tags: dead sea scrolls, jerusalem, religion

Karen Armstrong: Charter for Compassion

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:11:06 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: 2008 TED Prize wish

Clip Source: www.ted.com

As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine.

Karen Armstrong is a provocative, original thinker on the role of religion in the modern world. Read full bio »

Tags: religion, karen armstrong, video

Religious Books

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:49:01 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Not sure how they're doing it, but there are bunch of religious books, all available for pdf download.

The site is clean, but you'll get the Ads when you try to download.

Clip Source: revelation-online.blogspot.com

Agnosticism (1)

Archaeology (3)

Art and Architecture (4)

Bible Study (9)

Bible Translation (4)

Biblical Study (41)

Biography (17)

Buddhism (6)

Calvinism (3)

Catholicism (18)

Christian Living (35)

Christianity (87)

Hinduism (3)

History (105)

Islam (66)

New Testament (19)

Old Testament (9)

Other Religions / Practices (3)

Tags: religion, books, ebooks

Italian saint draws huge crowds

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:28:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

The exhumed body of Padre Pio, a saint considered a miracle worker by his devotees, has attracted thousands of pilgrims after going on display in a southern Italian town 40 years after his death.

Padre Pio, one of the Catholic church's most popular saints, is said to have the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus's crucifixion on his hands and feet.

The saint's body, displayed in a crystal sepulcher, was unveiled in a church in San Giovanni Rotondo on Thursday.

About 15,000 people attended an open air mass before the body was unveiled in the church where Padre Pio spent most of his life.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's sainthood in the church, led the mass.

"Today, we venerate his body, opening a particularly intense period of
pilgrimage,'' Saraiva Martins said.

Tags: italy, christianity

Clipmarks | arifsali's 'christianity' clips

Islam: Past, Present and Future by Hans Kung

Harmony among the three most important religions of Indonesia: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism

Religion Begets Prejudice

The Army Fights "With God on Our Side"

The Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam

The biggest threat to the West lies within itself, not with Islam

Now, an Indian film on Apostle Thomas

Hebrew tablet suggests tradition of resurrected messiah predates Jesus

Anglican rift: Conservative v Liberal

Jordan cave may be oldest church

Against Islamic Extremism

Vatican Unveils Newly Restored Pagan Tomb

Dead Sea Scroll Put on Rare Display in Israel

Karen Armstrong: Charter for Compassion

Religious Books

Info

Italian saint draws huge crowds