Clipmarks | arifsali's 'religion' clips

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

Nation’s first mosque to go solar

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:41:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsblogs.chicagotribune.com

Members of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview not only have seen the light, they will rely on it from now on when they pray inside their house of worship.

On Thursday, the Bridgeview mosque earned a distinction as the nation’s first mosque to go solar when leaders installed solar panels on the roof to help heat the building’s water.

The solar thermal system will tie into the existing water heater, powered by natural gas, to provide hot water for people as they wash their hands, face and feet before prayer.

"Islam teaches us to conserve and protect God’s wonderful creation," said Imam Jamal Said of the Mosque Foundation. "This solar hot water system helps us do just that. ... The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was quick to teach his companions: ‘Never waste water even if you have river flowing to your door.’ We will be mindful of his teaching as we wash for prayers with this water warmed by the sun."

Tags: environment, religion, islam, united states

Islamic world should learn from Turkey court ruling

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:00:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: its relations with the United States have frayed over the past few years.

CNN: Why is that?

Zakaria: Mostly because of the Bush administration. The Pentagon never forgave Turkey for not allowing a second front (through Turkey) for the invasion of Iraq.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The battle threatened to throw the country into turmoil. Now, it seems that stability has been restored. The party won't be banned, but it will curtail some of its more overtly Islamic activism. (Which was not very Islamic, in my opinion, anyway.)

CNN: Is this important beyond Turkey?

Zakaria: Yes, Turkey is the only genuinely liberal democracy in the Muslim world. If it appeared that it could not strike a balance between religion and politics, it would send a terrible signal.

People around the Islamic world should now take a hard look at Turkey, where the AK Party, which is full of very religious Muslims, is also the most progressive party in the country, passing dozens of liberal, European-style reforms of the economy, legal and social system. Turkey under the AK Party shows the most inspiring combination of Islam and democracy in the world.

Tags: turkey, democracy, muslims

Sex brings Christian closer to God

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:51:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: communities.canada.com

Professor says the relationship between humans and spirituality is essentially erotic -- some Christians even have peak religious experiences while being sexual

WARNING: The content of this story may be offensive to some readers.

When people feel awkward saying the words, "sexual intercourse," many instead talk about how Jane and John have come "to know" each other (tee hee) "in the biblical sense."

They seem to believe Bible writers were so shy about sexuality they had to employ a euphemism, "to know," because they dare not write "sex" or something more graphic.

But B.C. psychologist Chuck MacKnee, a Christian, believes the Bible writers and translators were using "to know" in a surprisingly intimate way.

They were expressing how men and women through sexuality can deeply connect, truly "know each other," in the most holistic, ecstatic and divine way.

Many people, not only Christians, are afraid of sex, the "amazing, wonderful thing,"

That's why they deny it

Tags: sex, religion

Chaplains Serve Soldiers

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:52:46 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Given that attitude they feel attacked by “the devil” when prayer and Bible readings are outlawed in public schools, when active proselytizing is stopped at the Air Force Academy and now when prayers are requested to be removed from mandatory meals at the Naval Academy. Each of these initiatives is, however, not only correct, but each brings practice into conformity with the Constitution. I rejoice in this decision.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Chaplains are in the military to serve the spiritual needs of our service men and women. They are not imposed on those who do not choose to avail themselves of their services. No one should have the religion of another imposed upon him or her involuntarily. Saying prayers at meals that are mandatory is an imposition. This would be especially true if the prayers assume a particular view of God, which all prayers seem to do. The ACLU is absolutely correct to make this request.

America was founded on the principle of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Yet in many parts of America the majority religious viewpoint of the community was imposed upon the public schools and its symbols displayed in public places. Majority religious traditions are delusional in their understanding of imperialism regarding religious truth. That is how we get claims of inerrant scriptures and infallible popes.

Tags: united states, army, religion

Saudi king asks for religious reconcilliation

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:15:54 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: feeds.bignewsnetwork.com

At an interfaith conference, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has exhorted followers of the world's leading religions to shun extremism and embrace reconciliation.

King Abdullah's comments came at the start of a Saudi-sponsored gathering in Spain, that aims to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews closer together.

King Abdullah said that history's great conflicts were not caused by religion itself but by its misinterpretation.

He said: 'The tragedies we have experienced throughout history were not the fault of religion but because of the extremism that has been adopted by some followers of all the religions, and of all political systems.'

The Saudis have billed the gathering as strictly religious, with no political leanings.

Tags: religion, extremism

Islam and Hinduism's blurred lines

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:16:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Mr Singh is a member of the Kathat community in Rajasthan and follows what his community believes is a pledge undertaken by their forefathers.

Legend has it that the Mehrat, Kathat and Cheeta communities - with a combined total of one million people in four districts of central Rajasthan - are the descendants of the Hindu ruler of the warrior caste, Prithviraj Chauhan.

The three communities also have strong Islamic connections, because many centuries ago, their forefathers undertook a pledge to follow three Muslim practices.

These include the circumcision for the newborn male children in the community, eating halal meat and burying their dead.

That is the tradition many have followed, keeping the word of their ancestors. But it has also led to them facing something of a faith-based identity crisis.

A majority of them are poor and illiterate. They are people with a mixed Hindu-Muslim identity.

"We don't care about being Hindu or Muslim. It is sheer politics," he says.

Tags: islam, hinduism, india, culture, religion

Exhibit aims to shatter US stereotypes of Islam

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:53:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Princess Wijdan Al Hashemi and her friend Aliki Moschis-Gauguet noticed that the only depictions they saw of Muslim women showed figures behind veils, oppressed by their cultures.

Moschis-Gauget said, "'Do you see what's going on the media?... Muslim women are being portrayed as women living behind long veils,'" said Al Hashemi, founder and director of the Royal Society of Fine Arts of Jordan. "She couldn't stand the way Muslim and Arab women were being portrayed."

Al Hashemi and Moschis-Gauguet, president of the Pan-Mediterranean Women Artists Network, turned to the world they knew best to find an answer: the world of art.

To combat what they saw as misperceptions about the Muslim world and Arab nations, the two women teamed up to create a traveling exhibit featuring female artists from Islamic countries.

The show "Breaking the Veils: Women Artists From the Islamic World"

Tags: art, culture, islam, religion, women

Spiritual effects of hallucinogens persist, research

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:18:55 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in "sacred mushrooms," produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year.

Writing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the Johns Hopkins researchers note that most of the 36 volunteer subjects given psilocybin, under controlled conditions in a Hopkins study published in 2006, continued to say 14 months later that the experience increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction.

"Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives," says lead investigator

Psilocybin, a plant alkaloid, exerts its influence on some of the same brain receptors that respond to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Mushrooms containing psilocybin have been used in some cultures for hundreds of years or more

Tags: science, religion

The Brick Testament

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:40:41 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Addition to lego clips....and religion of course.

Clip Source: www.thebricktestament.com

The world's largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible.

Clip Source: www.thebricktestament.com

The Brick Testament is the largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world with over 3,600 illustrations that retell more than 300 stories from The Bible.

Tags: religion, lego

Teacher accused of burning cross on student's arm

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:38:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- School administrators in Ohio voted Friday to begin the process of firing a middle school teacher accused of burning a cross into a student's arm and refusing to keep his religious beliefs out of the classroom.

The Mount Vernon School Board passed a resolution to terminate the employment of John Freshwater, an eighth-grade science teacher for the past 21 years.

Freshwater, according to an independent report, used an electrostatic device to mark a cross on the arm of one of his students, causing pain to the student the night of the incident and leaving a mark that lasted for approximately three weeks.

Freshwater was also reprimanded several times for refusing to move his Bible from his classroom desk and teaching creationism alongside evolution, according to the 15-page independent report.

Tags: church, state, religion, education

The Islam you don't hear about

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:27:04 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

A trip to Indonesia — home to more than 200 million Muslims — reveals a faith that hardly resembles the one Americans have come to know in the blood-soaked years since 9/11.

After the 9/11 attacks, Americans put out a call for moderate Islam. Many Muslims answered that call, but few Americans heard them. Early this month, I traveled to Asia to see what Islam looks like on the ground there, and to listen to what Muslims themselves have to say about their religion, terrorism and the United States. What I found surprised me.

I went to Asia because Islam is by no means a Middle Eastern phenomenon. In fact, Asia is home to most of the world's Muslims. I focused on Indonesia because there are more Muslims in Indonesia than in any other country — roughly three times as many as in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

Tags: indonesia, islam, muslims

Pakistani sentenced to die for blasphemy

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:24:45 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.newsvine.com

A Pakistani judge sentenced a Muslim man to death Wednesday on charges he insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a court official said.

Falk Sher, a court administrator, said Judge Shoaib Ahmad Roomi also sentenced the man, Shafeeq Latif, to life in prison and fined him $75,000 on a separate charge of desecrating pages of Islam's holy book, the Quran, in 2006.

Latif was accused of making derogatory remarks about Muhammad.

The trial was held in the eastern city of Sialkot after police arrested him in a nearby village.

Latif's lawyer was not immediately available for comment, but Sher said the defendant had the right to appeal.

Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone who insults Muhammad can be punished by death. Scores of people, including Muslims and minority Christians, are facing trial under the laws, which human rights groups have demanded be abolished.

New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the government on Tuesday to abolish the death penalty

Tags: pakistan, law, religion, blasphemy

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

Bahraini king selects Jewish ambassador

Thu, 29 May 2008 21:42:27 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.jpost.com

Bahrain's king has appointed a Jewish woman as its envoy to Washington - the first Jew in the Arab world to become an ambassador.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa named lawmaker Houda Nonoo, a 43-year-old mother of two boys, as an ambassador on Wednesday, the official Bahrain News Agency reported Thursday.

"It is a great honor to have been appointed as the first female ambassador to the United States of America and I am looking forward to meeting this new challenge," Nonoo told The Associated Press by telephone.

She said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini," adding she was not chosen for the post because of her religion.

Tags: bahrain