Clipmarks | arifsali's 'religion' clips

Indian Muslims condemn terrorism

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:03:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

A conference attended by thousands of Muslim clerics, scholars and community leaders in India has endorsed a religious ruling against terrorism.

The ruling or fatwa was issued earlier this year by an Islamic seminary.

It said that Islam rejected all kinds of bloodshed and the killing of innocents for selfish and politically motivated gains.

This is the first time the Islamic scholars have come together to give their backing to the measure.

Tags: india, religion, muslims, terrorism

Fighting for Muslim women's rights

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:51:38 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Some of the world's leading Islamic feminists have been gathered in Barcelona for the third International Congress on Islamic Feminism, to discuss the issues women face in the Muslim world.

Some of the women taking part in the conference explained the problems in their home countries, and where they hoped to make progress.

ASMA BARLAS, Author, Pakistan

Religions always come into cultures, they don't come into abstract and pure spaces. Islam came into a very patriarchal, tribal and misogynistic culture. One of the deepest damages to Islam has been its reduction to "Arabisation".

Islam is influenced by the culture of the country it enters

Tags: women, islam, muslims, culture, religion

"What If He Is?"

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:43:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: God bless Powell for speaking the truth. As a popular personality, he hit the nail on the head.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Powell also spoke passionately against the insinuations by some Republicans that Obama is a Muslim.

"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian," he said. "But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

Tags: united states, politics, muslims, christian, religion

Convert or we will kill you, Hindu lynch mobs tell fleeing Christians

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:03:34 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Next they will come after you!

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

As a fresh wave of sectarian violence is unleashed across the Indian state of Orissa, Gethin Chamberlain talks to homeless survivors in Kandhamal district who were forced to abandon their religion

Kumari Naik with her son Santosh amid the ashes of their home. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain

Hundreds of Christians in the Indian state of Orissa have been forced to renounce their religion and become Hindus after lynch mobs issued them with a stark ultimatum: convert or die.

The wave of forced conversions marks a dramatic escalation in a two-month orgy of sectarian violence which has left at least 59 people dead, 50,000 homeless and thousands of houses and churches burnt to the ground. As neighbour has turned on neighbour, thousands more Christians have sought sanctuary in refugee camps, unable to return to the wreckage of their homes unless they, too, agree to abandon their faith.

Tags: religion, christianity, hinduism, india

Films of Hope

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:07:53 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Eboo Patel, interview at the source, highly recommend. Also check the videos at http://ifyc.org

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Faith or Fear?

Eboo Patel with Interfaith Youth Core fights religious stereotypes countering the film 'Obession' with his own videos.

Tags: interfaith, religion, pluralism, muslims

Newspapers get complaints for DVD ad on Muslims

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:07:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Muslims can't be the only one complaining to make this the "heaviest reaction"

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

NEW YORK – Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor's right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

"This is definitely the most feedback that I've gotten to an ad," said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. "It's among the heaviest reaction I've gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative."

Tags: propaganda, advertising, free speech, religion

Character Counts, Religious or Not

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:06:34 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: John Shelby Spong

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will debate this week.
What would you ask them about their religious beliefs and why?

I would support no candidate for national office who sought to impose a narrow religious viewpoint on our multifaceted nation or one who would appoint religiously ideological candidates to the Supreme Court. So it would not occur to me to question them about their religion unless they had given some indication that they were in fact religious imperialists. I appreciate our pluralistic society.

I regard Sarah Palin's support of "Creation Science" being taught in public school to be primarily a manifestation of ignorance, not religion, and I do not want ignorance in any national office. I also regard homophobia not as a religious issue, but as an issue in which prejudice overcomes knowledge.

Tags: religion, politics, united states

American Public Education, Material Science and Religious beliefs

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:03:01 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Just wrote this blog post, recommend you read at the source to get the point.

On Pg 103 of Embracing Mind, B. Allan Wallace writes (and I find this interesting on the topic of public education in America).

Clip Source: webwanderings.wordpress.com

Due to this biased attitude, Americans remain largely ignorant of all but their own personal spiritual beliefs–and this in an age when religion and politics have become thoroughly mixed on the international stage. There seems to be a misplaced fear that if, say, a religious believer were brought into a classroom to explain why he believed in his creed and what his religion meant to him personally, this would appear to be promoting religion. The U.S.Constitution originally forbade the promotion of religion in order to avoid the creation of an official state religion such as the Church of England. Its intent was not to stifle spirituality. Forcing all the children in a classroom to recite or listen to the Lord’s Prayer each day would indeed be the promotion of an official religion, but allowing children to describe their own spiritual beliefs, or lack of belief, and to be exposed to other beliefs does not promote any particular religion.

Tags: religion, science, education, america

'There Is Absolutely No Reason for Islamophobia'

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:29:27 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Calls like that are welcome news to Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen, which keeps track of the religiosity of Turkish Muslims. It's a demand, Ulusoy says, "that we've been making for decades because, for Muslims, faith is a very important part of their identity." In his opinion, if the school system doesn't pay any attention to this fact, it only hurts the chances of successfully integrating Muslims into German culture.

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Germany's Muslims are pious and yet more tolerant than most assume, a new study has found. Its authors are urging authorities to draw the country's Muslim children away from Koran schools by offering public religious instruction.

Dr. Martin Rieger of the Bertelman Stiftung thinks Muslim children should have their own religion classes. Rieger was the director of the study "Muslim Religiosity in Germany," which was provided to SPIEGEL ONLINE ahead of its scheduled publication on Friday.

The study reveals that 90 percent of Muslims define themselves as religous. In contrast a separate survey by the nonprofit German think tank found that only 70 percent of the entire population admitted to being religous. "We need to get the younger Muslims out of the Koran schools," Rieger urges, "and offer them professionally taught classes on Islam."

Tags: germany, islam, muslims, education

Borat is coming back, watch out!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:40:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Remember Clipmarkistan? Haha

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Catholics complain they are film's main target

America's corrosive culture wars, in which evangelical Christians are never far from the front line, are about to be reignited by a Borat-style take on organised religion.

A new 'documentary' by the man behind Borat - and made using the same hit-and-run techniques - will open in New York at the beginning of next month. Provocatively titled Religulous (think 'religious' and 'ridiculous'), it will mock the beliefs of the world's major religions, recruiting unwitting assistance from the ranks of the faithful.

The project has already inspired protests at its premiere at the Toronto film festival earlier this month, and US satirist Bill Maher and director Larry Charles have been accused of misleading participants. Maher has conceded that several sleights of hand were necessary to persuade people to perform

Tags: religion, entertainment

One of the few signs of "freedom of speech" coming out of Arab world

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:13:15 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Arabs denounce cleric's fatwa on 'immoral' TV

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Even conservative clerics who agree that Arab satellite networks show too many "indecent" programs said al-Lihedan had gone too far.

"Our religion prevents Muslims from watching films that provide seduction, obscenity and vulgarity," said Sheik Hazim Awad, an Iraqi cleric, who, like al-Lihedan, is Sunni Muslim.

But "the real Muslim can just cancel (subscriptions to) these channels," he said.

Tags: free speech, entertainment, religion, arab

Iran: Mobile phones have become more destructive than drugs

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:14:57 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Hahaha

Clip Source: www.rferl.org

What's worse than the creeping menace of illegal drugs in Iran?

Mobile phones, according to conservative cleric Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi. Persian-language alborznews.net quoted Shirazi as saying on September 15 that mobile phones have become "more destructive" than drugs and are quite simply a tool for promoting moral "corruption." Cell phones are extremely popular in Iran, particularly among young people who use them to pass along jokes, thoughts, and discuss issues that Iranian authorities regard as taboo.

During a recent "morality crackdown," lots of bystanders used their phones to document harsh police treatment and public confrontations in which women were being targeted for their hairstyle or choice of clothing (some of which is here on youtube.)

Tags: iran, religion, culture

True Muslims DO NOT Support Terrorism

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:43:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: From onlinedesign's clips

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

How a Pakistani protest song is redefining Islam as anti-terrorist

More than 60 million people have responded to an Islamic protest song. By Photini Philippidou

In a country where religion is capable of suspending war – Pakistan's security forces declared a ceasefire with the Taliban for the holy month of Ramadan – it might also have the power to stop it. That's what the stars behind the song "Ye Hum Naheen" were thinking in their quest to redefine Islam as anti-terrorist.

The song triggered a world-record-breaking petition in which 62.8 million Pakistanis united behind its title-message – Urdu for "This is Not Us". Over the course of five weeks this July and August they have by email, SMS, signature or thumbprint sent an impassioned missive declaring that true Muslims do not support terrorism.

Tags: islam, moderates, muslims, pakistan

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

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