Tis the season for ... religious links
Nice TED talk on how basic religious beliefs affect business (and other) practices.
A website on how gays and lesbians can be good Christians.
Poll finds that American liberals are far more likely to believe they are in touch with the dead, in ghosts, in fortune tellers, reincarnation, yoga, spiritual energy and astrology than American conservatives. They are equally likely to believe in the evil eye, however.
About the Christian origins of AA and the experience of going to AA in the US in the noughties.
Putting gun ownership in a Jewish religious context.
The Murphy Report on priestly child abuse which found that Church hierarchs spent four decades hiding evidence to protect the reputation of the Church appears to be ending political deference to the Catholic Church in Ireland. Saying it even more pithily.
Melbourne police reportedly angry over Church investigator tipping off a priest subject to investigation. Toowoomba magistrate scathing about Catholic Education Office handling of child abuse allegations.
About Bishop Ussher and the difficulties of biblical creationism.
How the Nazis tried to that the Christianity out of Christmas.
About the Islamic push for global blasphemy laws.
About the difficulties in translation and commentary of the Qur’an.
The remnant of Yemen’s Jews (one of the oldest Diaspora communities) is being quietly evacuated.
About anti-Semitism in the Muslim Middle East:
The scale and extremism of the literature and commentary available in Arab or Muslim newspapers, journals, magazines, caricatures, on Islamist websites, on the Middle Eastern radio and TV news, in documentaries, films, and educational materials, is comparable only to that of Nazi Germany at its worst.
An iman previously known for preaching hatred and violence has publicly forsworn violence in peaceful countries such as Germany. An abridged version of the letter. About jihadis walking away from the cause.
Arguing social conservatives should see Muslims as allies:
The overwhelming majority of Muslims, by contrast, are traditional. We need to work with them to fight against liberal cultural imperialism in their countries. I wouldn't wish the humiliation of gay marriage on my worst enemy.
About the difference between orthodoxy and traditionalism.
The Swiss vote to ban new minarets as a sign of rising anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe and the issue of reciprocity:
A few examples: When Our Lady of the Rosary, Qatar's first-ever church, opened last year, it did so minus cross, bell, dome, steeple, or signboard. Rosary's priest, Father Tom Veneracion, explained their absence: "The idea is to be discreet because we don't want to inflame any sensitivities." And when the Christians of a town in upper Egypt, Nazlet al-Badraman, finally after four years of "laborious negotiation, pleading and grappling with the authorities", won permission in October to restore a tottering tower at the Mar-Girgis Church, a mob of about 200 Muslims attacked them, throwing stones and shouting Islamic and sectarian slogans. The situation for Copts is so bad, they have reverted to building secret churches.
On the other hand. One Swiss engages in his own protest over the ban.
A website on how gays and lesbians can be good Christians.
Poll finds that American liberals are far more likely to believe they are in touch with the dead, in ghosts, in fortune tellers, reincarnation, yoga, spiritual energy and astrology than American conservatives. They are equally likely to believe in the evil eye, however.
About the Christian origins of AA and the experience of going to AA in the US in the noughties.
Putting gun ownership in a Jewish religious context.
The Murphy Report on priestly child abuse which found that Church hierarchs spent four decades hiding evidence to protect the reputation of the Church appears to be ending political deference to the Catholic Church in Ireland. Saying it even more pithily.
Melbourne police reportedly angry over Church investigator tipping off a priest subject to investigation. Toowoomba magistrate scathing about Catholic Education Office handling of child abuse allegations.
About Bishop Ussher and the difficulties of biblical creationism.
How the Nazis tried to that the Christianity out of Christmas.
About the Islamic push for global blasphemy laws.
About the difficulties in translation and commentary of the Qur’an.
The remnant of Yemen’s Jews (one of the oldest Diaspora communities) is being quietly evacuated.
About anti-Semitism in the Muslim Middle East:
The scale and extremism of the literature and commentary available in Arab or Muslim newspapers, journals, magazines, caricatures, on Islamist websites, on the Middle Eastern radio and TV news, in documentaries, films, and educational materials, is comparable only to that of Nazi Germany at its worst.
An iman previously known for preaching hatred and violence has publicly forsworn violence in peaceful countries such as Germany. An abridged version of the letter. About jihadis walking away from the cause.
Arguing social conservatives should see Muslims as allies:
The overwhelming majority of Muslims, by contrast, are traditional. We need to work with them to fight against liberal cultural imperialism in their countries. I wouldn't wish the humiliation of gay marriage on my worst enemy.
About the difference between orthodoxy and traditionalism.
The Swiss vote to ban new minarets as a sign of rising anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe and the issue of reciprocity:
A few examples: When Our Lady of the Rosary, Qatar's first-ever church, opened last year, it did so minus cross, bell, dome, steeple, or signboard. Rosary's priest, Father Tom Veneracion, explained their absence: "The idea is to be discreet because we don't want to inflame any sensitivities." And when the Christians of a town in upper Egypt, Nazlet al-Badraman, finally after four years of "laborious negotiation, pleading and grappling with the authorities", won permission in October to restore a tottering tower at the Mar-Girgis Church, a mob of about 200 Muslims attacked them, throwing stones and shouting Islamic and sectarian slogans. The situation for Copts is so bad, they have reverted to building secret churches.
On the other hand. One Swiss engages in his own protest over the ban.