The Gulabi Gang - Pink Indians

The Gulabi Gang are pink sari wearing women in India who brandish big sticks and go after corrupt public officials and boorish men. According to this BBC news article, they come from India's northern Uttar Pradesh state's Banda area. The leader is Sampat Pal Devi, who was married at 12, and is now fighting the system with like minded women. She describes her goals like this: "We aim to empower women, promote child education with an emphasis on girls, and stop corruption and domestic violence."  Here's a very good story about Sampat and the Gulag Gang and here is another.  Hind Makki tweeted a picture of the Gulabi Gang which prompted me to look them up. 

Is The Veil A Symbol Of Oppression? Great Infographic

Hind Makki tweeted this great infographic about the veil. It outlines the veil's history and even includes photographs of veil wearing women in public office. I would love to print this out as poster.

The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity

I am covering the Sunni Shia split in my religion class and saw this nice map from The Pew Center on Religion and Public Life. Here's more on Sunni Shia split from another Pew Center survey and a short news clip about the difference.

10 Cool Tech Tips from David Pogue

Here are some very useful and cool tips from New York Times tech columnist, David Pogue.  Did you know for example, that in a text on any phone, all you need to do is press the space bar twice and a period will appear?  Instead of using the scroll bar to move up on any page, just hit the space bar to scroll down a page and the shift key to scroll up. Watch the 5 minute clip for 8 other cool time saving tips.

Face to Faith: World Malaria Day Video Conference

As part of World Malaria Day, my religion students learned about the tragedy of malaria in a Face to Faith video conference with malaria expert, Saleema Abdul Ghafur.  She is the director of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, an alliance of 49 African presidents and prime ministers.  She works to raise money to defeat malaria.

Today, she described a double tragedy, one to the victims of malaria and one to the survivors.  She said that women and children suffer most—over 650,000 die each year—and that their deaths lead to widespread poverty.  She noted that Africa loses almost $12 billion dollars each year because of lost productivity from malaria deaths. Asked what motivated her work to eradicate malaria, Ms. Ghafur said that service is a big part of the Muslim faith.

The conference included students from three other schools, one in England, another in Mexico, and one in Oklahoma.  Saleema Abdul Ghafur skyped in from New York, our facilitator was in London, and the technical engineer who made sure we each had audio and video working, was in India. Quite a feat of technology.  Still, things can go wrong. For example, we got confused by the different time zones and had to leave the conference early.

Nonetheless, my students were able to hear Ms. Ghafur speak and even ask her a few questions.  Most importantly, they learned about a huge health problem in another part of the world, and how that problem creates widespread poverty and lowers productivity in many African countries.  And in Ms. Ghafur, they saw a great role model, someone who is making a difference and believes in service.

Buddhist Sand Mandala Gets Attention on Reddit

Tibetan Buddhists can spend 7 to 10 days making an intricate sand mandala like the one above. The mandalas usually represent an imaginary palace that the monks think about during meditation. Once the monks complete the mandala, they destroy it, demonstrating that nothing is permanent and that attachments only lead to suffering. The Huffington Post has a short story explaining how this picture of the mandala went viral after an original posting on Reddit.  They also have a nice slide show of mandalas around the world. You can learn more about how they make them at this BBC Religion site.

Terrorism and the other Religions

In his blog, Informed Consent, historian Juan Cole, argues that Muslims are no more violent than Christian, Jews, or Buddhists. "It takes a peculiar sort of blindness to see Christians of European heritage as “nice” and Muslims and inherently violent, given the twentieth century death toll I mentioned above," he notes.

Elie Wiesel Dedicates the Holocaust Museum

 Twenty years ago, in April, 1993,  Elie Wiesel dedicated the Holocaust Museum with this touching speech.

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World

Here is the trailer for the Unity Productions Foundation documentary on Islamic art and architecture, called Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World. The film's website has some good resources including a linked list of museum resources for Islamic art.  The documentary was first broadcast by PBS last year and is now available on DVD.

How to Become a Connected Educator

Three well-known educators, Angela Maiers, Stephen Anderson, and Tom Whitby explain the importance of using Twitter to become a connected educator and discover new ideas in education, even before school systems begin to consider them. Thanks to Stacey Roshan for twitting the link.

Islamic Literature: The Adventures of Hamza

Check out the Adventures of Hamza at the Freer Sackler Museum site. The Hamzanama is a collection of stories about Hamza, the uncle of the prophet Muhammad, who travels the world with other heroes spreading the teachings of Islam. The museum introduces you to the stories with an exhibit for which you'll need flash player. I think that I'll include this with a web quest on Islamic art.

One American's Pilgrimage To Mecca

Michael Wolfe, an American writer and Muslim convert, took a camera crew on his Hajj to Mecca for a Nightline Special report some years ago.  The video is a great review of the importance of the Hajj and the mechanics of making the pilgrimage with millions of other pilgrims.  It's a great clip to show  in both World History and in my World Religions class. Here is a link to Part 2. 

Bruins Sabres National Anthem

Here's the Bruins-Sabres National Anthem, from tonight's game, with the Boston Fire Department Honor Guard. Found it, you guessed it, on Twitter.

Women Challenge Exclusivity of Western Wall

American and Israeli Jewish women are challenging the law against their worship at the Western Wall. Orthodox Jews argue that only Jewish men, wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) can pray at the wall. As more women push the issue and as American Jewish women become more vocal, Israeli President Netanyahu appointed someone to look into a plan to allow non-Orthodox Jews to pray at the Wall.

Both CNN and the Washington Post have run stories about the issue.  And here are two other editorials from the Washington Post's  "On Faith" section here  and here.  The Western Wall is a remnant of the Second Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

Women and Islam: Resources from GMU

George Mason University's Center for History and News Media has some great resources on the role of women in Islam.

Two lessons include suras (chapters) from the Qur’an that deal with women. One "details a variety of legal rights and restrictions for Muslims in the realm of marriage, inheritance, and other male-female relationships" and  the other "is known for its many verses extolling modesty in women, as well as detailing aspects of ideal marriage."

You can also download the suras as a pdf along with questions about the documents.

Leslie Hazleton: On Reading the Koran

Leslie Hazleton, author of the new book, First Muslim, finds much to like about the Koran in this ten minute Ted Talk in 2010. She notes that it has an environmental awareness, that unlike the Bible, it includes women talking of believing women and believing men, and that many of its verses show remarkable flexibility. Reading the Koran, however, is no easy task and requires patience because it is not the kind of book that most people could curl up with and read. The English writer, John Carlye, called it toilsome.

World Religions Graphic

Great graphic of the world's religions. Some of the numbers are off because it was made in 2003 but it's still a great visual. I made it into a poster for my classroom last year. If you go to the site, you can download the image into a pdf and you can enlarge the image on your computer.

How Latinos are Changing American Christianity

Writing for the Washington Post's "On Faith" section, Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, discusses some of the big changes the Latinos are making to Christianity. Here are some statistics from his article that demonstrate that change.

• "There are 40,800 churches in the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, 3,200 Latino Southern Baptist churches and 2,500 Latino Assemblies of God."
• "The Southern Baptist Convention alone expects to double the number of Hispanic Southern Baptist churches by 2030."
• "They are also more socially conservative, with 70 percent of Latino evangelicals “opposed to abortion in all or most cases” as opposed to 41 percent of the general U.S. population."

Dr. Land references a Time Magazine cover story about this change called:  "The Latino Reformation,” (Time ,April 15, 2013). 

What is fascinating about this change is that it is happening much as the writer, Philip Jenkins, suggested it might in his book,  The Next Christianity, in which he argues that the center of Christianity will move to the global south and that only 1/5 of the the three billion Christians will be non-Hispanic whites by 2050. 

The Dalai Llama and Happiness

Saw this short video on "On Being's blog" featuring the Dalai Llama words about happiness and eventually the music of Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth."

Snake Handling & Pentecostal Christianity

I'm discussing Pentecostal Christianity tomorrow and might show this CNN clip about snake handling churches in Appalachia.

The First Muslim--A New Biography

 

Who is qualified to write the most unbiased biography of a religious figure like Jesus, Siddhartha Gautama, or Muhammad? Is a biography of Jesus by a Christian more reliable than one by a non-Christian?

A psychologist and reporter interested in politics and religion, Leslie Hazleton, just released a biography of Muhammad, called “The First Muslim.”  Even before the book was released,  many Muslims were suspicious and the book, according to the New York Times, “is …something to be defended against, in case it should turn out to be yet another insult, another cruel parody of a story such an author has no business telling.”

Are these criticisms fair?  As a history teacher, I teach my students that every document has a point of view or purpose. Understanding that point of view helps us to understand the reliability of the document. So, a Christian writing about Jesus might be reticent to write about his flaws and a non-Christian may not fully understand Christian theology in the way that a Christian might. Do either of these points of view disqualify the biography?

The review and even some of Hazelton’s articles about the book provide good material for those of us teaching religion.

1. Here is an article  by Leslie Hazleton for the Huffingon Post summarizing seven things that may surprise you about Islam.
2. Here is a history of Sharia Law and a slide show of that history.
3. And here is the New York Times Review of the book, along with a review from NPR.

North Carolina Threatens Separation of Church and State

"Imagine driving from Northern Virginia to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and as you hit the state line, you see a large highway sign that reads: 'Welcome To North Carolina: A Christian State,' complete with an iconic image of Jesus on a cross,"  writes Rev. Barry Lynn  in the On Faith section of the Washington Post.   Rev. Lynn is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C.

Rev. Lynn asks us to imagine this situation because two North Carolina representatives just introduced a resolution to declare Christianity the official state religion. Does it violate the First Amendment guarantee that government cannot prefer one religion over the other?  Here's another article from CNN.

Our Blogs Make the Washington Post

Ken Halla's history blogs and this World Religions blog made the Washington Post this week. Here's the story.

Broadening the Ban on Veils in France

In 2004, France banned headscarves "and other “ostentatious” religious gear" in public schools. In 2011, France banned full-face veils in public spaces. Now, France is contemplating a law that could restrict headscarves from private companies.

Why the alarm?  A French court recently reversed a lower court decision that banned a woman from coming to work with a head scarf.  Now French President,  Francois Hollande wants a new law to extend restrictions on what Muslim women wear in the private sector.  Both the New York Times and the Huffington Post have stories about these attempts to further restrict headscarves and veils.

Are these really attempts to ensure secularism, as many French argue?  Or, are they attempts to further restrict a particular religion they fear?

Hijab, Niqab or Nothing

Are the Muslim Hijab or Niqab examples of patriarchy? Although I haven't yet taught Islam, that topic came up in class a couple of weeks ago so I showed this excellent clip that history and religion teacher David Korfhage tweeted. In it, three Muslim women explain why they choose to or choose not to wear a head covering and demonstrate that choosing to wear the covering does not necessarily imply patriarchy. The clip does lead to good discussion.

Three Months--Top Hits

Three months--just over 4,200 hits--here are the four top hits since we started in January.

• Face to Faith Video Conference
• How to Choose a New Pope
• Using Twitter to Find and Disseminate Information
• Timeline of World Religions