Wham! Bam! Islam!

99 superheroes based on the 99 virtues of Allah. That's the idea behind a comic book called The 99. The creator, Kuwaiti psychologist, Naif Al-Mutawa, wanted to provide Muslim kids with meaningful role models. But not everyone liked his comic book. When it was first released in 2006, some conservative Muslim leaders thought that he was rewriting the Quran and it was banned in Saudi Arabia.

In 2010, PBS Independent Lens released a documentary about the comic book. That's the documentary trailer above.  And here's a nice story about the book from CNN.

Below, you can watch a short Ted talk that Naif Al-Mutawa gave in 2010 when the book was released.

The Emerging Church

Studying contemporary Christianity?  Here's a ten minute clip on the Emergent Church Movement which began seven or eight years ago.  According to the clip it began as result of the alarming drop-out rate of church goers in their 20's and 30's.

You can read more about the Emergent Church here at PBS.

Bill Nye on Why He is an Agnostic

Bill Nye, the Science Guy, explains to the Huffington Post why he is an agnostic.

Beschloss on Presidents and Religion

What does religion mean to presidents? That's what presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, tries to discern in this article for the Washington Post's On Faith section.

For some presidents, politics compels religion. Lyndon Johnson, for example, "flaunted his Protestant affiliation (Disciples of Christ) in order to attract voters to the Kennedy-Johnson ticket who were uneasy about JFK’s Catholicism."

Beschloss notes that Ronald Reagan "courted evangelical Christians, but had so little in common with them that he did not bother to go to Sunday church himself."

The Lost Gospels Documentary

Studying Christianity and the Gospels?  Here's a great documentary on the Gospels that did not make it into the New Testament--The so-called Lost Gospels.

In  this engaging 2008 BBC Four documentary, Anglican priest, Pete Owen Jones, travels throughout Egypt and the old Roman Empire concentrating on the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi.

You can find the entire ninety minute documentary at the Gnostic Society Library here.

Leonard Cohen Narrates Tibetan Book of the Dead

Here, Canadian poet and musician, Leonard Cohen, reads part of the Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1994. The Tibetan Book of the Dead,  according to the Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman,“organizes the experiences of the between—(Tibetan, bar-do) usually referring to the state between death and rebirth.”

Open Culture has a great review of  Cohen's 1994 two part documentary that explores Tibetan teachings about death and dying.

Here's a link to the second part of the two part documentary called "The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation."  And here is a History Channel documentary about the Book of the Dead

Evangelical Christianity

According to Pew Research for Religion and Public Life a majority of evangelical leaders in the global south  are optimistic about the prospect of evangelicalism while leaders int he north are not so optimistic.

What is evangelical Christianity?  The chart below from the Pew Research center shows what evangelical leaders in the north and south believe.  The national Association fo Evangelicals also has a good review of the basic beliefs.

Where Religious Hostility is on the Rise

The BBC video above and  the Pew chart below show you which areas of the world have the most government restrictions toward religion and which societies have the most social restrictions. This all comes from a study form the Pew Center for Religion and Public Life.

The study shows and  the video highlights the fact that hostility toward religion is at a six-year high. That hostility happens the most in Egypt and China.

In other countries, society itself is hostile to certain religions. Pakistan, as the chart below shows, is the most hostile.

Which religions are harassed the most? Coptic Christians in the Middle East and Muslims in Burma are among the most harassed.

              

What is Religious Freedom?

Does religious freedom mean that Muslims can segregate men and women at a Muslim public meeting on a university campus?

A British University said yes, Muslims could seat men and women separately.  But they back tracked when the public cried foul, drawing the British prime minister into the debate. No Labor government, he said, would "allow or tolerate segregation in our universities.”

Kenan Malik, in an interesting article for the New York Times, argues that the issue is not about patriarchy but about religious freedom.

"A religious institution should be free to bar women from acting as clergy members or to segregate the sexes in religious services or private meetings. But enforced segregation in a public forum is a different matter and must be opposed."

Kenan believes that religious freedom gives us the right to express our beliefs whatever they are, to assemble to promote them, as long as we don't incite violence or harm anyone.

Is Malik right? Is segregation of the sexes in religious and private meetings an issue of religious freedom? Would Malik agree with the so-called "side entrance" policy of many American mosques (see post below).

Muslim Women Challenge American Mosques

American Muslim mosques often do not accord women with equality to men. In some mosques, Muslim women must enter through the side door, not the main entrance. But, according to this interesting NPR story, some Muslim women are beginning to agitate for change.

Hind Makki, a Chicago Muslim woman, for example, shares photos of  entrances to mosques and women's prayer spaces on an online Tumblr site called Side Entrance.

NPR based some of their story on a study sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America.

Here's the story from NPR.  It runs about four minutes.

Awesome Hindu Temples

If you are studying Hindu art and architecture, Hindu temples are a good place for students to start. The Huffinton Post has a great slide show of  "30 awesome Hindu Temples."  Religion Facts and a site called Indotemple.com both have good background.

Hindu temples reflect both the time period in which they were built and the location.  The Brihadeeswarar Temple above, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the largest Hindu temples in India, if not the largest. It was built in 1010 CE and is often called "The big Temple." 

The Changu Narayan Temple, located in the Bhaktapur district of Nepal is part of the Group of Monuments at Kathmandu Valley. It is the oldest temple in Katmandu and dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. The clip below allows you to take a virtual tour of the temple.

Your Brain on Meditation

New research shows that meditation causes physiological change in the brain. Previous research relied on changes in blood pressure or even a participant questionnaire. This government funded study looked at the effects of meditation on stress and discovered a real biological change.

This is probably old news to most Buddhists who have been practicing meditation for a long time. Two years ago The New York Times reported that M.R.I. brain scans showed "increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory." They also showed "a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress."

For that study, participants learned to how practice mindfulness meditation, which is an ancient Buddhist practice and came to the United States in the 1970's.

Here are links to several other stories about meditation and the brain.

• Life Hacker has an interesting story that also explains meditation.
• Psychology Today has a story called This is Your Brain on Meditation.
• The Huffington Post has story called How You Can Train Your Mind To Do The Impossible. It also includes this short video clip.

Jewish Humor

Did you know that comedy has always played an important part of Jewish culture?

In this great clip  from Religion and Ethics Weekly,  we learn from  comedian Tim Kazurinsky  that it's a defensive armor.  He says that tragedy plus time equals comedy. And Ruth Wise says that it's comedy of fear or tears, all because of being God's anointed and having to suffer so much.

New Year for Trees: Tu B'Shevat

Do you know which Jewish holiday is known as the New Year for Trees?

It's called Tu B’Shevat and occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Shevat.  Tu is the number 15 and Shevat is the 11th month in the Hebrew calendar, which is January/February, according to Judaism 101.

The holiday is more popular today because of it's connection to the environment as the video above from PBS Religion & Ethics shows. In an article for the Jewish Journal called "Growing tradition: Tu b’Shevat," Rabbi Mike Comins traces the origins of the holiday to ancient times when people were farmers.

Religions Quiz: Find Out What You Know

How much do you know about religion?  The Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life has a short 15 question quiz. Your results are shown in interesting graphs, one which compares your answers to the percentage of people of different religious groups who answered each question correctly.

Thanks to my colleague, Rob Kerr, for tweeting the link.

How Should Muslim Women Dress

In 5 of 7 Muslim-majority countries most people prefer that women just cover their hair, not necessarily their face. But in Turkey and Lebanon, 1 in 4 don't think any covering is necessary.

That's what a study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research discovered. The Pew Research Center just published the study which you can read here. Thanks to @jenanmoussa for tweeting the link.

Here's another interesting graph from the Center.  And Max Fisher has an article about it in the Washington Post here.

Rites of Passage: Bar & Bat Mitzvah

Do your students know the difference between a Bar and a Bat Mitzvah? If not, here's a great explanation of the difference between the two from True Tube, a British site that provides lessons and videos for religion classes. This is part of a new series they developed called Rites of Passage.

What do Barbie & Fulla Have in Common?

Islam and the West--A clash of civilizations? Maybe not.

In this engaging short clip above, Shereen El Feki suggests that Islam represents a mesh of civilizations or a "cross cultural hybridization."

She offers examples of this hybridization.  They include Barbie and Fulla. And El Feki points to 4Shabab, or Arab TV, which combines both Western and Muslim ideas.  She shows how Islam's first superheroes, the 99, eventually join forces with Wonder Woman and Superman.
                

Moral Dilemmas in the Ramayana

Studying Hinduism and the concept of dharma?  The South Asia Center has a series of excellent lessons dealing with some of the moral dilemmas in the Ramayana.

In different abbreviated stories, characters must figure out the most righteous behavior or proper dharma in response to the dilemma.  You can copy and print out the five short stories and ask students to discuss how the different characters should respond. They can also complete this chart as they read. Thanks to Mrs Steer (@MsSteerAncient) for the link to the chart and stories, which include the following.

• Dasaratha's Choice 
• Lakshmana's Loyalty 
• Rama Chooses Sides 
• Hanuman Burns Lanka 
• Sita's Ordeal by Fire

Video Tour of Connecticut Mosque

If you cannot take your students on a field trip to see a mosque, this video tour is the next best thing. It's a lighthearted tour of a mosque in Hartford, Connecticut and shows you both the men's and women's prayer areas. My thanks to Hind Makki for tweeting the the link.

Who can use the word "Allah?" Bibles seized in Malaysia

Who has the right to use the word "Allah?" Only Muslims?

Islamic authorities in Malaysia confiscated 300 Bibles because they used the word "Allah" to refer to God.

Malay courts had ruled earlier that it was illegal for non-Muslims to that word. The BBC News says "people of all faiths use the word Allah in Malay to refer to their gods."

60 Second Adventures in Religion

What is religion?  Is it about social control as Karl Marx argues, or ritual as Auguste Compe suggests? Could it be a virus as Richard Dawkins contends?

Find out in each of the four 60 second clips below. They are all engaging and funny. They come from Open Culture and are part of the Open University series called 60 Second Adventures.

I like showing them at the beginning of the year when we study different theories of religion.

 

Last Call to Prayers: China's Female Mosques

Did you know that some female Muslims in China can head mosques and enjoy a great degree of religious tolerance, unlike Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists? They are Hui Muslims  and an ethnic minority in China.

According to this story from Al Jazeera,  they represent about half of the country's 20 million Muslims. And unlike Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists, the Hui enjoy a relative amount of religious tolerance. Al Jazeera says that's probably because of "their friendly historical relations with the ethnic majority Han that is the difference."

Women's Head Coverings in Different Religions

Many cultures, in addition to Muslims and Sikhs, wear head coverings as you can see from this cool graphic which I found here.

Swarthmore Hillel Tests Lmits of Free Speech

“Free Speech” by Brian Turner is licensed under CC BY 2.0

What are the limits of free speech when it comes to Israel?

Last month,  the Swartmore College campus Hillel organization defied a ban on anti Israel speakers at its meetings.That sparked a big controversy that might make for a good discussion. Here is a review of the events with links to various stories.

Hillel International is a Jewish organization on college campuses all over the world. It attempts to "foster an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel."

In 2011, the international organisation banned speakers and organizations who "deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state; delegitimize, demonize or apply double standards to Israel; support boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] efforts against Israel; or foster an atmosphere of incivility."

Early in December, Swartmore College's's Hillel organization voted to defy headquarters limits on who could speak at their meetings. Their decision set off a firestorm..  The New York Times picked up the story as did the Huffington Post.

Eric Fingerhut, President and Chief Executive of Hillel International, wrote an opinion piece for the New Times reaffirming the organization's policy on free speech. He said Hillel will continue to reach out  to others who have questions about Israel. But, he says,   "there are some who are simply not interested in any such thing. We will still welcome them for Shabbat dinner and other events, but we cannot and will not let them guide our programming. And we will not, consistent with our guidelines, welcome anti-Zionist speakers or partner with anti-Zionist organizations."

Is he right? Or is Swartmore right?

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Top Good Muslim News Stories in 2013

What were the top ten favorable news stories about Muslims in 2013? Altmuslim put together a list on their site and below are the stories they ranked. We covered three of them in our blog--Malala, Kamala Khan and Somewhere in America.

1. Malala Yousufzai nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 
2. First Muslim fraternity enters U.S. campus life 
3. Hijab victory against Abercrombie & Fitch 
4. Yusuf Islam inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 
5. Kamala Khan IS Ms. Marvel 
6. First female recitor of the Quran at 50th Annual ISNA Convention 
7. Pope Francis builds bridges with Muslims 
8. First Muslim regent selected for the University of California 
9. Muslims save Bradford synagogue in the UK 
10. Somewhere in America … # Mipsterz

Top Posts for 2013

• Timeline of World Religions
•  Kumbh Mela: A Week at the Largest Religious Gather... 
• The World Religions Tree: Cool Infographic 
• Museums Faulted on Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art 
• In Pictures: India's Parsi