The Niqab Debate in Britain

The debate over the veil has become a big topic in Britain. First, a judge ordered a Muslim woman testifying in court to remove her head covering or niqab while testifying. Now, Home Office minister Jeremy Browne calls for debate on whether young Muslim girls, under 18, should be allowed to wear a full head covering in public places.

Do you agree with the minister?  Read the story in the Guardian here and this one from the New York Times.

The Guardian has another interesting story in which the author argues that "the veil is a perfectly proper subject for debate in a liberal democracy – so long as Muslim women are not excluded."

It might be interesting for religion students to compare how different countries deal with this issue.

Veil or No Veil: Giving Evidence in Court

Should a Muslim woman who wears a full head covering (Niqab) remove it when giving evidence in court?  That's what a judge in a London court ruled.  He did say that the woman could be shielded by a screen and would only be seen by the jury and lawyers.

According to a story in the BBC, the judge said: "The ability of the jury to see the defendant for the purposes of evaluating her evidence is crucial."   The judge indicated that he was "uneasy" with his ruling and urged a national debate.

This might be an interesting case to discuss in a World Religions class.

Nepal or India: Where was the Buddha Born?

Where was the Buddha born? Nepal or India? Know your audience when you answer. Some Indians will be furious if you say Nepal and the Nepalese will be equally angry if you say India.

Most scholars agree that the Buddha was born around 623 BCE in Lumbini on the plains of southern Nepal. But the misconception persists, according to a story in the Huffington Post. For example, CNN analyst, Fareed Zakaria, sparked a big protest when he wrote in a recent book that the Buddha was born in India. 

To quell the debate and put the record straight, next month the Nepal government will, according to the Post, "circulate a new 100-rupee note with the imprint, “Lumbini: The Birthplace of Lord Buddha."

The Huffington Post story also has good short slide show of Buddhist sacred places.

The Five Most Contested Sites in Jerusalem

What are the five most contested sites in Jerusalem?  How many of them do your religion students know?  Here's what CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor, Daniel Burke, argues are the most contested:

1. The Temple Mount: It's here, inside the Dome of the Rock, that Abraham almost sacrificed his son, Issac, before an angel intervened.
2. Haram al-Sharif: Muslims call the Temple Mount "Haram al-Sharif' or Noble Sanctuary. After completion of the Dome of the Rock, Muslims, soon after the death of the prophet, built the Al-Aqsa Mosque,which became a center of learning and attracted teachers from all over the world.
3. The Western Wall: Located at the western foot of the Temple Mount,  is the last link to the temple that Solomon built.
4. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Pictured below, the Church is the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. It is an important pilgrimage center for Christians all around the world.
5. The Garden Tomb: Believed by some to be the site for the resurrection of Jesus.

Thich Nhat Hanh Live Calligraphy Performance

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh began auctioning his calligraphic work last week in a silent auction called "Calligraphic Meditation: The Mindful Art of Thich Nhat Hanh."  The proceeds from the sales will go back to Hahn's various monasteries. On the opening night, September 6th, Hahn gave a live performance where, according to this review in the Huffington Post, "he crafted five additional pieces of art to be auctioned off."

Hahn says that writing calligraphy is like meditation. “In my calligraphy, there is ink, tea, breathing, mindfulness and concentration. I write words or sentences that can remind people to be mindful, to wake up.,"

Thich Nhat Hanh, maybe the second most well-known Buddhist after the Dali Lama, was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1949. During the Viet Nam War he worked to bring about a reconciliation between the north and the south. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He now lives in southern France where he founded Plum Village for monks and nuns.

Art and Activism in India since 1989: The Sahmat Collective

An exhibit of Indian art representing the work of the The Sahmat Collective opened this week at the Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill.  It's a fascinating exhibit that demonstrates that art can have a clear political purpose. That's because the Sahmat Collective protests political violence, religious fundamentalism and anti-democratic forces.

The collective started in 1989 after the murder of a progressive political critic and artist, Safdar Hashmi. His death made him a symbol for the collective and according to this review,"the driving force behind its leadership in the worldwide activist art arena."

The Collective exhibit moved from Chicago to North Carolina.  The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago  has a good web page dedicated to the exhibit with a number of short clips about the Collective. Here's a clip abort Sahmat's beginning.

Photographer Transforms Hindu Deities into Contemporary Images

Manjari Sharma's photographs of ancient mystical and spiritual Hindu figures are stunning. You can see some of them here at the Huffington Post.  Some are very large and you will get a sense of this magnitude when you scroll through the images at the Post.  You can view them as a slideshow here, if you click on the show's title, Darshan, on the left sidebar.

Sharma, born in India, now works and lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she is exhibiting her photographs  at Champ Art beginning toady.

The Huffington Post characterizes Sharma's art like this: "the painstaking progress, from casting to costume design to the final digital touches, bridges the space between art and spirituality, the present and the imagined."
.

What is Religion?

Andrew Brown, editor of the Guardian's Cif belief blog, wrote a series about "what is religion?"  In part 1, he discusses civil religion and the state. In Part 2, he discusses why football doesn't measure up and in part 3, he explores the role of ritual in religion.

All three parts are interesting and might work for a World Religions class and provide a basis for some discussion.

Happy Birthday Lord Ganesh!

Happy birthday, Ganesh, Hindu patron of the arts and sciences and deity of intellect and wisdom. Ganesh is one of the most popular Hindu gods and his birthday begins a 10-day festival.  According to this short overview of the celebration from the Huffington Post, the festival is celebrated all over India with special prayers,  devotional chants, and singing.

The holiday is based on the Hindu calendar and, says the Post, usually falls between August 20 and September 15th.The festival for Ganesh begins today, September 9th.  The Huffington Post has a nice slideshow of preparations for the festival and includes some great photographs of Ganesh.

Here are some links to more information about Ganesh.

•  Here is a video clip of the Ganesh Mantra
• Here's another slideshow about the birthday celebration from the BBC
• The Sanatayan Society has some great information about Ganesh and other Hindu gods
• Indian Heritage also has information about Ganesh and other Hindu gods

The Importance of Jewish Holidays by Generation

Here is a great graphic from the Public Religion Research Institute. It shows the changing values of Jews, by generation, on the importance of specific holidays. My thanks to Emma Le Neve Foster for tweeting the link.

Auschwitz Commandant's Daughter Hiding in Northern Virginia

Here is Rudolf Höss, Kommandant of Auschwitz. His daughter, Brigitte Höss, 80 years old, lives in northern Virginia and has never talked about her father's role in the Holocaust.

In a remarkable story in the Washington Post Magazine section,  we learn that "it was Rudolf Höss who designed and built Auschwitz from an old army barracks in Poland to a killing machine capable of murdering 2,000 people an hour."

Now, diagnosed with cancer, Brigitte Höss, begins to talk about the story she has kept secret even from her grand children and closest friends.

Reps Bachman & King Support Overthrow of Morsi, Praise el-Sissi

Here is Michelle Bachman, Steve King and Louie Gohmert, in Egypt supporting the overthrow of Morsi as a radical Muslim. “Together, our country, the United States and Egypt have dealt with the same enemy. It’s a common enemy," notes Bachman.”

Max Fisher of the Washington Post put the video on his blog and notes that "Bachmann’s remarks appeared deeply consistent with Egyptian state propaganda that has portrayed the Muslim Brotherhood as a secret terrorist organization and an internal enemy."

Bar Mitzvahs Get New Look to Build Faith

American Jews, like Christians, struggle with membership and youth engagement. In an attempt to reverse this trend, members of the liberal branch of Judaism called Reform, want to change the nature of the Bar or Bat Mitzvah, which has sometimes become ostentatious. (see blog post on Sam Horowitz,  and another called Bar Mitzvah Boy Goes Viral)

According to this story in the New York Times, leaders of the Reform branch believe that Bar Mitzvahs do not produce a good understanding of the Jewish faith or its spirituality.

The new initiative allows individual congregations to come up with their own program and share it with other congregations. The New York Times says that many congregations are moving in a similar direction. They want to involve the parents so the kids do not leave the synagogue after the Bar Mitzvah and, says the Times, many "want the children to spend less time learning Hebrew and memorizing prayers, and more time working as a group on sustained “social action” projects."

Religion students might read this story and compare the efforts of Jewish Reform leaders to reverse falling membership with efforts of Christian leaders to reverse similar trends in its membership.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New year festival, begins on September 4th and lasts two days. And ten days after that, Yom Kippur begins. Those ten days are called the High Holy days. The first video offers an easy to watch overview of the holiday and the second comes from students of Aish Jerusalem.

Read more about Rosh Hashanah here at the BBC and here here at Chabad. Sources for Yom Kippur also include the BBC and Chabad.

The 4 Tallest Buddhas

Statutes of Buddhas are among the tallest in the world. The Wall Street Journal recently published a slideshow of the five tallest statutes in the U.S. and  the five tallest in the world.  Four of the five tallest in the world are Buddhas. Two are in China, one is in Myanmar, and one is in Japan. The one above is the tallest at 420 feet. It's called the Spring Temple Buddha and is in China.

This is the Laykyun Setkyar Buddha in Myanmar. It is the second largest statute in the world at 381 feet.  

And here is a Japanese Buddha,Ushiku Daibutsu in Ibaraki,in Japan. It's the third largest statute int he world at 360ft.  

The fourth largest statute in the world is this Buddha called The Guanying. It's in the South Sea of Sanya, in China, and stands 354 feet tall.