Most Popular Posts

Thanks for all the page views!  We just exceeded 15,000 after just seven months.

• By far, the most popular post was the timeline of religions above.
• The seond most popular post was about the huge Hindu holiday, Kumbh Mela, that happens every twelve years and attracts over 100,000,000 Hindus.
• The third most popular post was about the Zoraostrian community in India called Parsis. A famous Indian photographer, Sooni Taraporevala developed a photographic exhibit of the community.

Zealot Author Goes to Reddit to Answer Questions

Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, went on Reddit today and answered questions for almost two hours about his book, Christianity, and Islam. What does he think about reading holy texts as historical texts?  Were you surprised by Lauren Green's questions on Fox? What is the fundamental difference between Abrahamic religions that prevents peaceful interaction?  Is there any hard evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really existed?  How do Muslims view Jesus?

I copied some of the questions and answers into a Google document that you can find here.  I think some of Aslan's responses are worth sharing with my religions class.

Sharia Law: A Guide to What it is & Why States Want to Ban It

Studying Islam? Here's a great primer on Sharia Law, what it is and what is not. The Huffington Post put together this overview because a number of states recently prohibited judges from considering "foreign laws" when making decisions.  The so-called foreign laws really refer to Sharia law.  The Huffington Post story also includes a good slide show showing a historical timeline of Sharia Law.

Zealot Author to Fox News: I am an expert who Happens to be a Muslim

Fox news anchor, Lauren Green, grilled Reza Aslan, author of   "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazaretth," because  she could not believe that a Muslim was qualified to write about Jesus. Although Aslan reminded her that he has taught and studied religion for two decades, has four degrees including one in the New Testament, and is fluent in classical Greek, she continued to press him.

Earlier this year, Leslie Hazleton, an English journalist, wrote a biography of Muhammad called, First Muslim.  Some critics questioned her ability to write an objective biography, but none seemed as obtuse as the Fox News anchor who grilled Aslan.  Dan Murphy, writing for the Christan Science Monitor, takes up this question in this excellent article and Susan Brooks Thistlethwait, writing for the Washington Post, deals with the question in an equally brilliant manner. I highly recommend both articles.

If we follow Lauren Green's line of reasoning, only adherents of a religion are qualified to write about them.  A westerner cannot write about Hinduism or  Buddhism with objectivity, regardless of the degree of their scholarship.

Mehdi Hasan: Islam Is A Peaceful Religion

Journalist Mehdi Hasan defends Islam as a peaceful religion in this awesome debate at Oxford Union. It's only 13 minutes and absolutely worth showing to a religion class when studying Islam. UpWorthy, where I found the video, describes the debate as a "totally-mesmerizing-insanely-eloquent-defense." And it is exactly that!

Reading the Bhagavad Gita Today

Wikipedia Commons

Here's a great essay about the value of the Bhagavad Gita today, written by Charles Martin who co-authored a new translation of the Hindu classic. The Gita is part of the great Indian classic, the Mahabharata and Martin sees a number of lessons from the story that are still valuable today.

The Gita is a drama that pits Arjuna in battle against his cousins and teachers for control of the kingdom of Bharata in northern India. The moral dilemma that this causes Arjuna is the subject of the book as he debates what he should do with his charioteer, who also happens to be the god, Krishna, in mortal  form.

Arjuna ultimately decides to wage war against his relatives. Martin suggests that "Krishna’s reasons are deeply set in Hindu doctrine and practice: as a member of the warrior class, Arjuna has a duty to wage war, and it would be shameful for him to turn away from his responsibility."

Martin sees a number of lessons that Gita still has to teach us.

• One is that we should always live our lives deliberately. “Better to do one’s duty/ ineptly than another’s well,” Krishna tells Arjuna. 
• One must act without concern for loss or gain
• Don't follow. Instead lead with responsibility and not out of fear

Here is  a link to a lesson I usually do with Hinduism that asks students to think about the moral dilemma Arjuna faces and what he should do.

Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt

A high-ranking leader of the Mormon church in Europe voices his doubts about the truth of some of the church's teachings.  According to this NY Times story, Hans Mattsson was a pillar of the Mormon church in Europe but began to have doubts when fellow believers found  "information from the Internet that contradicted the church’s history and teachings."  For example, he saw credible evidence that Mormon founder, Joseph Smith was a polygamist and discovered that "other scriptures were rife with historical anomalies." Other church officials are also questioning the church. The Times outlines the specific questions or anomalies about which Mattsson and others are talking.

This might be a great article for a religion class.  Students might research whether these issues are  unique to Mormons.

Seeing Buddha

Photographer David Butow tries to capture what the NY Times calls the "interior and the hidden" part of Buddhism. According to the Times Lens section, "he layered reflections, employed camera motion and made metaphoric images that suggested stillness."

The Time Lens section has a slide show of 19 of Butow's images and has links to Butow's web page where you can see the images in a bigger format and read a little more about Butow.

Kick-Ass Women Of The Muslim World

The Huffington Post has a great story about 10 Muslim women who are challenging religious and cultural norms in the Middle East. The series includes a short video clip for most featuring each woman and a short paragraph biography. The series includes the following women:

1. Haifaa al-Mansour:  Saudia Arabian filmmaker, whose film Wadja,challenged norms about men and  women working together.
2. Syria female fighters:  GlobalPost profiles one small female Islamic unit in Aleppo.
3. Raha Moharrak:  She is first Saudi woman to climb Mt. Everest.
4. Dana Bakdounis: Saudi woman who challenged the veil by posting her picture on Facebook without a veil.
5. Riham Said: Egyptian journalist who did not wear her veil on TV when interviewing a male guest. 
6.  Egyptian women: Egyptian women band together to fight sexual harassment.  
7. Amina Tyler:  Tunisian women who challenged sexual norms by posting a topless picture of herself online.
8.  Parkour practitioners: Iranian girls practice movement based on military obstacles
9. Tawakkol Karman: called the "Iron Woman," she was the public face of the Yemen Arab Spring uprising.
10.  Humaira Bachal: She fights for the right for girls to get an education, much like Malala, Yousafazai.

In religion class, students might compare the way women in other religions are breaking gender barriers.

France's Headscarf war: Does it Attack or Protect Religious Freedom?

More rioting, more trouble over Muslim head coverings in Paris. In one incident, police stop and check the identity of a woman in a niqab, a full head covering. In another incident, school authorities tell a Muslim mother she cannot accompany her son on a school trip while wearing her hijab.

Angelique Chrisafis, writing for The Guardian, explains that this is all about separating church and state. "At the heart is the rule that any state worker in the public service must be impartial and neutral, and so cannot show their religious belief with an outward symbol such as a headscarf. Public-sector workers – from teachers to post office or train station staff – are prohibited from wearing the hijab, a visible cross, turban or Jewish kippa."

Does this position protect freedom of religion or does it threaten it.  The question might provide an interesting discussion in religion class.

Twitter and Free Speech vs. Hate Speech in France

Here's a great case for class discussion.

You cannot yell "FIRE" in a public theater, but in 1977, neo-Nazis could march in Skokie, Ill., a predominantly Jewish town. Today, in France, the French prosecutor asked Twitter to turn over the "data necessary for identifying the authors of anti-Semitic tweets that were accompanied by the hashtag #UnBonJuif (#AGoodJew.),"  according to this article in Tech President and this one from NPR.

Did Twitter "cave" to French authorities? Do the authors of the anti-Semitic tweets have a right to freedom of speech?  "The real issue," according to one observer, "is, technically, how can you tell the difference between real racists and fascists, and those simply talking or joking about the racist tweets?"

Here's a clip from NPR about the conflict.

West Africa: Timbuktu to Darfur with Nicholas Kristof and Win-a Trip student

Erin Luhmann, who traveled with NY Times Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, reports on conditions in West Africa including malnutrition in Mali,  club foot in Niger, and the refugee crisis in Darfur. Luhmann won Kirstof's annual "win a trip" competition."  Nothing, she says at the beginning of this report, prepared her for what she saw in West Africa.

You can also read Kristof's column about Darfur here, where he reports that mass atrocities have resumed in Darfur and that "it’s no longer news that the Sudanese government is slaughtering its people."

Infographic: Aids, TB and Malaria in Africa

Interesting and sad demographic about disease in Africa from the newspaper, Al Jazeera. Although a child dies from malaria every 60 seconds, tuberculosis and especially aids, have a huge impact. You can listen to a short documentary about the crisis here.

The impact of malaria on Africa is an important topic that the Tony Blair organization,  Face to Faith, discusses every year on World Malaria Day. The Tony Blair organization works to bring together students from different religions and cultures, and often discusses important topics like the impact of malaria on Africa. This infographic would be a great resource for students before any discussion.

Radical Muslim Feminist calls for Changes in Mosques

Hind Makki, a radical Muslim feminist, looks at mosques around the world who allow and do not allow women to pray together.  She highlights the successes and failures in her Tumbler blog called, Side Entrance.  Her work and blog was also noticed by the Huffington Post, which just did an interesting story about her and her motivations.  The story also includes a slideshow of women prayer areas around the world. You can follow Hind Makki on Twitter at @HindMakki.

Religion students might enjoy this story and it might provide an opportunity for students to compare women and prayer in other religions.

Religious Freedom and the Middle East

Writing for the Washington Post, Andrew Doran, a former State Department employee, writes about the plight of Middle Eastern Christians as revolutions continue to shake the Middle East. He argues that they are caught in the middle between Muslim fundamentalism and modernity.  He notes that Muslim religious toleration has been a hallmark of Islamic history, especially during Islam's golden age in medieval Spain under the Umayyad dynasty. There, Christians and Jews were seen as "people of the book."

What happened to that "medieval moment?"  Doran believes that it disappeared, in part, because of the rise of secularism. "The preeminence of secularism in the West coincided with – and likely contributed to – the rise of fundamentalism in the Middle East. Perhaps most disconcerting for Middle Eastern Christians, generally proponents of liberalism, is how comfortable Western liberal democracies have become with political Islam and even extremism. In consequence, many feel betrayed, especially by America..  

Is Doran right?  Are western democracies too comfortable with political Islam and even fundamentalism? This could be an interesting discussion in class and the article could also serve as a good review of Islam's golden age.