Radical Muslim and Christian groups stoke the embers of Papua’s conflict.
Note the involvement of American Protestant churches in this region — not dissimilar to Saudi-funded Salafi preachers in the West…
Latest Updates: religion RSS
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thabet
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thabet
Wearing hand-made threads and expensive gold artefacts, the Pope lashed out at greed and exploitation.
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thabet
A Christian registrar who was harassed and discriminated against after she refused to carry out same-sex civil partnership ceremonies has won a key legal battle.
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thabet
The Public Record has a post on American soldiers aiming to win converts to Christianity amongst Iraqis.
(Via BNR.)
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thabet
A report by the International Crisis Group says ‘hardline Muslim groups in Indonesia are gaining greater influence over government policy’.
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thabet
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said Jesus would feel the pain on both sides of the divide in the Church of England over women bishops and gay priests.
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thabet
The zebiba used to be the mark of an elderly Muslim man, the fruit of a lifetime’s devotion, but it is increasingly seen on the faces of young Egyptians.
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thabet
State lawmakers Wednesday held up voting on a resolution in recognition of a Muslim group’s upcoming convention after a legislator protested that “the Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God.”
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razib
from the survey below ….
importance of religion in one’s life - very important
national : 59%
muslims : 72%frequency of attendance at religious services - more than once a week
national: 15%
muslims: 17%frequency of prayer - day
national: 58%
muslims: 71%frequency of receiving answers to prayers - at least once a week
national: 19%
muslims: 31%literal interp. of scriptures - word of god, literally true word for word
national - 33%
muslims - 50%interp. religious teachings - there is ONE true way to interpret teachings of my religion
national - 27%
muslims - 33%views of one’s religion as one true faith -my religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life
national - 25%
muslims - 33% -
razib
Belief in God or Universal Spirit - Do not believe in god
evangelical xtian - 0%
mainline xtian - 1%
historically black denom - 0%
catholics - 1%
mormons - 0%
orthodox - 4%
jews - 10%
muslims - 5%
buddhists - 19%
hindus -5%what’s going on here? i was a bit surprised by the fact that 5% of muslims said they didn’t believe in god…but, i believe like judaism and hinduism islam in the united states is a minority religion which has ethno-cultural saliences for people raised in that tradition. therefore, the tendency to continue to identify as muslims in some way despite an open admission of atheism.
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willow
Speaking of Kuwait, women aren’t the only population around whom the net is being tightened: after much argument, Kuwait’s Bohra community has officially been denied the right to open a mosque.
I have a sneaking suspicion that much of the state religious intolerance we see in the ME these days is a smokescreen for the paranoia of authoritarian regimes. Dictators and kings seem to view any organized minority group as a potential source of unrest and a threat to their power. In Egypt, the state pretends it’s shutting out the Baha’i under pressure from fundamentalists (which do exist in Egypt in abundance, a fact the state cleverly manipulates to keep its western allies a) afraid and b) out of Egypt’s business) when really it’s because the Baha’i are a mobile, organized, monied minority. What you don’t here is that the Mubarak regime is also trying to make it illegal to be in a rock band, and routinely arrests rockers–because as we all know, rockers are also an organized, vocal, anti-authoritarian group. Both Baha’i and rock musicians are generally well-tolerated by the public. The same goes for Egypt’s large Bohra community. When I was in Alexandria a few years ago, the (Sunni) officials at the mosque of Nabi Daniel actually closed the building to passerby while the Bohra were conducting a prayer inside. But mark my words, if there’s ever a hint of a rumor that the Bohra are agents for a foreign government or fomenting opposition, there will suddenly be “religious pressure” to drive them underground.
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thabet
Law and religion: A Sikh schoolgirl who was excluded from lessons when she refused to remove a religious bracelet should not have been told to take it off because it is a symbol of faith and not a piece of jewellery, the High Court heard. (Emphasis my own.)
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thabet
Secularism as a political doctrine I see as being very closely connected to the formation of religion itself, as the “other” of a religious order. It is precisely in a secular state - which is supposed to be totally separated from religion - that it is essential for state law to define, again and again, what genuine religion is, and where its boundaries should properly be. In other words, the state is not that separate. Paradoxically, modern politics cannot really be separated from religion as the vulgar version of secularism argues it should be - with religion having its own sphere and politics its own. The state (a political entity/realm) has the function of defining the acceptable public face of “religion”.
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thabet
A US marine in Iraq has been removed from duty following claims that he handed out coins inscribed with biblical verses in Arabic.
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thabet
There’s an article at openDemocracy looking at Azerbaijan’s problems with religion.
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thabet
Reports say Michael Nazir-Ali wants the Church to do more to convert Muslims in Britain.
Just one more reason to disestablish the Church.
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thabet
BNR reviews the Dispatches documentary on the Christian right in Britain. He also provides links to the documentary on the YouTube (see the end of the post).
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thabet
Sunny Hundal says ‘Christian fundamentalism’ has arrived in Britain. I am not so certain, but we shall see.
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razib
when i was a kid i was taught in the masjid that muslims believed in predestination. a quick survey of the literature suggests that this is much stronger a consensus among sunnis. talking to actually muslims suggests that the consensus isn’t really a consensus. thoughts?
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razib
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