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Blasphemies
In common usage blasphemy means words and actions which constitute an insult to God or other sacred entities. To the modern mind the term may seem obsolete, a leftover from primitive superstition. It is anything but obsolete to many people … Continue reading
Posted in Islam, Religion, Sikhism
8 Comments
Islamic Philosophy and the Future of the Arab Spring
There are few current questions about international developments as important as the ones concerning the future of what, rather optimistically, has been called the Arab Spring. Will this series of popular uprisings indeed lead to a new era of democracy … Continue reading
Posted in Islam, Philosophy, Politics
15 Comments
Do The Three Abrahamic Faiths Worship The Same God?
It has become common now to speak of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as constituting three forms of “Abrahamic faith”. I have not been able to nail down just when this term was first used. (To use another term of current … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Judaism
29 Comments
German Christians and the Middle East
The Protestant Academy in Bad Boll is an influential think-tank located near Stuttgart, in southwest Germany. I worked there for a year in my youth, an experience which greatly influenced my thinking about the role of the church in a … Continue reading
Posted in Islam, Judaism
13 Comments
Veils and Beards
Leila Ahmed, who teaches at the Harvard Divinity School, is the author of a recently published book, A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America. She tells a very interesting story. Ahmed originally comes from a … Continue reading
Posted in Islam, Modernity, United States
6 Comments
Religious Double Citizenship
In its January 25, 2011 issue, The Christian Century, the banner publication of liberal Protestantism, carried an interesting cover story (subscription required) by Amy Frykholm with the title “Double Belonging”. Not only did the cover contain a graphic illustration for … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Christianity, Inter-faith Dialogue, Islam, Judaism
7 Comments
Virginity, Polyamory and the Limits of Pluralism
The German news magazine Der Spiegel, in its issue of January 3, 2011, has two separate stories that become more intriguing if one reads them together. (In a recent post I noted that I have finally discovered my mission in … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Europe, Islam, Secularism, United States
28 Comments
Bloody Borders
In the book which has by now become an important point of reference, The Clash of Civilizations (1996), the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington developed the thesis that after the demise of the Cold War conflicts would be between … Continue reading
Posted in Inter-faith Dialogue, Islam, Religion
5 Comments
Germany and its Muslims
I spent all of last week in Frankfurt at the one-hundreth anniversary of the German Society for Sociology, giving the opening lecture on Monday and participating in a seminar on Friday. A great honor to be sure, but on accepting … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Islam, Secularism
5 Comments
School Trips, Textbooks and Islam
Wellesley is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the Greater Boston area, exhibiting a mixture of upper-class lifestyles and progressive politics typical of such communities. It is best known as the location of Wellesley College, which for years has been … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Morality, Religion
3 Comments
