13,000 feet in the air, resting on a crescent of Turkey’s Mount Ararat, is possibly one of the most sought-after biblical relics of all time – Noah’s Ark.
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The search for Noah’s Ark may have ended 13,000 feet above sea level
A reader alerted us to the airing of a PBS Frontline documentary on “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan”. I had the chance to watch it earlier in the week and it is absolutely riveting. You can watch it online and I encourage you to do so if it has already aired in your market
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Devout or deviant?
Not willing to be outdone by recent Islamist forays into faith-based anti-boob officiousness and anti-cartoon snits , the Attorney General of Virginia has taken steps to keep the visuals appropriately god-friendly: The seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, wearing a blue tunic draped over one shoulder, her left breast exposed. But on the new lapel pins [A.G.] Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff, Virtus’ bosom is covered by an armored breastplate. Mock if you must, but if earthquakes do not strike Virginia and its state seal does not sexually arouse men in the next month or two, who will be laughing?
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The South Will Not Rise Again
God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World — and Why Their Differences Matter (HarperOne, 388 pages, $26.99), by Stephen Prothero: Christianity, Islam and Judaism all insist that God is One. So prospective readers may think that Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, must be proclaiming polytheism in a book titled, God Is Not One.
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BOOK REVIEW: Prothero rebuts idea all gods are alike in ‘God Is Not One’
W henever there has been a crisis in the world, from 9/11 to events in the Middle East, no one group in the metro area has been able to speak for the local Muslim community. The newly formed Midland Islamic Council wants to change that. And it also has other ambitious goals, such as unifying the various Muslim groups in the area.
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Local Muslim group hopes to form a united front
Prayers are suspended at single-family home converted to a mosque without the necessary permits or approvals, after complaints from neighbours.
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The Fixer: City closes mosque over bylaw offences
Reuters is definitely my favorite source for international religious news. But this story out of Srinagar, India, could use some help. Headlined “ Visitors banned from Kashmir’s Jesus shrine ,” it tells about a local Muslim fight over a shrine.
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Resurrection? Ascension? What?
In Council on American-Islamic Relations v. Callahan , (ED MI, April 29, 2010), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a case in which a Muslim woman, Raneen Albaghdady, sued a state court judge who requested that she remove her hijab in his court room.
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Muslim Woman Loses Suit Against Judge Who Banned Hijab In Courtroom
We looked at some of the coverage of the Comedy Central’s censorship of the South Park program . South Park has long shown offensive images of Jesus and other non-Muslim religious figures. It has also attempted to show inoffensive “images of Muhammad” but been censored by the network — and other media covering the issue — out of fears of violence.
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Respect, blasphemy and violence
Russell Blackford is for it ; Jerry Coyne is against it ; Amanda Marcotte splits the difference . I speak, of course, of today’s baring of chest flesh intended to mock the Iranian cleric who blamed women’s sexuality for earthquakes: The prayer leader, Hojatoleslam Kazim Sadeghi, says women and girls who “don’t dress appropriately” spread “promiscuity in society.” “When promiscuity spreads, earthquakes increase,” he says in a video posted Monday on YouTube, apparently of him leading Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, last week. “There is no way other than taking refuge in religion and adapting ourselves to Islamic behavior,” he adds in the video
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Of Boobs and Quakes
Today’s post comes from our newest contributor to the blog, Michael J. Altman ! Michael is a Ph.D. student in American Religious Culture at Emory University, where he researches the American encounter with Hinduism, and more broadly constructions of the category of the sacred in American religious history.
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The New American Ganges: Hinduism and Health in American Religious History
Revelation 12 (The woman is not the church) I want to make it clear that the order of events written in the book of Revelation provides no reason to lump every tribulation (thlipsis) into a single ‘Great Tribulation’ that’s coming. Revelation 12 demonstrates the non-chronologic nature of the book as chapter 11 has already reached the apex of events in that (Rev 11:15) “ the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ ” is the end of the story. Revelation 12:1 goes back in time and symbolically describes Judah as a woman who is pregnant, v5 with one who will rule all nations, clearly Jesus (It should be noted that Judah gives birth to Jesus).
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Understanding End time Prophecy (How the accepted scenario went off the track) Part 5 of 5
There’s an enormous amount of material out there concerning the apocalypse, Armageddon, end of the world, the book of Revelation and the Antichrist, almost all the scenarios I’ve looked at are virtually the same. I intend to make a case for the error of these interpretations
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Understanding End time Prophecy (How the accepted scenario went off the track) Part 1 of 5
The great tribulation is coming? “It will be 3.5 years of hell on earth” says the fire breathing evangelists and virtually all proponents of biblical prophecy, but I disagree, I say it’s been here.
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Understanding End time Prophecy (How the accepted scenario went off the track) Part 4 of 5
So, it’s been a few days since I last dawned a bottle of spray paint and got busy on the Wall. Let’s see God… how do I get my mojo back? Sleezy televangelists
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Farrakhan warns Obama about the “White Right”
India has never been short of religions: although 80 per cent Hindu, it also incorporates Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as well as hundreds of lesser known faiths.
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Ravidassia sect sends shockwaves across world’s Sikh community (Times Online)
Protestant Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province were searching for a place of worship Wednesday, February 3, after angry Muslims apparently attacked their partly constructed church, injuring scores of worshippers. Christians are a minority in Islamic Pakistan and rights investigators say there has been an increase in anti-Christian violence, with at least 130 Christians killed last year.
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Muslim Mob Storms Pakistan Church; 65 Injured
Amsterdam – An Amsterdam court on Wednesday ruled it was authorized to hear the criminal case against lawmaker and Islam- critic Geert Wilders for incitement to hatred and discrimination. The court rejected the argument by Wilders’ defence at the sta…
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Court rules it is authorized to hear Dutch Islam-critic’s case (EARTHtimes.org)
By Shweta Srinivasan, New Delhi, Feb 3 : Works on Islam and Buddhism are a big hit at stalls put up by publishers from South Asian countries at the World Book Fair here. Many avid book readers and scholars are happy to have spotted rare books that are not easily available in India.
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Rare books on Islam, Buddhism a hit at South Asian stalls (New Kerala)
Works on Islam and Buddhism are a big hit at stalls put up by publishers from South Asian countries at the World Book Fair here. Many avid book readers and scholars are happy to have spotted rare books that are not easily available in India.
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Rare books on Islam, Buddhism a hit at South Asian stalls (Calcutta News)
In “The Jihadist Next Door,” Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Andrea Elliott’s Sunday cover story in The New York Times Magazine , Elliott turns her laser focus on the journey of one American youngster who decides to join a Somali terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda. By going deep into one particular story, this long-form feature sheds light on bigger issues.
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From Baptist kid to jihadist fighter
By Neville Spykerman KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — A church worker who had lodged a police report against Al Islam magazine (in picture) for desecration slammed the authorities today for their inaction so far. The magazine’s Muslim reporters allegedly posed as Christians, accepted what Catholic’s consider a holy wafer into their mouths, before spitting it out
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Police criticised for inaction over Al Islam ‘desecration’ report (The Malaysian Insider)
KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers for Sudhagaran Stanley today expressed their disappointment over the lack of progress in the police report lodged against Al-Islam last July.
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Lawyers: No progress in Al Islam case (The Edge Daily)
Amsterdam – An Amsterdam court is to resume proceedings on Wednesday against Islam critic Geert Wilders to rule on the charges to be heard before the court and the number of witnesses to be called. The trial opened January 20 when the leader of the D…
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PREVIEW: Trial of Islam critic Geert Wilders set to resume (EARTHtimes.org)
Geert Wilders , the radical anti-Muslim Dutch politician, will seek to test free speech in Britain next month when he makes a second attempt to visit the House of Lords to screen a controversial film equating Islam to Nazism. Lord Ahmed, a Muslim peer, has promised to mobilise 10,000 Muslims to block Mr Wilders from entering the House of Lords
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Geert Wilders to test British free speech with anti-Muslim film screening
In case you are new to the Gospel, a couple of things: Welcome! Jesus loves you. Muslims aren’t huge fans of the Jews. To the latter, I don’t mean as in not carrying a foam finger reading, “There’s only one Savior for me.” It’s more like, “I have hated your guts for 6,000 years.
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Jesus turned water into wine, but Arabs are turning it into cash
The agreement between Rifqa Bary and her parents to settle their conflict through counseling has ended without a single meeting between the parents and their daughter, according to a motion filed in Franklin County Juvenile Court.
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Agreement between Rifqa Bary, parents to settle conflict short-lived