In my post in September 2006, The Religion Century, I argue that now that the world is no longer bi-polar, the only pole left is the US, and in place of a conflict between nation-states, we have clashing cultures and ideologies. Religious fervor, among Muslims, Christians and Jews, not to mention European paganism and the ancient … Continue reading “The Religion Century: Challenged By European Atheists? No.”
You can’t really form productive relationships with many every day folk in the U.S. (nor Mexico, South America and Africa) if you’re completely ignorant of Christianity, and, increasingly, its more charismatic groups, which are seeing explosive growth. Unless you can *get* where people are “coming from,” you won’t understand them, and the spiritual is a … Continue reading “Religious Literacy and Understanding, For Our Own Sake”
I’m that guy in the neighborhood. Believe it or not, we live in an apartment only 6-8 blocks or so north of the disputed Park51 site, so this is about MY NEIGHBORHOOD and I feel I’m a direct stakeholder in this controversy, so I should weigh in. Knowledge of the neighborhood, and of the culture … Continue reading “Video Blog: Islamic Center on Park Place: Guy in Neighborhood Responds”
U.S. Foreign Policy In Deep Shi’ite An in-depth analysis In 2007, the dominant news story will be the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq. War is also the dominant spiritual and moral issue of my generation. It’s impossible for me not to blog about this. The president has ordered a “surge,” or increase of 21,500 troops, which … Continue reading “U.S. Foreign Policy In Deep Shi’ite”
In An Unexpected Trend, Hispanics Becoming More Islamic As I wrote about previously, this is the religion century. Those who don’t offer clear, strong answers to life’s big questions will continue lose out to hardcore groups in churches, synagouges, and, increasingly, mosques. Today I saw even more evidence my hypothesis is true, with this fascinating … Continue reading “Islam On The Rise In America: More Latinas Becoming Muslims”
Reaction Way Worse Than Comment The Pope gave an academic lecture on “Faith and Reason” in which he says violence in the name of G-d is unreasonable, and he touched on a Byzantine Emperor’s quote blasting the idea of Jihad. Incredibly, this has spurred a massive round of protests and violent reprisals. If you read … Continue reading “The Pope Calls Religious Violence Unreasonable, Triggering Religious Violence”