While I wish it were true that Newt Gingrich were a comedian and his shtick was harmless fun, his high-profile pronouncements are so bizarre and paranoid that it truly is dangerous to national discourse. Here is the latest from the fear monger, discussing his favorite incendiary issue — the Islamic Center to be built in [...]
Tags:Cordoba Center·demagogue·fear·Ground Zero Mosque·irrationality·Monty Python·newt·Newt Gingrich·paranoia·political fantasy·religious liberty·right wing·sharia·Sharia law·Sir Bedevere·The Holy Grail·witch hunts
This is awkward — a Spiegel (i.e., German) reporter interviews the Iranian Foreign Minister:
SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, you are the senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You represent a nation that prides itself on a cultural history stretching back more than 2,500 years. Don’t you find it shameful that people are stoned to [...]
Tags:adultery·execution by stoning·Germany·Holocaust·Iran·Jews·religious crimes·Sharia law·stoning
Over at the NYT, Rob Nordlund chillingly reports on the execution by stoning of a young couple in Afghanistan who had fallen in love and eloped. The details are disgusting:
Mr. Khan said that as a Taliban mullah prepared to read the judgment of a religious court, the lovers, a 25-year-old man named Khayyam and a [...]
Tags:Afghanistan·death by stoning·execution by stoning·Islam·mullahs·osteology·religious court·religious crimes·Sharia law·Shariah law·social crimes·Taliban
Not long ago, I discussed an article on Islam by Cynthia Boaz. In her article, Boaz attempted to correct several misconceptions regarding Islam and presented us with a progressive, liberal, and tolerant interpretation of Islam. While there are Muslims outside of the US who interpret Islam in the way Boaz does, there are also Muslims [...]
Tags:Afghanistan·Aisha·authenticity·Cynthia Boaz·Hindu·Huffington Post·intepretation·interpretive communities·Is There a Text In This Class·Islam·Islamist·liberal·linguistics·Literary Theory·manufacturing consent·Missives from Marx·Muslim·Muslim women·Muslims·oppression of women·progressive·sharia·Sharia law·Stanley Fish·Taliban·Terry Eagleton·Time Magazine·tolerant·Vedic faiths
As usual, lots of weird news from religion land. Let’s start with this AP report about a Baptist minister in St. Cloud, MN who paid for a newspaper ad stating that Muslims “seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs and by supporting the gay agenda.”
This minister clearly knows nothing [...]
Tags:altruism·beatification·canonization·Catholic saint·compassion·ecumenical·Family Research Council·intolerance·Islam·James Dobson·James Verini·JC·Koran·liberal religionists·Muslims·Reverend Dennis Campbell·sainthood·Sharia law·South Park·Tenzin Gyatso·toddlers·wife beating
