Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'Taliban'

The Rage of Taliban

December 13th, 2010 · No Comments · Emotions, Morality

In the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses a character from Shakespeare’s Tempest to comment on 19th century disgust, a moral emotion:
The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.  The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not [...]

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Buddhas of Bamiyan

November 19th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Archaeology, Globalization, History

One of the great tragedies associated with Afghanistan’s recent history — aside from all the killing, which is both obvious and horrific — is our inability to explore this region’s rich, varied, and fascinating past.  In this time of war, it is easy to forget that Afghanistan has always been a crossroads and meeting place [...]

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Stone Age Sharia Execution

August 18th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Archaeology, Axial Age, Morality

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 [...]

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A Certain Kind of Islam and the Heinous Oppression of Women

July 31st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Classifications, Methodology, Morality, Power

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 [...]

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