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Archive: August 29, 2010 - September 4, 2010
Has religion run its course?
We're not stuck with them, you know, just because they've been around for thousands of years, employ masses of people, convene community, exercise formidable political clout, declare dominion over science, control valuable real estate, and claim their sacred texts to be direct from God.
By Martha Woodroof | September 3, 2010; 3:54 PM ET | Comments (36)
Stephen Hawking says there's no creator God; the twitterverse reacts
You inspire me, Mr. Hawking, and your contributions to our world deserve a whole lot better than our mockery. I hope you're wrong about the universe not needing God. But if it turns out you're correct, you have my respect for helping us figure out the amazing environment in which we live. Thank you.
By Jason Boyett | September 3, 2010; 3:16 PM ET | Comments (34)
Football: America's national religion
Most of us identify stronger with our team than we do our religion, and for churches, this is a problem they'll need to address sooner than later.
By Chad Gibbs | September 3, 2010; 2:59 PM ET | Comments (48)
A Rosh Hashanah resolution for Labor Day: helping workers
More widely, for many of us as Americans, this time of year is also a time of leave-taking and new starts, from kids beginning a new school year to farmers harvesting autumn crops and homeowners winterizing.
By Jeremy Burton | September 3, 2010; 2:54 PM ET | Comments (1)
Give us our tolerance back!
As a Dutchman living in the United States, I always feel a sense of pride hearing Americans telling me how much they admire Holland's history of tolerance.
By Bram Groen | September 3, 2010; 2:45 PM ET | Comments (2)
My purpose in debating Christopher Hitchens on the afterlife
Only a coward would forsake his personal truth out of fear of death and one thing Hitchens certainly is not is a coward. I am not a believer in religion-in-the-foxholes and deathbed confessions. Religion is too important to be embraced out of fear or trepidation.
By Rabbi Shmuley Boteach | September 3, 2010; 1:45 PM ET | Comments (4)
Finding serenity as a caretaker
With my mother in her eighties, I wondered how to apply the Serenity Prayer to caretaking--accepting the things I could not change while changing those I could.
By Eileen Flanagan | September 2, 2010; 2:17 PM ET | Comments (2)
Ramadan and Christianity
I hadn't personally known a Christian until I was 30 years old, when I came to America. In my village's "madrassa" ("khalwa" in Arabic), I was taught that anyone who was not a Muslim was a "kafir" (infidel).
By Mohammad Ali Salih | September 2, 2010; 12:56 PM ET | Comments (3)
Jewish reflections on America's relationship with Islam
No matter what little progress we have made, as events last week proved, we still have a long way to go and I encourage all Americans to join me in looking within, confronting the bigotry that America must confront if she is to be all she can be, and recommitting ourselves to the civil behavior and civil discourse our nation deserves.
By Rabbi Steve Gutow | August 31, 2010; 5:59 PM ET | Comments (4)
Remember religion's role in Iraq
We beg the United States not to forget religion and its role in this troubled land. That which can be the most wonderful can also be the most awful.
By The Rev'd Canon Dr. Andrew P B White | August 31, 2010; 4:49 PM ET | Comments (0)
Glenn Beck and the restoration of American civil religion
The Fox News broadcaster, with sleeves rolled up, and equipped with the earpiece microphone of a megachurch pastor, squarely planted himself as the new high priest of American civil religion.
By Amarnath Amarasingam | August 31, 2010; 2:32 PM ET | Comments (14)
Fear of Islam violates our traditions
religious demonization can and does lead to unimaginable violence and horror.
By Bemporad, Breger, Khan and Kowalski | August 31, 2010; 1:02 PM ET | Comments (4)
Yogathon: stretching bodies, stretching minds across America
One small yoga stretch in Washington became one large Yogathon across America.
By Dipka Bhambhani | August 31, 2010; 8:45 AM ET | Comments (3)
Am I Jewish?
I dream of going to temple here in my small Vermont town. It's not curiosity, but a deeper longing for an ancient religion that must have been transmitted to me by my ancestors
By Diana Whitney | August 30, 2010; 8:21 AM ET | Comments (2)
Ramadan in a monastery
When I go to the monastery next year, I will not even listen to the Koran, the Bible and the German chants; I will listen to nothing - maybe God will talk to me.
By Mohammad Ali Salih | August 30, 2010; 7:58 AM ET | Comments (2)
The spiritual convergence of Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Fitr and 9/11
With both Rosh Hashanah and the feast of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, falling this year on September 10--one day before the ninth anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks-- American Jews and Muslims must stand shoulder to shoulder against all manifestations of religious hatred, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
By Rabbi Marc Schneier and Imam Shamsi Ali | August 30, 2010; 7:53 AM ET | Comments (4)
All America is hallowed ground for freedom
There is no greater affront to decency than to allow the slow erosion of our commitment to tolerance.
By Bridget Kustin | August 30, 2010; 7:20 AM ET | Comments (2)
Ground Zero mosque not About tolerance
Tolerance, which is a two-way street called respect, is an important attribute - important to our country, and also important to my Christian heritage. But, tolerance without wisdom and discernment will breed more violence and a lack of common ground.
By Phil Hotsenpiller | August 30, 2010; 7:16 AM ET | Comments (2)
Who represents American Muslims? No one
Relocating the mosque ten blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks will silence the political (and religious) discourse about a mosque that may not have intended to be politicized at all. Perhaps then we might also stop thinking that Rauf represents the vast majority of Muslims in America
By Farhana Qazi | August 30, 2010; 6:59 AM ET | Comments (10)
Jewish wisdom on mosque debate
While there is no denying the everlasting symbolism of 9/11's Ground Zero, perhaps by embracing the lesson Jacob learned thousands of years ago, the stage will be set for a house of prayer, built somewhat removed from those hallowed grounds, that will inspire people of all faiths.
By Abraham Cooper | August 30, 2010; 6:55 AM ET | Comments (1)
