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Archive: January 4, 2009 - January 10, 2009
Hamas Has a Point, But So What?
While it makes some people uncomfortable, the fact is that according to some readings of Islam, Israel's existence does violate foundations of the faith both morally and theologically. So what? The faithful of every tradition have always found footnotes to justify their actions.
By Brad Hirschfield | January 9, 2009; 5:09 PM ET | Comments (3)
Israeli Violence Makes Peace a Practical Impossibility
Israel's military occupation of the West Bank in defiance of international law and its continuous bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip have been the greatest obstacle to a two-state solution and a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel has made the creation of an independent Palestinian state not only a "theoretical impossibility," but a practical impossibility.
By Hadia Mubarak | January 9, 2009; 4:48 PM ET | Comments (64)
A Different Kind of Conversation About the Middle East
"Step One is recognizing that this is a difficult dialogue ... That's crucially important... [And] when you realize that it's difficult but that you're willing to take it on, I think that's where the courage starts ..." -- Ola, Interfaith...
By Eboo Patel | January 9, 2009; 2:16 PM ET | Comments (3)
Hamas Looks at Islam, Sees Its Own Violent Reflection
The leaders of Hamas remind me of battering husbands who use religion to justify beating their wives. The violent use religion to justify using violence. The choice to use violence comes first; the religious justification follows. When you choose peace, that is the religious reflection you see and the reality you live.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 9, 2009; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (44)
Hamas is Ideologically Correct and Politically Incorrect
At whatever cost to the Gazans, Hamas believes it must continue to make the statement that land once Muslim (dar es salam) must always be Muslim; and if taken from Muslims, it is "war territory" (dar es harb) until recovered for Islam.
By Willis E. Elliott | January 9, 2009; 12:10 PM ET | Comments (11)
What About God?
I see God as loving and inclusive. I see God as valuing all people. I see God weeping as he looks at children who claim God as the head of their lives plowing into Gaza with little regard for the innocent people who are being killed.
By Susan K. Smith | January 9, 2009; 11:35 AM ET | Comments (14)
Religious People Ought to Know Better
I was watching a news report the other day about some protesting going on in the United States over the situation in Gaza. I was not surprised; there is much anger about the civilians being massacred and that anger is...
By Susan K. Smith | January 9, 2009; 9:46 AM ET | Comments (3)
Bonds of Marriage "Not Easily Broken"
When I wrote the book, "Not Easily Broken," I wanted to illustrate the significance of the bond of marriage told from a man's perspective.
By T.D. Jakes | January 8, 2009; 10:51 AM ET | Comments (0)
Hamas Wilfully Misreads
It is ironic that apocalyptic groups in U.S. Christianity and Islamic Hamas engage in the same kind of militant and willful misreadings of their holy books. These texts speak to many kinds of situations, and one can find in both passages which are militant and reconciling.
By Martin Marty | January 8, 2009; 8:27 AM ET | Comments (26)
Status Quo vs. Solution for Middle East
The sad truth of the Middle East conflict is that many Muslims and Jews agree that the Solution Rulebook makes sense to them, but when the crisis escalates and hits the front page (like now), the old logic takes over and Muslim and Jewish organizations revert to the Status Quo Rules.
By Eboo Patel | January 8, 2009; 6:17 AM ET | Comments (51)
Islam Must Put Its House in Order
If Islam is being misrepresented by extremists, it is essential that those who believe it is a "religion of peace," isolate, silence and, if necessary, fight the hijackers.
By Cal Thomas | January 8, 2009; 3:12 AM ET | Comments (8)
De-Militarizing Young Israelis and Palestinians
My encounter and recent events in Gaza have forced me to think seriously about the consequences of militarizing, year after year, entire generations of young people in Israel and Palestine.
By Eboo Patel | January 7, 2009; 11:32 AM ET | Comments (6)
The Limits of Reason: The Ever-Elusive Search For A Middle East Peace
The region is always on the edge of violence. How can it be otherwise, when the primary parties to the conflict both believe that their god has chosen them to live on holy ground? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most tragic example in modern history of the folly of trying to base political arrangements on the myths in ancient books.
By Susan Jacoby | January 6, 2009; 2:33 PM ET | Comments (630)
Only Solution: Temper Inflexible Religion with Flexible Politics
The only solution, once Hamas is vanquished, is to temper inflexible religion with flexible politics. Most Israelis, and a good many Arabs, stand ready to achieve a political solution in the Middle East. Whatever their religious beliefs, they understand that compromise is necessary, that the time has come for "the art of what's possible."
By Jonathan D. Sarna | January 6, 2009; 1:37 PM ET | Comments (5)
How to Defeat Hamas -- Face Up to the Truth
The oil-producing countries could have alleviated the grinding poverty in Gaza and the West Bank using a fraction of their oil profits annually. Instead, the Palestinian conflict has been cynically used as a tool of anti-Semitism and a sop to the Arab street, which likes nothing better than an enemy to be inflamed against.
By Deepak Chopra | January 6, 2009; 10:49 AM ET | Comments (38)
God Calls Us to Mutual Care, Respect
I'm sickened when I hear that a person's religion makes him unwilling to let other human beings live in dignity and peace. I'm disgusted when people make it sound like God plays favorites - loving their own kind and hating others.
By Brian D. McLaren | January 6, 2009; 2:32 AM ET | Comments (1)
HESCHEL+KING+OBAMA = AMERICA'S FUTURE?
In mid-January, several sacred American times will flow together in a way that invites us to draw on the movements for freedom, justice, and peace of forty years ago, to reshape America's future as a new President and Congress take office in the midst of war, economic crisis, and ecological danger.
By Arthur Waskow | January 5, 2009; 3:58 PM ET | Comments (0)
Obama's Church Choice His Choice
It seems to me that whether Barack Obama goes to church and where is an entirely personal matter.
By Julia Neuberger | January 5, 2009; 7:59 AM ET | Comments (0)
How "Broad" Are Anglicans?
Whether conservative Episcopalians should leave and form their own denomination or not depends less on their views- clearly different from the mainstream- than on the extent to which it is possible to live with what is literally a 'broad church'.
By Julia Neuberger | January 5, 2009; 7:55 AM ET | Comments (0)
