Month: November 2014

Christianity and Islam

Epigraph: “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.”  Thomas Paine, One of the Founding Fathers of USA       President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally presented his gift, an edict of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, […]

Sex and the Saints

Source: NY Times: WHEN ushered into the master bedroom of the Mormon patriarch Brigham Young at his winter home in St. George, Utah, a few years ago, I felt duty-bound to ask an obvious question: Where did the other women sleep? Other women? The church tour guide blushed, and laser-stared me […]

Ferguson Illuminates Our Racism

Source: NY Times: WASHINGTON — WHEN Ferguson flared up this week after a grand jury failed to indict the white police officer Darren Wilson for killing the unarmed black youth Michael Brown, two realities were illuminated: Black and white people rarely view race in the same way or agree about […]

Pope Francis had turned towards Mecca

Source: ET Like Francis, Benedict had turned towards Mecca in what many saw as a stunning gesture of reconciliation between Islam and Christianity. A Vatican spokesperson described Francis’ gesture as a “silent adoration”, using a term for religious reverence, making clear he did not perform a prayer. He then toured […]

The Shahi Imams of India

The ‘Shahi Imams’ – Imperial Spiritual Leaders Of India       By C.M. Naim NOV 26, 2014 Saudi Arabia is a kingdom, and has had several Kings during the last 100 years, but it does not have a ‘Shahi Imam’, nor had one before. Even the men who lead […]