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Oct 11, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 6:29:51
A glance at Saudi government-approved fatwas (Washington Post 10-10-10)
TAKING FLOWERS TO THE SICK:
- “This practice is impermissible as it entails wasting money on non-useful purposes and imitating Allah's adversaries in this custom.”
CINEMAS:
- “It is not permissible for a Muslim to build a cinema, or run it for himself or for another person, due to the forbidden kinds of amusement it provides. As shown today around the globe, it presents obscene scenes and images that provoke desires and promote lewdness and immorality. Furthermore, it helps women mix with men who are not Mahram (spouse or unmarriageable relatives).”
SWIMMING POOLS:
- “The mingling of boys and girls in studying is Haram (prohibited). The same applies to showering and swimming while naked (or semi naked) in a swimming pool, whether they are young or old, for the Fitnah (sedition) occurring due to this, and for seeing each others' 'Awrah' (private parts of the body that must be covered in public), this is also considered a means to mischief and evil.”
Oct 3, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 11:20:44
Closer Look at Rift Between Humanists Reveals Deeper Divisions (NY Times 10-1-10)
There are more famous opponents of supernaturalism, but none is an institution-builder like Mr. Kurtz, a retired philosophy professor. The Center for Inquiry, which assumed its name in 1991, until recently shared a budget of more than $6 million with its affiliates, and it supports campus groups, a West Coast office and branches in many American cities and in countries like England, Peru and Poland.
Which makes Mr. Kurtz’s fall Lear-like.
Oct 2, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 8:38:12
Understanding political Islam by Nadeem F. Paracha (Dawn 9-20-10)
Islamic Fundamentalists all agree with Imam Ghazali’s dictum (in the twelfth century), that the ‘gates of ijtihad (rational debate) in Islam are now closed.’
Sep 28, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 16:0:57
Beijing marks Confucius's happy return, aged 2,561 (UK Guardian 9-28-10)
When a man has reached 2,561 years, it is hard to distinguish each birthday from the last. But anniversary celebrations for China's best-known philosopher included one notable change today: the first service at Beijing's Confucian temple since the Communists took power in 1949.
Once reviled as backwards and feudalist, Confucius has made a comeback since the 1990s, his work again openly a source of moral instruction and social debate – although it is also used to legitimise a party that once denounced him, to bolster tourism, and to soothe the souls of stressed workers.
By David Brown | Posted at 6:20:41
On Basic Religion Test, Many Doth Not Pass (NY Times 9-28-10)
On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.
Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.
Sep 21, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 15:31:57
Does Atheism Poison Everything? (Fixed Point Foundation 9-7-10)
A debate was held on atheism with Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, and David Berlinski, author of The Devil's Delusion. Mr. Berlinski argued the positive of the resolution “Atheism poisons everything” and Mr. Hitchens argued the negative.
Sep 20, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 18:2:19
India’s ‘prostitutes of God’ (UK Telegraph 9-20-10)
An ancient tradition which sees girls dedicated to a lifetime of 'religious prostitution' has become a big business on the streets of southern India. Sarah Harris, who spent two years uncovering the practice, explains what it means to be a devadasi in the twenty-first century.
Sep 19, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 8:10:29
'Islam Is Like a Drug' (Spiegel 9-17-10)
In a SPIEGEL interview, Egyptian-German political scientist Hamed Abdel-Samad talks about his childhood as the son of an imam in Egypt, why he thinks Islam is a danger to society and his theories about the inevitable decline of the Muslim world.
By David Brown | Posted at 7:59:44
Ratzinger is an enemy of humanity by Richard Dawkins (9-19-10)
Adolf Hitler was a Roman Catholic. Or at least he was as much a Roman Catholic as the 5 million so-called Roman Catholics in this country today. For Hitler never renounced his baptismal Catholicism, which was doubtless the criterion for counting the 5 million alleged British Catholics today. You cannot have it both ways. Either you have 5 million British Catholics, in which case you have to have Hitler too. Or Hitler was not a Catholic, in which case you have to give us an honest figure for the number of genuine Catholics in Britain today – the number who really believe Jesus turns himself into a wafer, as the former Professor Ratzinger presumably does.
Sep 17, 2010
By David Brown | Posted at 6:39:24
FBI urges US Mohammed cartoonist to go into hiding (Reuters 9-17-10 via Richard Dawkins Foundation)
A Seattle cartoonist who stirred up a religious storm with a tongue-in-cheek encouragement to draw images of the Muslim prophet Mohammed has gone into hiding after a threat to her safety.
According to Seattle Weekly, which originally published an illustration by cartoonist Molly Norris entitled “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” Norris was told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to “go ghost.”
“On the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI,” Norris is “moving, changing her name and essentially wiping away her identity,” a Seattle Weekly report said on Thursday.
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