Posts Tagged ‘ belief ’

Speed-faithing: speed-dating from a religious point of view

November 1, 2011
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Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune, Nov.1, www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-talk-speed-faithing-20111101,0,5799441.story

For those who want to hook up with a Hindu, there is speed-dating at an Old Town neighborhood lounge on Wednesday.

But for those who want to meet a Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Hindu and get to know a little about their faith, there will be a speed-faithing event Tuesday at Dominican University in River Forest.

Designed by students, the event which follows a public lecture by Interfaith Youth Core founder Eboo Patel, will rotate participants through five-minute conversations about their beliefs. Long enough to establish common ground, short enough to avoid offense, said Cassie Meyer, director of content for the Interfaith Youth Core who co-teaches a course on interfaith literacy with Patel.

“You’re not trying to say everything about your religion before you switch,” she said.

Nor should you, she said. Just like speed-dating, talking about religion can be scary.

“The stereotype of speed-dating is you have two minutes to judge someone,” she said. “There’s something to be said for speaking really quickly off the cuff about something. You’ll have a chance to be thoughtful, but you don’t have a chance to obsess about it.”

Instead of seeking particulars, participants will be urged to ask more general questions: Do you think interfaith cooperation is important? What compels you to serve others? How and when do you pray, reflect or meditate?

Read the complete article here.

Turkey’s Elephant in the Room: Religious Freedom

September 30, 2011
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Susanne Gusten, New York Times, Sep.28, www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/world/europe/turkeys-elephant-in-the-room-religious-freedom.html?_r=1&ref=religionandbelief

With his triumphant tour of the countries of the Arab Spring this month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has managed to set up Turkey on the international stage as a role model for a secular democracy in a Muslim country — as, in his words, “a secular state where all religions are equal.”

The only trouble is that he has yet to make that happen for Turkey.

The relationship between religion and the state, ever the sore spot of Turkish identity, is one of the most explosive issues of the debate on the new constitution that Mr. Erdogan has pledged to give the country in the new legislative term that opens Saturday.

That debate will have to deal with the elephant in the room: the total control that the state exerts over Islam through its Religious Affairs Department, and the lack of a legal status for all other religions in a predominantly Sunni Muslim society.

“Turkey may look like a secular state on paper, but in terms of international law it is actually a Sunni Islamic state,” Izzettin Dogan, a leader of the country’s Alevi minority, charged at a joint press conference with leaders of several other minority faiths last week in Istanbul.

Mr. Dogan is honorary president of the Federation of Alevi Foundations, which represents many of what it claims are up to 30 million adherents of the Alevi faith, an Anatolian religion close to Sufi Islam but separate and distinct in its beliefs and practices.

“The state collects taxes from all of us and spends billions on Sunni Islam alone, while millions of Alevis as well as Christians, Jews and other faiths don’t receive a penny,” Mr. Dogan said, referring to the $1.5 billion budget of the Religious Affairs Department. “What kind of secularism is that?”

Read the complete article here.

Distinctive Mission for Muslims’ Conference: Remembering the Holocaust

September 26, 2011
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Samuel Freedman, New York Times, Sep.23, www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/us/distinctive-mission-for-muslims-conference-remembering-the-holocaust.html?_r=1&ref=religionandbelief

One afternoon this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran addressed the United Nations General Assembly, once again casting doubt that the Holocaust had occurred. Almost exactly 24 hours earlier, an otherwise obscure college student in Morocco named Elmehdi Boudra was convening a conference devoted not to denying the Holocaust but to remembering it.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech, not surprisingly, made major news around the world, as had his similar pronouncements in earlier years and his Tehran convention of Holocaust deniers. Mr. Boudra’s conference, meanwhile, attracted virtually no media attention of any kind.

Yet it should have been trumpeted, all the more for its coincidental timing. While Holocaust denial or denigration in the Muslim world is a sadly familiar phenomenon, hardly news at all, the conference put together by Mr. Boudra and several dozen classmates, all of them Muslim, may well have been the first of its kind in an Arab or Muslim nation, and a sign of historical truth triumphing over conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic dogma.

Read the complete article here.

Sikh Faith Often Misunderstood

September 19, 2011
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Joe DSowd, Plainview, Sep.16, plainview.patch.com/articles/sikh-faith-often-misunderstood

In the Western World, members of the Sikh faith are misunderstood, often thought of as a sect of other faiths, local members say.  To counter those misconceptions, the Sikhs are very open about their beliefs and conduct regular community outreach programs.

Read the complete article here.

Dangers of belief-based workplace opt-outs

August 10, 2011
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Savi Hensman, Ekklesia, Aug. 6, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15206

The case of a Christian midwife who refused to wear trousers has again drawn attention to debates over faith in the workplace. She had been asked to leave a high dependency unit when she came in wearing her own dress rather than the scrub uniform.

In early August 2011, Hannah Adewole lost her bid for £7,000 compensation when an employment tribunal ruled that the uniform policy at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, was “legitimate and proportionate for infection control”.

The Trust had argued that her religious needs had later been met because she has been given two scrub dresses.

Adewole had reportedly claimed that “I believe that the Bible is truth and that its words should be followed wholeheartedly”, and told the tribunal that she considered wearing dresses rather than trousers “a mandatory requirement in order to adhere to the scriptures”, a reference to Deuteronomy 22.5.

Though this may well have been her sincere belief, to many Christians it will seem strange. Paul strongly warned against legalistically following such laws: “if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2.21; see also Romans 4.14). And, while Deuteronomy 22 contains some valuable principles (e.g. verses 1-3), many Christian and Jewish people today would have profound moral objections to taking the whole of it literally (e.g. verses 23-24).

She also claimed that her treatment was unfair because Muslims were allowed to wear hijabs (headscarves) and their own tops under scrub tops. But concessions to Muslims are strictly limited: for health and safety reasons, I doubt that any hospital would allow a nurse or midwife to wear a jilbab (loose full body garment).

Read the complete article here.

Malaysian adverts miss the point of Ramadan

August 10, 2011
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Nazry Bahrawi, The Guardian, Aug.9, www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/09/malaysian-adverts-ramadan

The Islamic holy month is a time to connect with, not chastise, non-Muslims. This is lost to some in Malaysia’s media.

To opt for a dry throat and a crooning gut when a mere phone call can get you a decent feast is nothing short of foolhardy. Yet millions of Muslims around the globe choose to do just that when they fast in Ramadan.

Those with purchasing power must surely see this enforced austerity in a world of plenty as something akin to a warped practice: Why live like paupers when you can afford more?

In this very question also lies the spirit of Ramadan: empathy for the “other”, or that which is different from one’s self if we accept the definition provided by the German philosopher Hegel. By way of divine decree, Ramadan has come to denote a month where Muslims who can must not, an act that accords them a chance to feel for the have-nots.

With about 60% of tMalaysia’s population professing Islam, the local broadcaster 8TV ran a trio of 30-seconds clips in the first week of Ramadan aimed at instructing its non-Muslim ethnic minorities about the etiquette of proper conduct appropriate to this Islamic holy month.

The advertisements feature a young Chinese woman behaving greedily, obnoxiously and wearing tight clothings at a Ramadan bazaar to the chagrin of the Muslim Malays around her. Rightly so, the racist undertone has caused a public uproar as multitudes registered their displeasure on the station’s official Facebook page.

Even though 8TV’s advertisements run counter to the Ramadan spirit of hospitality, it is tenuous to read this episode as further proof of Islam’s intolerance. Rather, this is a textbook example of how the humanistic elements of a rich religious tradition have been drowned by the contextual concerns of its practitioners.

More than spell out the exclusive nature of Islam, the advertisements are revelatory of the inability of Malaysia’s ultra-Malay elites to overcome ethnic tensions with the minority Chinese. Ramadan or not, the advertisements suggest that their rose-tinted view of Malaysia is one coloured by race-tinted glasses.

Read the complete article here.

Restrictions on Religion Increased in 23 Countries

August 10, 2011
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Nathan Black, Christian Post, Aug. 9, www.christianpost.com/news/report-restrictions-on-religion-increased-in-23-countries-53616/

Nearly a third of the world’s population live in countries where restrictions on religious beliefs and practices increased between 2006 and 2009, a new report reveals.

Restrictions, which include social hostilities and government restrictions, rose in 23 of the world’s 198 countries (12 percent), decreased in 12 countries (6 percent) and remained essentially unchanged in 163 countries (82 percent), the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported.

Eight countries saw a substantial increase in restrictions while no countries experienced a substantial decrease.

China, Egypt, France, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam and the United Kingdom were listed as countries where the religious are finding it more difficult to practice their faith.

The report, “Rising Restrictions on Religion,” found that Christians were being harassed in more countries than any other faith group. Government or social harassment was reported against Christians in 130 countries.

Muslims were also found to be harassed in 117 countries and Jews in 75 countries. Buddhists experienced restrictions only in 16 countries.

Notably, 76 percent of the measured countries provides for freedom of religion in the constitution or in basic laws. Yet in 46 percent of the countries, government interferes with worship or other religious practices.

Read the complete article here.

One Nation, One Chicago Strives for Interfaith Understanding

August 5, 2011
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James Warren, New York Times, Aug.4, www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/us/05cncwarren.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Eboo+Patel&st=cse

Utsav Ghandi didn’t know that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who devours news cycles like a landlocked tiger shark, recently created an Office of New Americans. The office has elicited scant interest in the local press, but the advice of Mr. Ghandi, a chemical engineering student at Illinois Institute of Technology, who arrived a year ago from Mumbai, is succinct.

“Focus on those 12 to, say, 19 years old, the age when they may be most confused about a new world of America,” he said.

Mr. Ghandi, 19, is worth hearing out because of his status as a new immigrant and his involvement in a project called One Chicago, One Nation. Its aim is to improve understanding among the metro area’s various faiths and cultures, especially its estimated 400,000 Muslims. By some counts, that is the largest Muslim concentration in the nation.

One Chicago, One Nation is the product of a post-Sept. 11 effort called One Nation and is largely financed by $200,000 from George F. Russell Jr. of Tacoma, Wash., creator of the Russell 2000 stock index. His aim was to create positive images of a much-caricatured and maligned Muslim population in the United States.

The project here started last year and is led by two locally-based groups, the Interfaith Youth Core and Inner-City Muslim Action Network, which partnered with several other donors, including The Chicago Community Trust. If City Hall’s new office is to be more than a politically correct nod to new immigrants, it should rely on both.

Mr. Ghandi was one of several dozen “community ambassadors” who went through training and oversaw separate interfaith events as part of One Chicago, One Nation. They were offered the prospect of a second grant for projects deemed worthy of expansion.

Mr. Ghandi, a member of the Jain faith, and Mohini Lal, a Texas native and Hindu student at Shimer College, a neighbor of Illinois Institute of Technology, got together to run a day of community service at the Benton House community center in the Bridgeport section. A diverse group of 120 took part in a food drive, painted a gardening shed and created an organic garden — and had fun in a slam poetry contest and other performances.

In a small way, Mr. Ghandi believes, the day improved cross-cultural understanding among the participants. “We need more institutions to stimulate positive discussion,” he said, “not misplaced beliefs, and help stamp out prejudices we all have.”

Read the complete article here.

Unite against religious violence, says Interfaith Network

July 31, 2011
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Ekklesia, Jul.27, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15162

The Interfaith Network in the UK has urged religious groups to unite against violence and prejudice following the murder of 76 people in Norway last week. They condemned the killer’s claim to be motivated by Christianity and his promotion of hostility to Muslims.

The network, which seeks to promote dialogue and understanding between people of different faiths, pointed out that “the individual arrested in the wake of these terrorist acts has offered a rationale rooted in opposition to multiculturalism and to the presence of Islam in Europe. He has claimed a justification based, in part, on what he sees as Christian belief”.

They suggest that incidents such as this have a “direct relevance” to all working for good interfaith relations, because “where terrorists justify their actions with reference to positions which they call religious, this reflects ignorance and breeds suspicion and mistrust”.

The signatories to the network’s statement acknowledge that religious teachings can be used to justify brutal acts of violence. But they insist that such acts “have no place in any society”. They add, “in the United Kingdom, people of different faiths coexist as part of one society”.

The Interfaith Network links 200 member bodies including national representative bodies of the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian faiths.

They concluded, “We are committed, as people of faith, to discerning our shared values and building on these – alongside all people of goodwill – to strengthen our society”.

Read the complete article here.

A Baha’i Vision for World Peace

July 27, 2011
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Jonathan Gandomi, Huffington Post, Jul.26, www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-gandomi/a-vision-for-world-peace_b_906540.html

“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens,” wrote Baha’u'llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith in the mid-19th century. “Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.”

These simple but potent exhortations provide a blueprint for action for many Baha’is, who represent roughly 2,000 cultures and ethnicities around the world. For some Baha’is, myself included, the principle of the oneness of mankind serves as both a cornerstone of spiritual belief as well as a motive behind one’s work.

Observing the world in all its disarray and then believing — sometimes as an act of faith -3- that there are perhaps better alternatives is not altogether an easy proposition. As individuals, we face a collective action problem, where well-meaning efforts amount to little when not joined by many others. There is also the halting view that life is mostly a zero-sum game, and the benefits enjoyed by some necessarily come at someone else’s expense.

This leads many people to view the prospect of world peace as simply wishful thinking, particularly when held against the evidence of the daily front pages. And who can blame them? The world’s most powerful nations show only tentative signs of wishing to work together for the collective good, while sending clear messages to their citizens and neighbors that national interest must be preserved above all else. Could it be that the end result of human progress over thousands of years is simply to end up with a sub-optimal outcome because we cannot overcome the prisoner’s dilemma?

Read the complete article here.