Posts Tagged ‘ Religion ’

Christian self-understanding in context of Hindu religion

October 23, 2011
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WCC News, Oct.18, www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/wcc-explores-christian-se.html

With the rise of religious fundamentalism and religious extremism in the world, as well as recently emerging tensions in India over the issues of conversions, a genuine need exists to review Christian-Hindu relationships afresh, according to the participants of a consultation organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) on Christian self-understanding in the context of Hindu religion.

The consultation took place at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland from 12 to 15 October, with thirty participants of diverse Christian backgrounds from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia, where Christians live with Hindus in close proximity.

The discussions focused on “Christian self-understanding in relation to Hindu religion” emphasizing dialogue of life and action. Mapping these changes, as well as exploring historical contexts was a focus of the consultation.

Read the complete article here.

‘Muslim’ Nations and The Problem of Christian Persecution

October 23, 2011
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Qasim Rashid, Huffington Post, Oct.19, www.huffingtonpost.com/qasim-rashid/the-problem-of-christian-persecution_b_1012010.html

Some so-called “Muslim” nations have a problem.

It is not America, Europe, and no, it is certainly not Israel.

The problem is persecution, and in this case, of Christians. Some fourteen centuries after Prophet Muhammad wrote, “Christians are my citizens, and by God, I hold out against anything that displeases them,” Christian persecution has become a norm in these Muslim majority nations. While persecution in even one nation is too much, the problem is far beyond just one nation.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian father of two sits on death row, inhumanely incarcerated in Iran for his “crime” of converting to Christianity from Islam. Yes, the Qur’an forbids punishment for apostasy, but tell that to the Iranian government. And though Islam does not sanction the mixing of mosque and state, be careful about saying that out loud — you may be charged with apostasy.

And the problem persists. Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sits on death row in a putrid Pakistani prison — literally tortured — for her alleged blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad. Yes, the Qur’an forbids punishment for blasphemy, but tell that to the Muslim clergy. And though Islam does not sanction any sort of priesthood, be careful about saying that out loud — you may be charged with blasphemy.

And the problem still persists. A human rights watch reports that a 12-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan was kidnapped, raped, forcibly converted to “Islam” and forcibly married to a Muslim before she finally escaped. When her parents went to the police, they were advised to “return the girl to her rightful husband,” ignoring the kidnapping, rape, forced conversion and forced marriage. Yes, the Qur’an protects the rights of women and children, condemns rape, forbids inheriting women (let alone children) against their will and forbids compulsion in religion. But, tell that to a people who worship the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty Deity. And though Islam demands absolute justice in all affairs, be careful about saying that out loud — if you cannot be bribed in Pakistan, you might find yourself buried six feet under.

And yet, the problem still persists. In Indonesia, over 50 Christian churches have been forcibly — and illegally — closed under extremist pressure. Contrast this with Prophet Muhammad’s Charter that states, “No one is to destroy a house of [the Christian] religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims houses.” Prophet Muhammad also foretold Islam’s spread to Egypt and reminded Muslims that their spiritual grandmother — Hagar, wife of Abraham — was Egyptian. As such, Muslims were specifically admonished to respect and honor Egyptian Christians. Quite obviously, Egyptian Coptic Christian persecution stands in stark contrast to Prophet Muhammad’s guidance.

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.

Pope wins over German Muslims

September 26, 2011
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Tom Heneghan, Reuters, Sep.23, blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/09/23/pope-benedict-wins-over-german-muslims-in-first-meeting-since-regensburg-speech/

Pope Benedict told German Muslims in Berlin on Friday they can expect cooperation and support from Roman Catholics as long as they respect Germany’s constitution and the limits it sets on pluralism. Meeting representatives of the country’s four million Muslims, he said the constitution drawn up in post-war West Germany was solid enough to adapt to a pluralistic society in a globalised world and make room for new religions as well.

It sounded like the Bavarian-born pontiff was making a veiled reference to a debate in Germany over the past year over Muslim integration in Germany and whether  Muslims wanted sharia here, an issue discussed mostly on the conservative end of the political spectrum. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Muslims last year that Islamic law had no place in Germany. “What applies here is the constitution, not sharia,” she declared. When he took office in March, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the idea that “Islam belongs to Germany” — first mentioned by President Christian Wulff last year — “is not substantiated by history at any point.” A recent book “Richter ohne Gesetz” (Judges without Law) argues that Muslims are setting up a “parallel legal system” that is undermining German justice.

Muslim leaders didn’t hear it that way.  They  praised the pope for confirming through the meeting that Islam was now a part of German society and pointing towards new and expanded cooperation between Catholics and Muslims. But they said their loyalty to the constitution, a main point in his speech, was never in question. “As Muslims in Germany, we have always said that we see the German constitution as a good basis for peaceful life together,” Bekir Alboga, head of interreligious dialogue for the Turkish mosque association DITIB, told Reuters after meeting the pope.

Read the complete article here.

Islamic Center Near Ground Zero Opens Its Doors

September 26, 2011
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Karen Zraick and Verena Dobnik, Associated Press, Sep.21,  abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/developer-911-families-needed-role-nyc-mosque-14573200

The developer of an Islamic cultural center that opened Wednesday evening near the site of the terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center says the biggest error on the project was not involving the families of 9/11 victims from the start.

People crowded into the center, where a small orchestra played traditional Middle Eastern instruments and a photo exhibit of New York children of different ethnicities lined the walls. The enthusiasm at the opening belied its troubled beginnings.

“We made incredible mistakes,” Sharif El-Gamal told The Associated Press in an earlier interview at his Manhattan office.

The building at 51 Park Place, two blocks from the World Trade Center site, includes a Muslim prayer space that has been open for two years. El-Gamal said the overall center is modeled after the Jewish Community Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he lives.

“I wanted my daughter to learn how to swim, so I took her to the JCC,” said the Brooklyn-born Muslim. “And when I walked in, I said, ‘Wow. This is great.’”

The project has drawn criticism from opponents who say they don’t want a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The center is open to all faiths and will include a 9/11 memorial, El-Gamal said. He called opposition to the center — which prompted one of the most virulent national discussions about Islam and freedom of speech and religion since Sept. 11 — part of a “campaign against Muslims.”

Read the complete article here.

Jesus would support Palestinian statehood bid

September 26, 2011
By

Carl Mederaris, CNN, Sep.21, religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/my-take-jesus-would-support-palestinian-statehood-bid/

This week at the United Nations, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has promised to ask for recognition of a Palestinian state. If he does, the United States will veto. Why?

Largely because of something we’ll call Christian Zionism, an American theological movement that preaches a Christian obligation to help Jews reclaim the biblical Promised Land.

I travel constantly, speaking about the Middle East to evangelical Christians across America and Europe. I lived in Lebanon for 12 years and churches invite me to talk about how to love their Muslim neighbors.

Often before I get invited to speak at churches and Christian conferences, I go through an awkward period of questioning, an interview that feels more like an interrogation.

Pastors and conference leaders want to size me up to make sure I’m “safe” for Christian audiences. The interrogation usually goes something like this:

“Carl, we love your books and your message. You have a lot of insight on how Christians can be more Jesus-like to our Middle Eastern neighbors. We hope you’ll talk a lot about that!”

Translation: Please, for the love of God, don’t say anything controversial about Israel or the Palestinians.

Though they are too polite to ask, what those pastors and conference leaders want to know is what is my position on Israel. For them, the modern Jewish state is a direct fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the catalyst for a series of events that will culminate in the return of Jesus.

As the Palestinians press ahead in their bid for statehood, prepare to hear from this crowd. These Christians number in the tens of millions and they go into a state of frenzy every time a politician so much as winks at the idea of Israel giving up a few settlements or withdrawing to pre-1967 borders.

People ask me all the time what I think about Israel and end-times theology, and how the Palestinians factor into that.
Here’s my answer: If your end-times theology trumps the clear commands in Scripture to love neighbors and enemies, then its time to rethink your theology.

Read the complete article here.

Jewish Theological Seminary Launches Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue

September 26, 2011
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JTS of NY, Sep.6, www.jtsa.edu/News/Press_Releases/JTS_Launches_Milstein_Center_for_Interreligious_Dialogue.xml

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) announced the establishment of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue(MCID), funded with a $2 million gift from New York philanthropist Howard Milstein and the Paul Milstein family. The Milsteins have a long history of engagement with JTS. Irma Milstein chaired the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and served on the JTS Board of Trustees. The gift from her family marks the second generation of relationship between the Milsteins and JTS.

The Milstein Center’s invitation-only inaugural event will take place at JTS on Monday, October 31, 2011, with His Eminence Kurt Cardinal Koch as the guest of honor. Cardinal Koch is visiting from the Vatican, where he is the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which includes the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. This is Cardinal Koch’s first trip to New York City in that capacity.

“The new center will expand the long commitment of JTS to interreligious dialogue and partnership and enable us to highlight an annual schedule of distinct programs that range in complexity and content,” said Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, who will be director of the Milstein Center. Rabbi Visotzky is the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at JTS. He has been active in interreligious dialogue for more than three decades in the United States and internationally.

Howard Milstein added, “This is a good time to build on 50 years of Jewish-Christian dialogue and expand it to all of the Abrahamic religions. At a time when religion-based antagonism is one of the greatest threats to world peace, JTS has a pivotal role in educating the next generation of religious leaders to promote mutual respect among all faiths.”

Read the complete article here.

Religious Leaders in Dachau Join in Opposing War

September 19, 2011
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Chiara Santomiero, Zenit, Sep.15, www.zenit.org/article-33448?l=english

From Romania, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine, from Italy and Russia, religious leaders convoked by the Catholic lay Community of Sant’Egidio arrived together to Bunker 28 in Dachau.

The group was part of the interreligious meeting held last Sunday through Tuesday in Munich, with the theme: “Bound to Live Together. Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.”

Catholic priests and Protestant pastors were held at Dachau, men who expressed in their churches opposition to the Nazi regime or helped to hide Jews and other persecuted people. From 1933 to 1945, some 3,000 priests were kept there, from 134 dioceses and 24 countries.

Very many died. “Dachau was not an extermination camp; its objective was ‘re-education’ through forced labor; however, as regards the 42,000 deaths among the 200,000 inmates during 12 years, there certainly can be no talk of natural deaths,” explained the guide.

The religious leaders from all over the world — Christians, Muslims, Jews and representatives of the religions of Asia — met Tuesday in Dachau for a commemorative ceremony, which highlighted, once again, the desire of religions for peace and reconciliation.

Read the complete article here.

After 9/11, four tasks for religion

September 12, 2011
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Eric Yoffie, Washington Post, Sep.10, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/after-sept-11-four-tasks-for-religion/2011/09/10/gIQA9h4kHK_blog.html

Ten years ago this weekend, a terror attack changed the world and changed America forever. It left Americans frightened and dismayed, and filled American hearts with bewilderment and enduring rage.

We stand here today as representatives of America’s great religious traditions. What has been our role in healing our nation?

I suggest that we have had, and still have, four major tasks.

Our first task is to help America remember the victims and to offer their families comfort and healing.  Our second task is to educate about the meaning of 9/11.  Our third task is to resist with all of our might the view that the extremist fringe that carried out and supported this violent act is the voice of Islam in America or in the world.   And  our fourth and final task is to offer hope, and faith.

So I end with the hope – that is our common hope – that Muslims, Jews, and Christians will not permit fanaticism to grow or prejudice to harden; that as the sacred day of 9/11 approaches, we will honor the memory of those who died by teaching our children to honor life; and that here, in America, as seekers of God and children of Abraham, we will refuse to grant a victory to those who work to divide us; that here in America, we will reclaim our common heritage and find a common path.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie is president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Read the complete article here.