NB: Communalised religion is not love of God, but love of violence and a surrender to bestiality. DS Thousands of Muslims in a city in Pakistan have set fire to churches and vandalised homes belonging to Christians over claims that two men had desecrated the Quran, police say By George Wright The attacks took place… Read More Pakistan: Mob burns churches over blasphemy claims
First posted April 01, 2016 NB: This issue relates to the centuries-old debate about civil religion, a matter dealt with extensively by Ronald Beiner in his excellent book Civil Religion: a Dialogue in the History of Political Philosophy. After 1789, nationalism emerged as an alternative civic religion and patriotism became a political form of prayer. So zealotry… Read More David Bergman: As Bangladesh court reaffirms Islam as state religion, secularism hangs on to a contradiction
Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary of Kabul falling to the Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan amid the United States’ chaotic, controversial withdrawal from the country after nearly 20 years of fighting…. But celebrating is the last thing many Afghan women want to do… as life under Taliban rule becomes increasingly repressive and brutal. When Zahra thinks back to her life before the… Read More Afghan women are being ‘erased from everything’
Julian Borger Seventy years ago, the fate of Iran hung in the balance, when a US-UK coup to oust the elected prime minister appeared to have failed. The CIA was ready to pull the plug on the operation, but a 28-year-old British intelligence officer, monitoring events from a clandestine base in Cyprus, insisted on persevering.… Read More ‘Written out the history books’: the British spy who planned the Iranian coup
When the Taliban moved closer to Kabul in the early days of August 2021, a series of unusual advertisements flooded the shopping pages on Afghan social media. Musicians were putting their instruments and equipment – the tools of their trade – up for sale. Many were being offered for a fraction of what they were worth. Yet,… Read More The Taliban’s fear of art is killing Afghan culture
Arkansas Republican State Representative Stephen Meeks’ wife Jennifer Meeks is receiving backlash after setting out to replace free neighborhood books with Bibles, Newsweek reports. Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice (FCCSJ) recently called out the congressman’s wife via Facebook, saying “she has been busy posting about the little free libraries across Faulkner County and the ‘group of leftist[s],… Read More Arkansas GOP rep’s wife shredded for ‘swapping’ library books with Bibles
By C. M. Naim First posted January 15, 2012 Hasrat Mohani was not just a maverick when it came to publicly championing the radical thinking of Tilak. He also wrote verses expressing deep love for Krishna, and often went to Mathura to celebrate Janmashtami. He was a true maverick. In 1908 he published an anonymous… Read More The Maulana Who Loved Krishna
The Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), brought people from the Meitei and Kuki communities under one roof on Sunday for the ‘Solidarity and Prayer Watch for Manipur’ held at City Square in Nagaland’d Chümoukedima. Held in coordination with Nagaland Joint Christian Forum, Fellowship of Naga Baptist Churches and Chümoukedima Town Pastors’ Fellowship the program also… Read More Naga body brings Kukis, Meiteis under one roof; ‘Solidarity and Prayer Watch for Manipur’
First posted February 16, 2015 We live in a world where all too many people purposefully contribute to the harm of other human beings either by action or inaction. Most violence emerges with some kind of rationale to legitimize its use. Based on his work with extremely violent offenders, the psychiatrist James Gilligan argues that even the… Read More Ted Grimsrud: Violence as a theological problem
Iranian authorities have announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf, as “morality police” returned to the streets 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests. The morality police had largely pulled back after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September, as authorities struggled to contain… Read More Iran’s ‘morality police’ resume patrols 10 months after nationwide protests
After the truth-shower 