Bangladesh: Students Stand Guard Outside Temples and Churches in Wake of Attacks

In Chittagong city, student movement’s leaders have taken it upon themselves to guard Hindu temples and churches. With reports of Hindus in Bangladesh being targeted by radical Islamist elements in the backdrop of unrest, some Muslim leaders and student groups are being seen guarding temples and churches across the country. In Chittagong city, student movement’s… Read More Bangladesh: Students Stand Guard Outside Temples and Churches in Wake of Attacks

Academic research on Rushdie’s literary work sabotaged by Deoband Ulema / Resist the Climate of Intimidation in Academics

First posted April 25, 2012 NB: Over the past four months, the Deoband Ulema has contributed to the climate of intolerance and religious bigotry in India. First by opposing Rushdie’s presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and now by sabotaging a perfectly legitimate subject for research. In the first instance they succeeded by riding on the… Read More Academic research on Rushdie’s literary work sabotaged by Deoband Ulema / Resist the Climate of Intimidation in Academics

Khudai Khidmatgar team with Swami Raghvendraji, visited Haryana and Delhi

Khudai Khidmatgar team with Swami Raghvendra ji Maharaj, Founder Satya Dharma Samwaad visited Haryana and Delhi Many local Khudai Khidmatgar friends from Haryana and western UP who believe in social co-existence and understand constitutional duty to promote the unity and integrity of the Nation were worried and anxious about the recent controversial order to declare… Read More Khudai Khidmatgar team with Swami Raghvendraji, visited Haryana and Delhi

Encountering the Bhakt: Transformation in Religious Thought

Two examples from mediaeval Odisha’s bhakti tradition show how debates and differences about the sacred were part of devotional practice, and not forced onto us after the institutionalisation of modern, secular, and democratic visions… Each bhakt’s quest toward their own self, or own language, was a gesture to a universal appeal. ABINASH DASH CHOUDHURY Over… Read More Encountering the Bhakt: Transformation in Religious Thought

केदारनाथ धाम से 228 किलो सोना ग़ायब: शंकराचार्य अविमुक्तेश्वरानंद

Ravish Kumar: केदारनाथ धाम से 228 किलो सोना ग़ायब-शंकराचार्य 228 किलो सोना ग़ायब होने के आरोप के बाद क्या केंद्र सरकार जांच कराएगी? एक साल से सोना ग़ायब होने के आरोप लग रहे हैं। राज्य सरकार ने अपने स्तर पर जांच की है लेकिन शंकराचार्य ने नए सिरे से आरोप लगाकर इस मामले को नया… Read More केदारनाथ धाम से 228 किलो सोना ग़ायब: शंकराचार्य अविमुक्तेश्वरानंद

Culture and the Death of God: Terry Eagleton

First posted February 28, 2014 In Culture and the Death of God he deploys all his formidable skills to explain how the high hopes of many generations of secular materialists collapsed along with the twin towers. Culture and the Death of God – Terry Eagletonreviewed by Jonathan Rée Atheism is in trouble, according to Terry Eagleton. Throughout the 20th century it… Read More Culture and the Death of God: Terry Eagleton

EXIT GOD, ENTER MADNESS: Nadeem Paracha on religious extremism in Pakistan (2012)

First posted July 06, 2012 As one distraught friend of mine once prayed: ‘May Allah save Islam from Pakistan.’ The self-claimed ‘bastion of Islam’ has gradually mutated into becoming a bastion of deluded messiahs and mindless, violent ranting machines to whom anything, from incoherent malangs to the reopening of Nato supply routes, are conspiracies against Islam. On… Read More EXIT GOD, ENTER MADNESS: Nadeem Paracha on religious extremism in Pakistan (2012)

God’s Ghostwriters: did enslaved scribes write the New Testament?

The theologian and journalist suggests that slaves in the Roman empire contributed to the core texts of Christianity in this refreshingly readable book God’s Ghostwriters by Candida Moss Peter Stanford Graham Greene, who wrote so much about Catholicism in his novels, was regularly asked whether he was still a believer. It was listening to the… Read More God’s Ghostwriters: did enslaved scribes write the New Testament?

Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’

Reports surface days before UN summit on Afghanistan that will exclude Afghan women and debate on women’s rights Ahmad Ahmadi*, Zahra Nader and Farshid Aram* Teenage girls and young women arrested by the Taliban for wearing “bad hijab” say they have been subjected to sexual violence and assault in detention. In more than one case the arrests… Read More Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’

The Amini effect: The impact of a single life and the importance of accountability

NB: The crimes of the Iranian theocracy prompt the question: what is it in God’s will that calls for such barbarous cruelty and killing of people for leading an ordinary life? Does the tyranny of the Ayatollahs represent God’s will or is it simply the murderous rage of old men and hooligans using any opportunity… Read More The Amini effect: The impact of a single life and the importance of accountability