VATICAN CITY – Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world’s largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday. “For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us,” Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican’s yearbook. He said… [Read more…]
March 26, 2008
A historical milestone toward Muslim-Jewish relationship was reached with the formation of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, a collaborative between USC Center for Religion & Civic Culture (CRCC) with Hebrew Union College (HUC) and the Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Foundation (Omar). This project represents an unprecedented institutional initiative promoted by three proven and successful educational structures.… [Read more…]
March 26, 2008
Creating a Compatible Environment for Spiritual and Religious Values and Practices. Commentary by Rafik Beekun One major source of individual values that is recently being linked to ethical thinking and behavior is spirituality (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003). As they indicate, at the individual level, recent research (e.g. Mitroff and Denton, 1999) suggests that spirituality-based values,… [Read more…]
March 5, 2008
Julia Shearson, Harvard alumna and executive director of the Cleveland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Cleveland), discusses a recent move to allot six hours per week for women-only workouts at one of Harvard’s campus gyms. For those who complain about political correctness on behalf of Muslims, please listen to the video below from… [Read more…]
March 2, 2008
By Electa Draper and John Ingold The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 02/28/2008 02:49:02 AM MST The Colorado High School Activities Association board reaffirmed Wednesday that it will not jump through hoops to reschedule regional and state basketball finals for a Jewish team that won’t play on Saturdays — their Sabbath. Several state lawmakers pressed… [Read more…]
February 20, 2008
July 07, 2006 Mr. Feuerstein was made famous by his amazing selfless act of keeping his employess on salary for two months even after the complete destruction of his Maldin Mills factory. The interviews of Mr. Feruestein come from 60 Minutes
February 14, 2008
A recent posting on a blog on another blog seeks to ask whether Obama was ever a Muslim and if so, whether he has become an apostate. The same article talks about the punishment in Islam with respect to apostasy. There is no single verse in the Qur’an that prescribes a worldly punishment for apostasy.… [Read more…]
February 10, 2008
Feb 9th 2008 From Economist.com STEEPED in a culture of emollience, gentility and the avoidance of hard arguments, England¹s established Church has little knowledge of how to handle public opinion when it suddenly finds itself in the eye of a gigantic storm. And, for better or worse, the country¹s politically-active Muslims are capable of showing… [Read more…]
January 8, 2008
According to an Israeli civil rights group, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, racism is on a sharp rise in Israel. According to ACRI, Arab citizens of Israel face entrenched discrimination in all fields of life. In recent years, the prevalent attitude of hostility and mistrust toward Arab citizens has become more pronounced, with large sections… [Read more…]
January 6, 2008
Read how these radical missionaries wear disguises, pretend to be engaged in humanitarian efforts, are building churches covertly, distributing tons of “colorful” biblical literature, etc. These efforts from organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention are leading to a lot of potential friction in Iraq. Watch what some of these missionaries and their leaders have to say… [Read more…]
December 25, 2007
Muslim scholars send Christmas greetings, accept dialogue invitation By John Thavis Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — An international group of Muslim scholars has accepted an invitation from Pope Benedict XVI for a major dialogue session at the Vatican.Meanwhile, the group has issued a message of Christmas greeting to “our Christian neighbors all over… [Read more…]
December 16, 2007
By Michelle Boorstein Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 16, 2007; A09 Two major Jewish and Muslim organizations unveiled an interfaith dialogue curriculum yesterday and are urging their hundreds of thousands of members to use it. Both sides say it is the broadest Jewish-Muslim interfaith effort in the continent’s history. Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president… [Read more…]
December 9, 2007
Minnesota Family Council, 2001 Have you ever wondered to what extent the law requires employees to leave their faith at the workplace door and not exercise their religious rights in the work place? How much leeway does the law give to employers to regulate the religiously related behavior and practices of their employees? These important… [Read more…]
December 7, 2007
Christian Science Monitor An unprecedented outreach from top Islamic leaders to Christians is meeting a positive response. This budding dialogue has the potential to correct misunderstandings and foster trust among each faith’s followers – which the world sorely needs. The overture began in October with a letter from 138 Muslim clerics and scholars addressed to… [Read more…]
December 2, 2007
11/30/2007 1:00:00 PM NPC Luncheon with Fmr. Washington Archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Fmr. Archbishop of Washington is the main speaker on the topic “Partnership of Christian, Jewish and Muslim Americans who oppose terrorism.” Other speakers include: Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society; Right Reverend Samuel Lloyd, Dean of the Washington, DC… [Read more…]
October 23, 2007
CAIR urged American mosques to offer special Islamic prayers, called Salatul Istisqa (sal-AT-al-istis-KA), which the Prophet Muhammad traditionally offered during times of drought. In Salatul Istisqa, the Prophet would offer supplications such as: “O God, give us rain that will replenish us, abundant, fertilizing and profitable, not injurious. Grant it now without delay…Send down rain… [Read more…]
October 20, 2007
No to intolerance and Islamophobia! On October 22-26 the so-called Terrorism Awareness Project, will send extremist speakers to campuses across the country to spread a message of intolerance and Islamophobia, in a campaign billed as “the biggest conservative campus protest ever.” The list of speakers include: Ann Coulter Robert Spencer Rick Santorum David Horowitz These and… [Read more…]
October 19, 2007
Dr. Ingrid Mattson Muslims in America today seem to have lost the right to be individuals. We are treated as a collectivity – responsible as a group for any crime committed by another Muslim or done in the name of Islam. Shortly after 9/11, I wrote an article stating that Muslims have the greatest obligation… [Read more…]
October 16, 2007
Time Magazine It is time that Muslims and Christians recognized just how similar they are — the fate of the world depends on it. That’s the message being sent out today by 138 Muslim leaders and scholars in an open letter to their Christian counterparts saying that world peace hinges on greater understanding between the… [Read more…]
October 16, 2007
Swedish artist Lars Vilks says all he’s doing is taking a stand in the name of artistic expression.… [Read more…] I don’t think it should not be a problem to insult a religion, because it should be possible to insult all religions in a democratic way, ” says Vilks from his home in rural Sweden. “If… [Read more…]
October 12, 2007
Ann Coulter: Jews need to be “perfected” In the above video, Ann Coulter discusses with Donny Deutsch on his Big Idea show about her views on Christianity and Jews, and what her version of a perfect world would be like. From the Media Matters Website. Note from Rafik Beekun: Please note that what Ann Coulter said… [Read more…]
October 9, 2007
David Horowitz has announced “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” (IFAW) for October 22-26, to take place on campuses around the country. Horowitz has enlisted some of the most extreme, and dangerous, ideologues as spokespeople, and is working with a whole potpourri of reactionary student organizations in an attempt to hold what he says will be the largest conservative university… [Read more…]
October 4, 2007
Source: The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion’s practices, and large majorities say that their own religion is very different from Islam and the Mormon religion. A new national… [Read more…]
September 27, 2007
The Mirror, UK. Sept 27, 2007 A MUSLIM dentist who refused to treat a woman unless she wore a headscarf was yesterday found guilty of serious professional misconduct. The General Dental Council ruled Dr Omer Butt, 31, discriminated against the patient, known only as Mrs A. [more] Please click here to read the remainder of… [Read more…]
September 25, 2007
The Wall Street Journal MEDIPALLY, India — Every Sunday, women and children gather to pray in a tiny, whitewashed church on the edge of this southern Indian village, sitting cross-legged on blue plastic sheets as they sing Christian hymns. The men don’t dare to come. “If they are seen in the church, the officials will… [Read more…]
September 18, 2007
Sheikh Salman al-Oadah, Islamtoday.com Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah, the general supervisor of IslamToday.net, delivered the following address to Osama bin Laden live on NBC television on 14 September, 2007, which corresponds to the second say of Ramadan in Saudi Arabia: Brother Osama:How much blood has been spilled? How many innocent children, women, and old… [Read more…]
September 13, 2007
We wish a blessed Ramadan to all Muslims. We wish a happy Rosh Hashanah to all Jews.
September 11, 2007
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV September 11, 2007; Page A1, Wall Street Journal BANGALORE, India — The world’s richest Muslim entrepreneur defies conventional wisdom about Islamic tycoons: He doesn’t hail from the Persian Gulf, he didn’t make his money in petroleum, and he definitely doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve. A native of Mumbai, Azim Premji… [Read more…]
September 10, 2007
Harvard University students are going to be studying Palos Heights this fall. A case study titled “A Mosque in Palos Heights,” based on real events in that city in 2000, has been developed by Harvard’s Pluralism Project, which studies America’s changing religious diversity to better understand its impact on society. In 2000, the Al Salam… [Read more…]
September 3, 2007
The Economist Aug 30th 2007 Why the United States is fairer to Muslims than “Eurabia” is IN PITTSBURGH, a Turkish group, pious but peaceful, decides to rethink its plans for an Islamic centre after an angry public hearing. In Clitheroe, a town in northern England, a plan to turn an ex-church into a mosque wins… [Read more…]
August 19, 2007
By JONATHAN LAURENCE The New York Times June 18, 2007 Source; Foreign Affairs In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons From the Life of Muhammad. Tariq Ramadan. Oxford University Press, 2007, 242 pp. $23.00. Most Westerners have a pretty clear idea of what comes to the mind of a Danish cartoonist when he imagines the… [Read more…]
August 15, 2007
Rick Hampson USA Today NEW YORK — What is it about Coney Island Avenue? That’s what Brooklyn College sociologist Jerry Krase wonders as he rides the B68 bus along this 5-mile commercial strip, which is populated at various stops by pockets of West Indians, Latinos, Pakistanis, Indians, Orthodox Jews, Chinese, Russians, Israelis and Ukrainians. How… [Read more…]
July 22, 2007
Michael Sheridan in Kashgar, China Sunday Times (London) THE CHINESE executioners came for Ismail Semed before 9am. They led him out of his cell as the sun climbed over the Tien Shan mountains in the land he called East Turkestan. The day before, he had seen his wife, Buhejer, his son, 7, and his daughter,… [Read more…]
July 16, 2007
By Tim Townsend ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH A FAMILIAR STORY IN THE 1950s • Temple Israel bought land in Creve Coeur. The city amended its zoning to block the temple’s efforts to build. The case went to the Missouri Supreme Court, and Temple Israel prevailed. NOW • In Lemay, the Islamic Community Center bought 4.7 acres… [Read more…]
June 2, 2007
Source: ISNA Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Extremism Task Force Against Terrorism and Religious Extremism: Muslim Position and Responsibilities I. Our Position on Terrorism Humanity lives today in an interdependent and interconnected world where peaceful and fair interaction, including interfaith and intra-faith dialogue, is imperative. A grave threat to all of us nowadays is the scourge of religious… [Read more…]
March 4, 2007
By Marc Gunther, Fortune senior writer January 17 2007 NEW YORK (Fortune) —… [Read more…] [According to] David Miller, a minister, author and former business executive. Ford, American Express and Tyson Foods are among the better-known faith-friendly firms. Minister, author and former business executive David Miller is currently executive director of the Yale Center for Faith… [Read more…]
February 27, 2007
Stuart Jeffries Monday February 26, 2007 The Guardian The American journalist HL Mencken once wrote: “We must accept the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.” In Britain today, such wry tolerance is diminishing. Today, it’s… [Read more…]
December 31, 2006
This video highlights the strong emphasis on social and economic justice in Judaism, and the courageous work being done by Rabbis for Human Rights to safeguard the human and economic rights of all, including Palestinians, within Israel.
November 28, 2006
Muslims always pride themselves in their emphasis on akhlaq (ethics) and always seem to think that Muslim countries are much more ethical that non-Muslim countries. Is this fact or is it fiction? The 2006 survey from Transparency International was released very recently. The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that is based on… [Read more…]
March 31, 2008
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