WELCOME TO WORLD'S FIRST BLOGSPHERE CREATED WITH THE OBJECT OF DISSEMINATING INFORMATION IN THE AREA THAT IS CALLED: MULTIFAITH. AND, AS A DOMAIN MULTIFAITH ENCOMPASSES FAITHS, BELIEFS, RELIGIONS, SPIRITUALITIES, CULTS, CULTURES, RACES, REGIONS, MEDITATION, MYSTICISM, ETC. [images © religionfacts.com]
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1. Bad proofs that God exists
2. Bad proofs that God does exist that are supposed to be good
3. Search-engine cop-out
4. Download your brain to a computer
5. Play a game instead
The US is not as diverse as you might think; East Asia is the world's most religiously diverse region; Africa has lots of diversity along the Christian-Muslim divide; The Middle East is extremely homogenous — with key exceptions
Weekly roundup:
"Mindfulness" refers to that move where you notice your mind wandered. With mindfulness you monitor whatever goes on within the mind. "Meditation" means the whole class of ways to train attention, mindfulness among them. continue reading What Mindfulness Is -- And Isn't
Listed criteria for the rabbis recognized included:Are they innovative leaders—communally and/or spiritually?
Are they considered leaders in Judaism in general or their denominations in particular?
How large are their constituencies?
Have they made an impact on Judaism?
Have they made an impact beyond the Jewish community?
Are they known nationally/internationally?
Do they have political/social influence?
Do they have a media presence?
Gary Morgenstein Sally Lloyd-Jones C. S. Lewis Mark Mittelberg Robert Schoen John Shore E. Randolph Richards Peter Boghossian Donald Miller Kris Vallotton Gabriella Lazaridis Pope Pius XII Julia Twigg Zaynab Mirza A. David Napier Annelies Moors HilalPlaza.com Lutfiah Ibrahim Saleh Pepin van Roojen FAEGHEH SHIRAZIExtract from a Review: "In Assyrian, Greco-Roman, and Byzantine empires veiling was a mark of prestige and status. The author, Faegheh Shirazi, who is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, specializes in textiles and material cultures studies. She shows, through a series of a half dozen chapters, the immense versatility of meaning that the veil can have, depending on the context of its use. In Iranian cinema, for example, its use means adhering to the strictures of Islam, which forbids the erotic, whereas in Indian cinema it's meant to be titillating and erotic. In a chapter entitled "Veiled Images in American Erotica," cartoons from the pages of "Playboy," "Penthouse," and "Hustler" are examined. A chapter on advertising shows how the veil is used to sell automobiles, perfume, cigarettes, computers, and sanitary napkins, among dozens of other products. There are chapters covering military, political, and literary aspects as well as film. In Muslim cultures the veil is used to prevent "fitna," defined as the chaos caused by women's sexuality. If this is true, then the case might be made that a good part of the world is in total chaos. Regardless of your viewpoint, the book is thought provoking for anyone interested in human beings and culture. " If You're Curious About Why Women Wear Veils, By Ken T Barnett on August 23, 2001 @ Amazon.com
Mary Kinney Branson Jonathan Kopke wayne grudem Jeff Van Duzer R. Paul Stevens Jon D. Bender Deryke Belshaw Rabbi David WolpeOrigin of the word, Silly according to Oxford Dictionary:
"late Middle English (in the sense 'deserving of pity or sympathy'): alteration of dialect seely 'happy', later 'innocent, feeble', from a West Germanic base meaning 'luck, happiness'. The sense 'foolish' developed via the stages 'feeble' and 'unsophisticated, ignorant.'"
Anyone who’s taken a linguistics class knows that “semantic drift” happens. It just does. If it didn’t, we’d all still be speaking Latin and Anglo Saxon. Vowels change, consonants drop off, lots of stuff happens to Language, capital L, over time. You know what word I could add to this list? “Silly.” Silly actually means “blessed.” Like: The silly Virgin Mary. Technically that’s true, but over the last several hundred years, the meaning has changed to mean, well, ‘silly’. So yeah, this article is silly. Words mean what they communicate, period. Anyone who says differently is selling something. -- A comment by Rick Widen @ 10 Words That You've Probably Been Misusing, by Tyler Vendetti
"THE kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” Jesus said of little children. But computer hackers might give the kids some competition, according to Antonio Spadaro, an Italian Jesuit priest. In an article published earlier this year in La Civiltà Cattolica, a fortnightly magazine backed by the Vatican, entitled “Hacker ethics and Christian vision”, he did not merely praise hackers, but held up their approach to life as in some ways divine. Mr Spadaro argued that hacking is a form of participation in God’s work of creation. (He uses the word hacking in its traditional, noble sense within computing circles, to refer to building or tinkering with code, rather than breaking into websites. Such nefarious activities are instead known as “malicious hacking” or “cracking”.)..." Continue reading
TORONTO - Ontario government officials say the success of an employee guide to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has prompted other publications for workers who celebrate Diwali, Christmas and Easter.
A “Ramadan: the Muslim Month of Fasting” guide was issued to 67,000 Ontario government workers last July telling them to be “sensitive” to Muslim co-workers because they are fasting and praying from dusk to dawn.
The document advises managers to provide a safe room for Muslims to pray and that they may require to make more trips to the bathroom to wash before they pray. They are required to pray five times a day.
Jason Wesley, of the Ministry of Government Services, said similar publications have been sent to workers “explaining the significance of the Jewish observances of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”
Wesley said guides to mark the Hindu festival of Diwali and Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter are planned for release. continue reading
So, Asvaghosa equates excessive taxation with more personal transgressions, especially theft; Surata objects to the covetousness that high taxes inflict on a king and the financial pain they inflict on the citizenry; and, Nagarjuna objects to the financial and emotional pain that the undue hardship of high taxes cause. The renowned Nyingma Buddhist philosopher and teacher Jü Mipham Gyatso (1846-1912, Derge, eastern Tibet) nicely sums up all of these sentiments in his Advice on the Way of the King, saying,On the same shelf:
Forcefully taking a reasonable tax from the wealthy,
even when they haven't offered it,
is like being compensated.
This is not “taking what hasn't been given.”
Forcefully taking from the poor
can be either a wrongdoing or not a wrongdoing:
In order to prevent gamblers and prostitutes
from wasting the wealth obtained illicitly,
if you take from them, it is said to benefit both
and is not a wrong-doing.
When someone has lost property through fire, etc.,
tax them lightly.
If one doesn't care for the sentient beings
who haven't any means, this is a wrong-doing.
Later, he reiterates,
If one doesn't collect taxes which are reasonable,
and not take equally from the rich and poor
according to their situation, is that just?
From all subjects who pay taxes
take in accord with their land,
the season, and their wealth, without harming their home.
Do not burden them unbearably.
In the manner of a cow eating grass
Kebab vendor, chinadaily.com.cn Updated: 2011-01-28
Better known as Alim, the 40-year-old had been selected as the "Cyberspace Personality Who Moved the Hearts of the Chinese in 2010" for his decade-long help for needy people.
When Alimjan Halik touched down at Urumqi, capital city of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, he was feted like a returning hero. Better known as Alim, the 40-year-old had been selected as the "Cyberspace Personality Who Moved the Hearts of the Chinese in 2010" for his decade-long help for needy people.
During that time, he donated almost all of his earnings - more than 100,000 yuan ($15,000) - from his humble kebab business in Bijie, Guizhou province.
Born into a poor family with six siblings, Alim left home to earn a living in 1997 with only a kebab roaster. In Bijie, someone reached out and gave him a helping hand. As the city found a place in its heart for Alim, its citizens developed a taste for his lamb kebabs. But he seldom spends money on himself, preferring a simple meal of noodles and bread, sometimes leftover kebabs. He lives in a rented room in a shabby house, his leather shoes rescued from a rubbish bin.
Over the past decade, Alim has helped more than 200 students from poor families, and 10 of them have entered university.
Extract: "Much to my surprise, the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than those in the Bible," Jenkins says.
Jenkins is a professor at Penn State University and author of two books dealing with the issue: the recently published Jesus Wars, and Dark Passages , which has not been published but is already drawing controversy.
Violence in the Quran, he and others say, is largely a defense against attack.
Margaret Wente,, The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail
Why do we allow ourselves to be spooked?
What’s the lowest point in the history of American TV? The censorship of South Park could be it.
South Park is a hilarious, profane and potty-mouthed cartoon show that has been airing on The Comedy Network for nearly 14 years. This week’s Wednesday episode, featuring an irreverent treatment of the Prophet Mohammed, was altered by a frightened network. The network cancelled replays of the show and took it off the website. Episode 201 of South Park has officially ceased to exist.
The network did this in reaction to a single threat from a tiny group of nut-bars calling themselves Revolution Muslim. Here’s where things get surreal. This group was reacting to the episode of the week before – which dealt in a satirical way with threats over depicting the figure of Mohammed. continue reading: Jihad jitters at Comedy Central
By Michael Gerson, Friday, January 8, 2010 Washington Post:
"Proselytization, admittedly, is fraught with complications. We object to the practice when an unequal power relationship is involved -- a boss pressuring an employee. We are offended by brainwashing. Coercion and trickery violate the whole idea of free religious choice based on open discussion.
But none of this was present in Hume's appeal to Woods. A semi-retired broadcaster holds no unfair advantage over a multimillionaire athlete. Hume was engaged in persuasion.
"Persuasion, by contrast," argues political and social ethics professor Jean Bethke Elshtain, "begins with the presupposition that you are a moral agent, a being whose dignity no one is permitted to deny or to strip from you, and, from that stance of mutual respect, one offers arguments, or invites your participation, your sharing, in a community."
The root of the anger against Hume is his religious exclusivity -- the belief, in Shuster's words, that "my faith is the right one." For this reason, according to Shales, Hume has "dissed about half a billion Buddhists on the planet." Continue reading: Brit Hume's Tiger Woods remarks shine light on true intolerance
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