Interfaith appointments and disappointments - Media monitoring

• Interfaith disappointments by Mike Ghouse (Foundation for Pluralism) --Extract "The biggest disappointment in the interfaith world comes when your friends, who are usually rational in their approach to say this with ease, “These acts of terrorism are done in the name of Islam. I do not think the others were done in the name of Christianity etc. With the exception of Islam, other Religions variable accepts responsibility for the actions of their followers.”
• Why the 'Interfaith Movement' Must Rebrand Rev. Donald Heckman TheHuffingtonPost.com
• Excluded by the Inclusion Cops, By  Mark Steyn (National Review Online) -- As some readers will know, I’ve fought a long battle in Canada to restore freedom of speech to a country that should never have allowed itself to lose it.
• Can interfaith dialogue cure religious violence?  -- Four questions worth raising in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, By Lucia Hulsether, Salon. Extract: "1. What other dynamics of power move out of focus when celebrations of “interfaith cooperation” are brought to the fore?; 2. Does this appeal to “interfaith” trade in binaries?; 3. Is this interfaith project also an implicit nation-building project, and do I support it?; 4. What is the goal of this appeal to interfaith cooperation? Do I support it?"
• $5 million gift from McGill alumni strengthens interfaith scholarship, McGill Reporter
• Scottish Church to debate Jewish right to land of Israel, By Marcus Dysch, The Jewish Chronicle
• ‘Jesus Prayers’ in Legislature Upset Florida’s Jewish Delegates: Can prayer in the name of Jesus be all inclusive just like a rabbi’s prayer? Jewish legislators in Florida say they don’t like being “JCd." Maybe they should get back at them with a few shofar blasts. By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu The Jewish Press
• 3 Reasons Interfaith Efforts Matter More Than Ever, Eboo Patel, huffingtonpost.com --Extract: "1. Interfaith helps harmonize people's various identities; 2. Interfaith efforts help us to separate the worst elements of communities from the rest; 3. Interfaith efforts remind us America is about welcoming the contributions of all communities and nurturing cooperation between them." 
• A letter to the Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) @ Associated Baptist Press News
  "You are Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) and most of us talking about you all the time are Spiritual And Also Religious....  Instead of spending so much energy trying to repackage religion for the religious “nones,” maybe churches should focus on being faithful to God."
• Muslim students meet Baptist hospitality: A Virginia Baptist pastor describes his church's opportunity to host Muslim students for a spring break service project a "Kingdom moment."
  By Barbara Francis (Associated Baptist Press News)
• Facebook row head teacher should resign, say Leicester school staff
  Staff at a Leicester school are calling for a head teacher who made "inappropriate" Facebook comments to resign. Tim Luckcock, head at Uplands Junior School, posted a profile picture of himself wearing a turban and commented: "Nearly gone native in Leicester!!" BBC News
• Muslim cleric refuses to attend inter-faith conference because Jews will attend, By Agence France-Presse -- Extract: "Influential  Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi boycotted an inter-faith dialogue conference that opened in Doha on Tuesday, rejecting to sit in the meeting also attended by Jewish representatives, a local daily reported.
   “I decided not to participate so I wouldn’t sit at the same platform alongside Jews who still violate Palestine and destroy mosques and as long as the Palestinian issue has not been resolved,” Qaradawi told the Al-Arab daily of Qatar.
• The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Multi-Faith Clergy Council and the Church of Scientology International Host Character Education Training for Clergy

Gender and sexuality in faiths - A select list

PS. This is more about the masculinity in faiths / religions; a continuously updated post, feel free to suggest more titles.

Islam

Feminist Discourse Analysis in Islamic Feminism, Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCES Political Science Volume 13 Issue 1 Version 1.0 Year 2013. By Muhammad Salman, Dr. Arab Naz, Waseem Khan, Umar Daraz, Qaiser Khan & Muhammad Hussain, University of Malakand, Pakistan

The Crisis of Islamic Masculinities, By: Amanullah De Sondy (Bloomsbury, 2013) -- Introduction \ 1. Mawdudi \ 2. Feminist Interpretation \ 3. The Qur'an \ 4. Ghalib \ 5. Sufism \ 6. Conclusions \ Bibliography \ Index -- Amanullah De Sondy is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Miami, Florida, USA.

Gender-based Explosions: The Nexus between Muslim Masculinities, Jihadist Islamism and Terrorism, by Maleeha Aslam, (United Nations University Press; 2012) -- Maleeha Aslam is JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Peace and Security Programme at the United Nations University's Institute for Sustainability and Peace), Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar, and member of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

Book Description:
First colonized and now living under political oppression, experiencing marginalization, and feeling dejection and humiliation, many Muslim men in and outside Muslim countries have no opportunities to prove themselves as "honorable" or practice "masculinity" in culturally prescribed ways. Troubled and troublesome, many turn to militant jihadist networks to achieve self-actualization and heroism. Terrorist networks, acting as surrogates to national liberation and antiauthoritarian movements, further complicate these dynamics. Maleeha Aslam argues that gender is a fundamental battleground on which al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their types must be defeated. Issues of regressive radicalism, literalism, militancy, and terrorism can only be solved through people-centered interventions. Therefore, governments and civil society should promote an alternative culture of growth, self-expression, and actualization for Muslim men. To achieve sustainable counterterrorism results, Aslam recommends emphasizing masculine behaviour within the context of Muslim tradition and expanding the scope of required interventions beyond those confined to Islam. The book also includes empirical data from a pilot study conducted on Pakistani Muslim masculinities.

Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, by Amina Wadud

Islamic Masculinities (Global Masculinities), by Lahoucine Ouzgane

Book Description:
This innovative book outlines the great complexity, variety and difference of male identities in Islamic societies. From the Taliban orphanages of Afghanistan to the cafés of Morocco, from the experience of couples at infertility clinics in Egypt to that of Iraqi conscripts, it shows how the masculine gender is constructed and negotiated in the Islamic Ummah. It goes far beyond the traditional notion that Islamic masculinities are inseparable from the control of women, and shows how the relationship between spirituality and masculinity is experienced quite differently from the prevailing Western norms.

Christianity

God and Boobs: Balancing Faith and Sexuality, by Angie Schuller Wyatt -- Reviewer's comment: "As a pastor who believes that the church too often ruins sex for couples, I was eager to read her take on the issue. In my opinion, the name and the focus on the controversial really detracts from the book. Although I was disappointed how little of the book actually focuses on sexuality, (given the subtitle)I loved the overall message." (By Ray Morris)

God's Gift to Women: Discovering the Lost Greatness of Masculinity by Eric Ludy

Jacob's Shadow: Christian Perspectives on Masculinity, by Herbert Anderson

Evangelicalism and Masculinity: Faith and Gender in El Salvador, by Jose Leonardo Santos

Redeeming Men: Religion and Masculinities, by W. Merle Longwood

The Story of Sex in Scripture, by Barbara K. Mouse

The Spirituality of Mary Magdalene: Embracing the Sacred Union of the Feminine and Masculine as One, by James S. Galluzzo

Buddhism (in Asian context):

A Bull of a Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism, by John Powers

Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism, by Judith Simmer-Brown

Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between, by Brad Warner

Book Description
With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics — from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism — emptiness, compassion, karma — from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be a right livelihood? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad? And ultimately, what's love got to do with any of it? While no puritan when it comes to non-vanilla sexuality, Warner offers a conscious approach to sexual ethics and intimacy — real-world wisdom for our times.
From a Review:
"Since most Buddhists are laypeople (yes, the author intends that pun), Warner offers practice- and experience-based analysis and reflection over a wide range of sex-related topics and flavors, from vanilla (traditional hetero) to kink. A mind-opening interview with Zen-influenced porn star Nina Hartley is included, as is discussion of a difficult topic in Buddhism: student-teacher sexual involvement. Warner is as usual at his best in confessional-analytic mode; he's been romantically involved with a student and written a Buddhist column for a sex-positive Web site. A few chapters seem dry or even unnecessary: a chapter on Amma, for example, is unwarranted. Some women readers will object to the inescapability of the male viewpoint, though the author is aware of his biases. Kudos to Warner for tackling the subject." source: Publishers weekly @ Amazon.
"Whenever anyone tells me that sex is the key to happiness, or the key to damnation, I'm handing them this book.” — Violet Blue, blogger and sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Hinduism (in the context of India's Culture)

Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity, David D. Gilmore --From Publishers Weekly @ Amazon: "Spanish Andalusians require that ``real men'' produce offspring, and New Guineans value warriors; however, in India and China, cooperation softens sexist gender roles. ``In a provocative, rewarding cross-cultural survey, Gilmore concludes that men are not so innately different from women: it takes culturally enforced norms of manhood to prod males into assertiveness".

Communicating Marginalized Masculinities: Identity Politics in TV, Film, and New Media (Routledge Studies in Rhetoric and Communication), by Ronald L. Jackson II

Make Me A Man!: Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India (S U N Y Series in Religious Studies), by Sikata Banerjee

Judaism:

The Universal Jew: Masculinity, Modernity, and the Zionist Moment, by Mikhal Dekel

Theorizing Masculinities (SAGE Series on Men and Masculinity), by Harry Brod

Redeeming Men: Religion and Masculinities, by W. Merle Longwood

Men and Masculinities in Christianity and Judaism (Critical Reader), by Bjorn Krondorfer

Brother Keepers: New Perspectives on Jewish Masculinity, by Harry Brod

Book Description
Brother Keepers: New Perspectives on Jewish Masculinity is an international collection of new essays on Jewish men by academics and activists, rabbis and secularists, men and women, on personal experience and congregational life, gendered bodies and Jewish minds, poetry and prayer, literature and film, and more. Simultaneously particular and universal, all engagingly illuminate how masculinities and Judaisms engage each other in gendered Jewishness. Reveiw
"The collection as a whole is too eclectic to give a good sense of what is going on in Jewish men's studies. But for academic collections on contemporary Jewish identity and for synagogue with an interest in men's concerns, it is a worthy addition." source: Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews @ amazon.

Other Religious/Spiritual Movements (aka alternative spiritualities):

The Masculinity Conspiracy, by Joseph Gelfer

Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts (Gender, Theory, and Religion), by L. Stephanie Cobb

Witchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic), by Alison Rowlands

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, by Matthew Fox

The Intimate Connection: Male Sexuality, Masculine Spirituality, by James B. Nelson

Media and religion in the news -- Faithwise Review of the Week

• Hindu community outraged by Selena Gomez's bindi during MTV ... TheCelebrityCafe.com
• Selena Gomez wearing a bindi doesn't bother Toronto area Hindus Toronto Star
• WATCH LIVE: President Obama Speaks At (Interfaith) Memorial Service For Boston Marathon Bombing Victims, April 18, 2013 Mediaite -- or live here: Boston interfaith service KCRA Sacramento
• Boston Attack a Test Case for Interfaith Relationship Building Tikkun Daily
• Fethullah Gulen, Rumi Forum Honorary President, named in 2013 TIME magazine's 100 list, NEW YORK, April 18, 2013 PRNewswire-USNewswire
• Does the Media Need to Be Schooled in Religion? by ELISE HILTON on THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013Acton Institute Blog
• 5 Films That Have Put Christianity in a Really Good Light  policymic.com
• Cambodians React to a Sex Tape Involving a Buddhist Monk policymic.com
• Well, Saw That Coming: Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Funerals Of Marathon Bombing Victims policymic.com
• Women Pray At the Annual Mormon Conference For the First Time in 183 Years policymic.com
• Pope Francis Cracks Down On U.S. Nuns For Caring Too Much About Social Justice policymic.com
• Fox Yanks 'Family Guy' Boston Marathon Episode policymic.com
• Pioneer photographer Deen Dayal provides a portrait of India: Siddiqui Toronto Star
• No Room for Non-Theists at Boston Interfaith Service, “We were blown off.” By Becky Garrison Religion Dispatches
• 10 Essential points about the Boston Marathon bombers, Islam, and America
  Omid Safi, Religion News
• All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t loonwatch.com

The concept of four sides in religio-cultural spaces

"Abraham's Tent was open to the four winds... and  how this reflects in other traditions... Read more @ Facebook: Abraham's Tent

PS. The hypotheses one may consider, and an analysis is left for another post includes, a long list of propositions, such as: a) open from all four sides is symbolic of acceptance, inclusiveness and openness?; b) is it the best way to see it working seamlessly with the spirit (sacred), humans, time, energy and space? c) What is a four sided shape called: Cube (e.g., Kaba), Quadrilaterals, tetragon, square, NEWS (e.g., North, East, West and South, e.g., Medicine Wheel in the Native Spirituality), four (Persian/Hindi char = four)? d) what is the relationship of four sided symbols in Mandala (Buddhist), caturbimba (four sided views as in Jainism), or Chowmukha temple in RANAKPUR, Rajasthan (meaning the four sided/faced temple), or Charminar (four minaret facing four directions)?
"Abraham's Tent was open to the four winds. It was a safe place of hospitality towards strangers. It was the first "Hostel" in the world.
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said: "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."....Teaches Us that having guests is not only a Mitzvah but a source of blessings! (Under any circumstances). " [source: Parashat Vayetze]

"Our greatest model for welcoming others into our community comes from our patriarch, Abraham. A well known Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 48:8) teaches us that Abraham kept his tent open to the four winds of the Earth – north, south, east and west – so that guests could enter his home from any direction. According to the Midrash, Abraham didn’t even ask passersby who they were or where they were going; he simply welcomed them into his tent, bathed their feet and offered them food and a place to rest." [source]

"SIKHS built four doors to the Golden Temple at Amritsar, in north India, to welcome believers from all four corners of their earth. But in the five centuries since, few religions have followed that tolerant example. Hindus and Muslims fight fiercely over religious ruins in ancient Ayodhya. Christians have long wrangled among themselves, and with other faiths, over Jerusalem’s holy places." [source: Shared worship spaces: God’s new digs, The best multifaith prayer rooms are those where architects bow out, Mar 23rd 2013 The Economist]

 "Unlike erecting the structure on the higher level(a tradition in Hindu Temple architecture), Guru Arjan Sahib got it built on the lower level and unlike Hindu Temples having only one gate for the entrance and exit, Guru Sahib got it open from four sides. Thus he created a symbol of new faith, Sikhism. Guru Sahib made it accessible to every person without any distinction of Caste, creed, sex and religion."[source: Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as Sri Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple]

"The physical space of a ritual is, in IE (Indo-European) religion, generally square or rectangular – the Romano-Celtic temples and Celtic Viereckschanzen, Roman templa and Greek temenos, Zoroastrian pawis, Vedic sacrificial grounds. A square or rectangle is oriented towards the four spatial directions; it maps the macrocosm, which is oriented in this way. It is also oriented towards the four personal directions (front/back, left/right) -- it maps the microcosm. The mesocosm of space ordered in this way thus maps in both directions, forming a link between them. This linking is expressed in language, as in the etymological connection between "right" and "south" -- compare Latin dexter, "right," with Sanskrit dakshina, "south," both coming from Proto-IE *deks-, "right." Microcosm and macrocosm are here defined by the same terms." [source: The Place of Ritual, Ceisiwr Serith]

"Identifying the Aztec temples has been a tricky job at times. It's been easy to simply assume that large, monumental structures such as pyramids are all either palaces or temples, but that may not be the case. Still, we do have a good understanding of what happened in the religious areas and how the many of the buildings looked hundreds of years ago. Often a whole area of a city would be dedicated to religious activities. Some monuments would be made to specific gods. Some were built for specific celebrations. The buildings you probably associate with the Aztec religion are the great pyramids. These were four sided, stable structures that can withstand the earthquakes that are common in the area. These would have stairs up one side, and a flat top, often with a shrine on the top." [source: Aztec Temples]

"Mount Kalaish has a mandala-like, or mandalic,  character, with its perfect four sides oriented toward the four winds.  Mandala's are prominent in both Buddhism and Hinduism, where the preferred term is yantra. The psychologist Carl Jung recognized the special nature of the mandala, which he regarded as symbolic of the unconscious self.  With it's four symmetrical sides, it represents the four information-processing functions of the psyche: sensation,  intuition, thinking and feeling.  The center of the mandala represents the self, the true, integrated core of an individual's psyche.  What is perceived by the self/soul is filtered by the functions, which represent how an individual views and evaluates the world around her.  The self or, to use religious motifs, the soul at the center holds all things together." [source: The Four Sided Mountain]

"The four directions of the Medicine Wheel remind us of many things, such as the need for balance in the world, and the balance we must strive for everyday within ourselves. Here you will begin to get an idea of a few of those many teachings and connections that are in the circle. Everything comes in fours, so it’s easier to digest, easier to learn. The four direction teachings go clockwise, beginning in the east. But before we travel around the wheel, let’s look at the Centre." [source: Four Directions, Aboriginal, OJIBWE/ POWAWATOMI (ANISHINABE)]

"Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty built Charminar in 1591 AD, Year after repair, rain damages Charminar minaret shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what is now known as Hyderabad. He built this famous structure to commemorate the elimination of a plague epidemic from this city. He is said to have prayed for the end of a plague that was ravaging his city and vowed to build a masjid (Islamic mosque) at the very place where he was praying. In 1591 while laying the foundation of Charminar, Quli Qutb shah prayed: "Oh Allah, bestow unto this city peace and prosperity. Let millions of men of all castes, creeds and religions make it their abode, like fish in the water." The Mosque became popularly known as Charminar because of its four (minars = towers)..."
"The Charminar is a square structure with each side 20 meters (approximately 66 feet) long, with four grand arches each facing a fundamental point that open into four streets. At each corner stands an exquisitely shaped minaret, 56 meters (approximately 184 feet) high with a double balcony. Each minaret is crowned by a bulbous dome with dainty petal like designs at the base. Unlike the Taj Mahal, Charminar's four fluted minarets are built into the main structure. There are 149 winding steps to reach the upper floor. The sturcture also known as profuseness of stucco decorations and arrangement of balustrades and balconies. Dawn." [source]

On the same shelf:

Geertz, Clifford, Religion as a cultural system

Journey to the Four Directions - Pointers in Sacred and Shamanic Work by Ashley Costanzo

The TENT OF ABRAHAM, SARAH, AND HAGAR SERVING THE ONE

Monastic Interreligious Dialogue | Abraham's Hospitality to strangers ...

Sons and Daughters of Abraham:An Interfaith Journey of Hospitality

About the Tent of Abraham

Abraham's Tent Offers Hospitality -- This year Turkish Cultural Center Connecticut and Peace Islands Institute participated in the Abraham's Tent organized by the Columbus House.

Abraham's Tent בסיעתא דשמיא بسم الله ‎ | A Virtual Home for Abraham's Children | ‎Abraham's Tent בסיעתא דשמיא بسم الله ‎:

Center for Interfaith Engagement -- Eastern Mennonite University

Passover in the Quran

The story of Passover in the Quran
In the Quran, one of the most recounted stories is the story of the bondage of the Children of Israel and their deliverance from Egypt's Pharaoh. Continue reading at islamicity.com

h.

On the same shelf:

A Muslim at Passover @IslamiCity.com

Is hell exothermic or endothermic? What Says Snopes.com?

Extract from Snopes.com

"A true story. A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question:

"Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for souls entering hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.

So, if hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.

Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, than the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over."

 

Claim: A student came up with a clever proof and pithy saying in response to an exam question about the physical properties of Hell.

FALSE

Variations:

• Commonly, the piece begins with a statement meant to authenticate the story. "An actual question given on University of Washington chemistry midterm," "from a Yale professor," and "Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997" have been spotted so far.
• Sometimes the student's comments culminate in the assertion that hell must be exothermic because a girl he'd been chasing had sworn it'd be a cold day in hell before she'd sleep with him, and he'd so far been unable to get to first base with her.
• Often the story concludes with "The student received the only 'A' given on the exam."

Continue reading the full script at snopes.com