· February, 2006

Stories about Religion from February, 2006

Vietnam: Visiting Pagodas

  28 February 2006

Our Vietnamese God describes visiting pagodas in Vietnam. “Food served at pagodas is usually good, really healthy but a wierd thing is that sometimes they make it into animal shapes, which I'm still confused about.”

Russia: Maslyanitsa

  27 February 2006

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about Maslyanitsa, a part-pagan, part-Christian holiday, celebrating the arrival of spring and the approach of the pre-Easter fast, and how it is marked in Russia nowadays.

China: Blogger in church

  27 February 2006

Shanghai-based blogger and Microsoft employee Wang Jianshuo goes to church, and gets something out of the service despite not being a Christian.

Voices of African Women Bloggers

  26 February 2006

Mshairi calls for the abuse of women bloggers to stop! She recalls two recent incidents in the blogosphere where male bloggers “discussed and described women in misogynistic terms.” “The descriptions included ‘ignoramus’, ‘spiteful, angry menopausal bitch’, and ‘ruthless menopausal maniac’. All that remained was the blogger to call the woman...

A Look at the Syrian Blogsphere

  26 February 2006

After a tense month of anti-violence campaigns, the Syrian blogsphere seemed to be quite calm this week… Discussions revolved about the new step from the US to give a $5 million to promote democratic governance and reform in Syria. While Joshua Landis of SyriaComment.com sees this step as a good...

Iran: Moslems & Buddha

  25 February 2006

HasanAgha asks Shiites Moslems (Persian) who are protesting against destruction of their shrine, why they did nothing when Taliban government in Afghanistan demolished Buddha’s statues in Bamyan?

Nigeria: Islam & Violence

  23 February 2006

Chippla writes on Islam and Violence in Northern Nigeria which has once again escalated this time over the Danish cartoons. He wonders if the violence does not hide divisions in Nigerian society…”Why has the lot of Islam in Northern Nigeria become one of violence and intolerance? Does it actually conceal...

Catastrophe in Samarra

  23 February 2006

I am devoting my Thursday post on Iraqi blogs to the bombing of the Shia Shrine in Samarra and I hope to cover the rest of the Iraqi Blogs in a later report. The subject is serious enough to dominate the Iraqi weblogs. The Shia shrine in Samarra is one...

Iraq: Samarra Shrine Destroyed

  22 February 2006

Men dressed as Iraqi police commandos slipped into Samarra‘s shrine of Imam Hasan al-Askari last night, set explosive and blew it up this morning, causing the golden dome to collapse and with it, hopes for a national unity.

Ukraine: Boston Diaspora Church

  21 February 2006

Greg of Reflections on Ukraine provides a link to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Andrew in Boston, built in 1954 and serving a Diaspora community whose history goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. The church's calendar has an unlikely feature: an RSS feed.

Cambodia: At a Crematorium

  20 February 2006

travel-itch visits a Buddhist crematorium in Cambodia: “It looked like most Southeast Asian temples: walls of whitewashed concrete topped with curlicues of gilt plasterwork, and shiny bas reliefs jutting out from dark-painted surfaces. But there was a large pile of wizened-looking logs next to it.”

Thailand: Conquering the Mind

  17 February 2006

Thai Buddhist blogger Pongsathorn discusses his discovery of two kinds of samatha, or “coercion of our intention to do one single activity.” There is intentional samatha and unintentional samatha. Engaging in both exercises different aspects of the mind, so doing both is beneficial for the spirit. “For samatha without intention,...