· February, 2006

Stories about Religion from February, 2006

Vietnam: Visiting Pagodas

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,...

28 February 2006

Russia: Maslyanitsa

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...

27 February 2006

China: Blogger in church

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

27 February 2006

Voices of African Women Bloggers

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...

26 February 2006

A Look at the Syrian Blogsphere

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...

26 February 2006

Iran: Moslems & Buddha

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?

25 February 2006

Nigeria: Islam & Violence

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...

23 February 2006

Catastrophe in Samarra

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...

23 February 2006

Iraq: Samarra Shrine Destroyed

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...

22 February 2006

Ukraine: Boston Diaspora Church

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...

21 February 2006

Cambodia: At a Crematorium

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...

20 February 2006

Thailand: Conquering the Mind

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...

17 February 2006