Stories about Religion from May, 2007
India: Dera Sacha Sauda and I
I, Me, Myself on the political angle to the Dera Sacha Sauda controversy, and a personal recollection. “Then, one day, while he was at the Dera premises, he was poisoned and his corpse delivered home in a tractor-trolley on the next. The father, the devout follower that he was, refused...
Israel: Marking Shavuot
Israeli blogger Yael gives us a short introduction to how she marked Shavuot. “For those who don’t know anything about Shavuot (which means 99% of Jews and everyone else), the section of the Torah dealing with Ruth always gets read at Shavuot because the descriptions of the barley and wheat...
Poland: Equality Parade and “Phobo-Phobia”
the beatroot writes about the Equality Parade in Warsaw and the failed attempt to get it banned it – “this time on the feeble excuse that homosexuality was against Christianity, and the Polish Constitution [?] which apparently privileges relationships between men and women.” Then, the beatroot grows “phobo-phobic” and refers...
Indonesia: Mixing Religion and Politics
Indonesia Matters looks at the debate in Indonesia on religious leaders entering politics.
Brazil: How Falling Dollar Affects Missionaries
Comings Communiqué, a blog written by a missionary living in Brazil, has noticed the steady decline of the dollar conversion rate to the Brazilian real. This has taken its toll and he lists the good, the bad, and the ugly effects on his work as a missionary.
Libya: On Women's Attire
Writing from Tripoli, Libya, Iranian blogger Mrs Behi says: “Here in Libya I haven’t seen a couple walking in the street hand in hand. It seems to me as if taking this simple act of closeness feels very strange to them! And also you can rarely see any woman at...
Bolivia: Morales Takes on the Church
Miguel Buitrago of MABB wonders why the Catholic Church in Bolivia chose to criticize the Evo Morales administration when previously they had good relations. Martin Gutierrez of Vitrina de Realidad Bolivia posts the text of Cardinal Julio Terrazas’ words of criticism.
Sri Lanka: On the Hijab
Married With Kids on wearing the Hijab and the changes in people's behaviour towards her. “My family, as a whole is not overly into religious identity, and stuff, and opt for a more secular look. I did too, but, somehow, a change within, was happening for quite a while when...
Egypt: Bahma Update
“Here is the latest! Bahma victims torn between agony and hope, resort to boycotting Muslim neighbors,” writes Egyptian blogger Nora Younis, who continues to update us about the standoff between Muslims and their Coptic neighbours in the village of Bahma.
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
This week blogs have covered a steadily deteriorating situation in Iraq. Things are not so much going from bad to worse, but from worse to appalingly worse. Also read about a visit to the Iraqi ID office and one blogger gets to answer readers' questions in this extensive Iraqi blog review by Salam Adil.
Hong Kong: From Indecent Student Magazine to Indecent Bible
The campaign against the Bible was started by an anonymous website, truthbible, on 15 of May to protest against the Obscene Articles Tribunal's (OAT) internim ruling that two issues of Chinese University's student paper were indecent. Uptill now, the website has received 2041 complaints, while the Television and Entertainment Licensing...
Jesus will turn down 1,000won for the donation
“Jesus will turn down 1,000 won (US$ 1) for the donation,” lyrics of a church hymn[ko]. The video clip shown the song of a church has been leading to bloggers’ arguments, criticizing the corruption of Korean Christian churches and criticizing misunderstanding the lyrics on the other hand.
Bahrain: When Only Illegal Prawns Will Do
From turning a blind eye to racial hatred being spewed on the internet to hoarding prawns caught in the closed season for a religious festival four months away, Bahraini bloggers were busy typing away this week, reports Ayesha Saldanha.
Morocco: Fighting ignorance, injustice, and irrationality
Giving one's child a special first name should be an inalienable right, not a lengthy bureaucratic process. Hamza Daoui covers a debate stirring up over this very issue, as well as the upcoming Moroccan elections and the timeless subject of ignorance.
India: The trouble in Punjab
Indian Muslims on the ongoing conflict between the sects of the same religion in Punjab. “That brings me to some really troubling happenings in Punjab recently. Apparently there is a sect called Dera Sacha Sauda that claims a following of 15 million people. 15 million is a huge number even...
India: Mythology and culture
The Kerala Articles on similarities between various mythologies across the world. “There are many other similarities between the various mythologies in the world. It is not possible to cover all of them under the realms of a single post. But it is infinitely fascinating to learn more and more about...
EgyptL Bahma Update
Egyptian blogger Nora Younis continues to update us on the developments in the village of Bahma, which witnessed sectarian strife between Muslims and Copts last week. “I received the following message today saying Egypt’s State Security asked Christian victims of Bamha to change their official testimonies and on-record complaints to...
Egypt: Breast-feeding Adults
Palestinian blogger Amal A is in stitches over the latest Egyptian Islamic university Al Azhar fatwa, which stipulates that a woman can nurse or breast-feed a grown up man, if they are to work together in an office without a male chaperon. Bahraini Mahmood Al Yousif warns us not to...
Estonia, Israel: Peres’ Visit and the First Synagogue
Eternal Remont posts a note on the opening of Estonia's first synagogue since WWII. A Step At A Time follows Shimon Peres’ visit to Estonia – here and here.
In Search of a Liberation Theology in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Blaise Mantoto at UDPS Liege argues the Congo's Christian revivalist churches encourage political disengagement [Fr] by interpreting “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's” to mean “leave politics to politicians, don't get involved.” Correction: Samy Musampa Batenababo was erroneously cited as the author of this post
Kurdistance: The Honor Killing of Dua
This may seem like old news....but it isn't. Even though the tragic honor killing of a young girl in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan took place in early April, sometimes the meaning of these sad stories take a while to surface. There are conflicting reports about how 17-year-old Dua died, some say that she was lynched, some stoned to death, others say both. What we do know was that Dua was a young girl in love, who left her Yezidi faith to live her life with a man that she loved. She was brave and idealistic; and she died horribly because of it. A mob of Yezidi men dragged her into the street, tore her clothes to shame her, and then the mob killed her...the final blow being a large rock taken to her head. And someone filmed this horror, which is floating around the internet somewhere if you truly wish to see it. What is important, is that this tragedy not only is sad in the individual sense of this girl's death, it is also sad in what it signifies for a culture and society eager to change, but unable to, as the Kurdish bloggers point out.
