Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Ramadan Arrives amid High Heat and Political Transition in Arab World
posted on July 24, 2012While the Muslim holy month of Ramadan “is a time for solemn reflection during the day,” many Arab countries are “caught in the throes of change,” Rod Nordland writes for The New York Times. For example, violence continues in Syria with “no sign of taking the holy month off, as government forces clawed back ground from rebels in the capital,” Nordland reports.
‘Us vs Them’ Fears in German Debate Over Ritual Jewish, Muslim Circumcisions
posted on July 24, 2012After a regional German court recently banned circumcision, Jews and Muslims in Germany have grown worried that there is an “invisible barrier between secular Germans and religious minorities,” David Rising reports for The Associated Press. David Goldberg, a rabbi trained to perform ritual circumcision, has received many emails from non-Jewish Germans, messages which the Rabbi describes as “very anti-Semitic. It’s a bad atmosphere.” Angela Merkel has also expressed great concern over the ruling and its ramifications. “I don’t want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot perform their rituals,” the German hancellor said.
‘Purity Balls’ Get Attention, but Might Not Be All They Claim
posted on July 24, 2012At The New York Times, Mark Oppenheimer examines Purity Balls, extravagant, prom-like dances created by Randy Wilson, a field director of the conservative Christian organization, The Family Research Council. Some have criticized the balls, during which fathers pledge “to protect the virginity of their unmarried daughters,” writes Oppenheimer. Jessica Valenti, the author of The Purity Myth, has written, “The message [of the balls] is clear and direct: It’s up to men to control young women’s sexuality.”
Romney Strikes Rare Notes of Faith in Aurora Speech
posted on July 23, 2012At CNN, Eric Marrapodi and Halimah Abdullah describe Mitt Romney’s speech on Friday as a return “to his roots of faith in the face of a national tragedy.” Only hours after the Colorado movie theater shootings, Romney offered “a rare public expression of faith for the candidate who has kept much of his faith private,” write Marrapodi and Abdullah. “Romney, who was the head of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation in Boston, quoted heavily from the Bible and the Book of Mormon as he stood before a small crowd in New Hampshire.”
Romney’s Tax Returns, Obama’s Birth Certificate and the End of Trust
posted on July 23, 2012At The Washington Post, Marc Fisher writes that Americans’ increasing insistence on disclosure of political and business documents is a sign of the growing distrust of “politics, the news media, business and virtually every other major institution” in America. Fisher argues that Romney should release his tax returns, as Obama released his birth certificate. But in a political and cultural environment in which distrust is the default position, Fisher is skeptical that disclosure will do all that much to change public opinion. “[W]ithout a basic compact of belief between the governed and the government, even towering stacks of paper won’t clear the air,” Fisher writes.
Why Gun Control Is a Religious Issue
posted on July 23, 2012At America Magazine, James Martin, a Jesuit priest, writes that in the wake of the Colorado movie theater shootings, it is time for American politicians, as well as the American public, to recognize that gun control is a “religious issue.” “It is as much of a ‘life issue’ or a ‘pro-life issue’ as some religious people say, as is abortion, euthanasia or the death penalty (all of which I am against), and programs that provide the poor with the same access to basic human needs as the wealthy (which I am for),” writes Martin. “There is a ‘consistent ethic of life’ that views all these issues as linked, because they are.”
Considering Marriage
posted on July 23, 2012At The Huffington Post, Imam Khalid Latif writes about Islam, and the roles men and women play within marriages. “Through our Tradition, it’s seen as respectable, commendable as well as permissible for a woman to be accomplished,” writes Latif. “For example, the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, was fifteen years older than him, married him when she was 40, was a wealthy businesswoman, a widow, and also was his employer for some time.”
In the Shadow of Wounded Knee
posted on July 23, 2012At The National Geographic Magazine, Alexandra Fuller chronicles the efforts that the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation have undertaken to preserve their tribal customs, in particular the tribe’s “Sun Dance” ceremonies. “[E]very year during the summer there are more than 50 separate Sun Dances across Pine Ridge, up from the few held in secret decades ago,” writes Fuller. “At each ceremony scores of invited participants dance, meditate, pray, are purified in sweat lodges, and fast for days at a time.”
Read at The National Geographic Magazine
What the Islamist Takeover of Northern Mali Really Means
posted on July 23, 2012At The New Republic, Eliza Griswold writes that the recent violence in Northern Mali is not just a blow to one of the few democratic states in western Africa, but also is a blow to world history. “Over the past two weeks, men in open jeeps with fluttering black flags have rolled up on many of Timbuktu’s 333 holy sites and taken pick axes to the ancient mud-hewn shrines,” writes Griswold. “Since the Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, Timbuktu’s holy sites are the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites to be systematically destroyed.” And according to Griswold, there are direct parallels between Afghanistan and Mali. “Like their Afghan precursors who aimed at erasing Buddhism’s long history in Afghanistan, the members of Ansar al Dine claim that decimating many the holy sites of Timbuktu is a matter of religious ‘cleansing.’”
Mormons and Baptists Compete for Converts
posted on July 23, 2012Bob Smietana reports for Religion News Service on the competition for converts between Baptist and Mormon missionaries, most often young men who fan out, sometimes in the same geographical areas, in search of new church members. “Every year, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” writes Smietana “spend tens of millions of dollars to spread their takes on Christianity. They rely heavily on thousands of faithful volunteers willing to spread out across the country to share their faith.”