This is fascinating ....
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Mideast’s worst case: A ‘big war’ pitting Shia Muslims against Sunni
This is the "big one" I have been talking about in class; a religious civil war
Mideast’s worst case: A ‘big war’ pitting Shia Muslims against Sunni
Read the rest of the article here
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5180799892953439453#allposts
Mideast’s worst case: A ‘big war’ pitting Shia Muslims against Sunni
McClatchy NewspapersJune 10, 2015
ISTANBUL — The Middle East crisis that peaked one year ago Wednesday when the Islamic State captured Mosul may result in the breakup of Iraq and an indefinite continuation of a war in Syria that’s already out of control, analysts say.
Yet still worse things could happen.
“The conditions are very much like 1914,” says Michael Stephens of the Royal United Service Institute in London. “All it will take is one little spark, and Iran and Saudi Arabia will go at each other, believing they are fighting a defensive war.”
Hiwa Osman, an Iraqi Kurdish commentator, was even more blunt: “The whole region is braced for the big war, the war that has not yet happened, the Shiite-Sunni war.”
U.S. and foreign experts say the U.S still has not developed a strategy for dealing with the Sunni extremists who now hold more territory Iraq and Syria than one year ago. President Barack Obama on Monday acknowledged that the U.S. strategy in Iraq was a work in progress. “We don’t have, yet, a complete strategy, because it requires commitments on the part of Iraqis as well,” Obama said at the close of the G-7 summit in Germany. “The details are not worked out.”
The experts criticize America’s detachment from the four wars now under way in the region. And they say the Obama administration is banking on Iran to stabilize the region, a very dubious course.
Read the rest of the article here
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5180799892953439453#allposts
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Martin admits he was wrong
A former student (agnostic) from my REL2011 class contacted me and asked me what I thought about the role of compassion and mercy in Christianity. He was troubled by conversation with his Christian friends about Bruce Jenner's transformation into Caitlyn and their condemnations of it as "sin." He wanted to know what I thought.
I told him that in classic orthodox Christianity, there is an understanding that we have all sinned, and that all sins are more or less equally sinful, but that the most insidious sins are the sins of the heart; such sins as self righteousness, pride and judgment. These are the sins that Christ vigorously confronted in the religious leaders in Matthew 23.
Then I shared with him this video clip from the 2003 film LUTHER.
I told him that in classic orthodox Christianity, there is an understanding that we have all sinned, and that all sins are more or less equally sinful, but that the most insidious sins are the sins of the heart; such sins as self righteousness, pride and judgment. These are the sins that Christ vigorously confronted in the religious leaders in Matthew 23.
Then I shared with him this video clip from the 2003 film LUTHER.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
REL2011 - Ethics (Chapter 12)
This is an excellent Prezi presentation from a group in my REL2011 class, Summer A, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Fed Up With Islam and Sectarianism, Some Iraqis Embrace Zoroastrianism
Confused and disheartened by the religious and ethnic divides in Iraq, Kurds, especially, are turning to a faith that dates back 3,500 years.
In this century, however, it is estimated that there are only around 190,000 believers in the world. After Islam became the dominant religion in the region during the 7th century, Zoroastrianism more or less disappeared.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/31/fed-up-with-islam-and-sectarianism-some-iraqis-embrace-zoroastrianism.html
By Alaa Latif
SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq — One of the smallest and oldest religions in the world is experiencing a revival in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The religion has deep Kurdish roots—it was founded by Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, who was born in the Kurdish part of Iran 3,500 years ago, and the religion’s sacred book, the Avesta, was written in an ancient language from which the Kurdish language derives.
In this century, however, it is estimated that there are only around 190,000 believers in the world. After Islam became the dominant religion in the region during the 7th century, Zoroastrianism more or less disappeared.
Until—quite possibly—now.
For the first time in over a thousand years, locals in a rural part of Sulaymaniyah province conducted an ancient ceremony on May 1, whereby followers put on a special belt that signifies they are ready to serve the religion and observe its tenets. It would be akin to a baptism in the Christian faith.
The newly pledged Zoroastrians have said that they will organize similar ceremonies elsewhere in Iraqi Kurdistan and they have also asked permission to build up to 12 temples inside the region, which has its own borders, military, and Parliament.
For the whole article, click here
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/31/fed-up-with-islam-and-sectarianism-some-iraqis-embrace-zoroastrianism.html
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
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