Religious pluralism in today's Muslim world

In his 4 June speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, US President Barack Obama started his discussion of religious freedom by pointing out that “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance”. Citing its long history of protecting religious minorities as well as his own experience growing up in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia where Christians worshipped freely, he then drew upon the present, turning his attention to those vocal Muslims among whom “there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s”. He urged his Muslim listeners to continue the spirit of tolerance that is reflected throughout their history. The rejectionist Muslims whom Obama referred to are but one part of the vast Muslim world. Surveys conducted in 44 countries as part of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project show that people in Muslim countries place a high value on free speech, free press, multi-party systems and equal protection under the law.

Redefining Sainthood

“Can sainthood be redefined in progressive terms? For the past decade, an artist named Mark Dukes has been demonstrating that it can.” So wrote Phillip Barcio in the May/June 2009 issue of Tikkun, as he introduced our readers to Dukes’s mural The Dancing Saints, which was commissioned by the St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco. In the mural, ninety men and women from history dance hand-in-hand in a circle with Jesus.

Better Humble Than Extinct

Before the Hadron Collider went online a few months ago, some scientists expressed concern that it might cause the implosion of the entire solar system, destroying Earth — the only planet we know that harbors life. Scientists at a recent conference on Monterey Bay in California debated whether there should be limits on robotics and computer systems before humans lose control of them. And in the last few years, several biology professors have objected to the release of exotic species as biocontrols for native pests, noting how a number have proliferated and are now killing the plants they were meant to protect. You could make a case that all of these problems reflect a “fatal flaw” in humanity’s ability to anticipate the future consequences of its actions. That’s exactly what Van Rensselaer Potter, a retired University of Wisconsin biochemist, suggested in an article he wrote in the early 1990s.

What Reflects our Real Moral Values?

One of the comments made during the presidential primary debates last year has remained stuck in my memory to this day.   It came from Joe Biden, who was recalling some “folksy wisdom” from his father.   His father had a saying that went something like this:  “Don’t lecture me about the moral values you claim to have, just show me your budget so that I can see what your real moral values are”.   As I recall, Joe Biden was making this comment in reference to our national budget, but I shuddered when I think that this commentary applies equally well to my own personal budget.   If our moral values were to be judged by looking at our personal budgets, how well would any of us fare? The idea of a budget being a moral document has been around for several years.  In 2005, Rabbi Michael Lerner along with many other religious leaders sent an open letter to congress referring to the Federal Budget as a Moral Document – a specific expression of the values of a nation.    I want to focus here on how well our personal budgets express our own values though, or those of our families.   In my case you would probably conclude from an examination of my budget that my top priorities were providing a comfortable middle class life for my family and a good college education for my children.   While not exactly shameful, that certainly doesn’t come close to reflecting the full scope of my real values.  Or in fact does it accurately reflect my  real values?  That’s the question I can’t get out of my head.   
I’ve also been thinking lately about a closely related idea that Jim Wallis recently wrote about.  He pointed out that our calendar is also a moral document – an expression of our values and priorities based on how we spend our time.   That gives me something else to think about and work on.

The 'beating' verse

New on Altmuslimah:
Jurists have created a contradiction that is not in the Qur’an by encouraging divorce and discouraging marriage. In other words, a Muslim woman who wants a divorce must be set free without using force against her, but a Muslim woman who wants to remain married does so under the threat of being beaten. What woman would want to stay married under such circumstances?

To Be in Touch – Wiccan Ritual

Ritual is not a word that we Unitarian Universalists tend to use. We think of it as formal, rigid, hollow of any meaning, coming out of traditions that have prescribed rules and customs that we no longer perceive as valid. Ritual, as I said, is not a word that we UUs tend to use. Unless we’re pagan UUs. Then the word has very different connotations and meanings.

Release from Death

Nancy has gone to the heart of so much anguish in our society in her ‘Death Defying 2’ post.. I had cancer a few years back and was told it had metastasized, so for a few weeks I had a good test of how I would feel about dying (until a PET scan reversed the CAT scan finding and I was OK). I was very unhappy for my family, but to my surprise I was fine about my own after-death prospects, because what I expect is just an end. No more. No Platonic dualism.

Spiritual Wisdom of the Week

This week’s spiritual wisdom is a poem from Brian Piergrossi’s book The Big Glow. The poem has been circulating the Web under the name “A Spiritual Conspiracy.” Brian told us its original title and invited us to share it with you here:
Love Is The New Religion

On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things
seem dark
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening
underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called
to a higher light
It is a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up
It is time for me to reveal myself
I am an embedded agent of a secret, undercover
Clandestine
Global operation
A spiritual conspiracy
We have sleeper cells in every nation on the planet
You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes
Colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of
the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes
and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way so no one will notice
During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes place
Some call us the “Conscious Army”
We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders from the Central Command
The Spiritual Intelligence Agency
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no ones is looking
Poems
Hugs
Music
Photography
Movies
Kind words
Smiles
Meditation and prayer
Dance
Social activism
Websites
Blogs
Random acts of kindness
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique
gifts and talents
“Be the change you want to see in the world”
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans
combined
Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to
come
Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings
Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have…. All are welcome… The door is open

Death Defying – 2

As I said yesterday, Wicca (my religion) may take an integrated view of death as a part of life, but I was raised here in the old U.S. of A. And that means that death can be just as hard for me to face as the next American. If we look at contemporary American culture, it’s clear that we’re a death-denying society. Death is one of our final taboos. For secularists in the US, death no longer has metaphysical implications. It is the end of life and as such has a physical finality that even in the near past would have been hard to imagine.

The American Indian Church

Seven and a half months ago, professional photographer and educator Julia Dean and English professor A. Jay Adler rented out their apartments, traded in their cars for a motor home, and took to the road to document life on Native American reservations across the country. “It seems to us that Native Americans don’t get talked about a lot in America unless you live next to a reservation or have anything to do with Native Americans,” Dean says. “As journalists, we are just trying to do a little something about it.” Dean and Adler’s work depicts the complexities of Native American life from a variety of perspectives, changing with each reservation they visit. Each reservation has its own unique set of obstacles and successes, giving them a wide range of foci.