To read the story on ‘arranged marriages’ in a Saudi paper please click here. We had interesting comments that followed two TMV posts – The Lessons of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ by Shaun Mullen, and my post on Myth of Muslim Support for Terror A few comments came from Laura. In one of those Laura says: “We ought to be prejudice towards our own civilization because it is superior...

On top is the heading of the article Kenneth Ballen wrote in The Christian Science Monitor. “The common enemy is violence and terrorism, not Muslims any more than Christians or Jews. “Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim...

A Salem witch trial In commenting on my post yesterday on a lawsuit brought against the government by a medical marijuana advocacy group, Marlowecan noted “the perversity of the U.S. laws on marijuana� and asked why there is so much energy and focus on a substance that is fairly innocuous and the existence of policies that are viewed as fairly crazy by folks in other countries. I believe the answer...

Another interesting write-up in The Economist is about slave trade that Britain abolished 200 years ago this week…

Amid talk of a merger between Catholicism and Anglicanism, The Economist takes a look at how the two businesses might fit together…

As India hits the high road to global integration and its leaders dream of the country as a potential economic/military super power, its traditional and deep-rooted social unit called the family seems to be undergoing extreme stress and a crisis. This issue has now gained national importance with the Prime Minister of India, Mr Manmohan Singh, convening a Union Cabinet meeting and agreeing to introduce a...

Go and read this post over at Deafening Silence about the role of women as baby factories. It’s a great, insightful, well researched post on this subject.

Mick LaSalle just e-mailed me: he published chapter 8 today. East – someone who refused to play East’s game of unite and conquer – has killed the Pope… and Sadie is trying to come to terms with, well, the fact that her father killed the most important Christian leader. O… and who will become the new Pope and what will the results of that be? Priscilla will get married… who’ll...

Well that’s what the Chinese think!!! We were all born in the Chinese Year of the Pig in 1947. The Year of the Pig repeats itself after every 12 years. But 2007 is going to be an extremely lucky year for the Pigs. “A rolling barrage of fireworks greeted the Year of the Pig in Beijing as residents chased away any lingering bad spirits and celebrated the new moon in boisterous fashion. “Fortune...

Will the Protestant and the Catholic churches be able to heal their centuries old rift and unite under the Papal authority in Rome? Difficult to say but some interesting developments are taking place in that direction. Writes Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times: “Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this...

Reposted by Good Will Hinton and still a must-read.

The progressive bloggers who worked for John Edwards’ campaign and were under attack have now received death threats.

In light of Amanda Marcotte’s resignation from the Edwards campaign, Heraclitus looks at one of the supposedly prejudicial posts from Pandagon that so outraged Bill Donohue and her other critics on the right. (Presumably many of her critics a) don’t know her; b) don’t know her blogging; and c) didn’t read the posts in question, let alone with an open mind.) What it comes down to, in his...

I long for the day when rational people resume control of the GOP and put an end to the fundamentalist influence described so well by Andrew Sullivan in The Conservative Soul. I long for that day because I am sick and tired and more-than-a-shade furious about the debates that are distracting the party’s attention from governance issues (like how to balance the federal budget while still providing for...

Holly sent me this link yesterday. Go check it out for yourselves. From the website of Trinity College: WHO IS SECULAR IN THE WORLD TODAY? A Symposium A special pullout supplement to the Fall 2006 edition of Religion in the News (Volume 9, No. 2). It features nine articles contributed by international scholars on what it means to be “secular” in the world today. The pieces included are: 1. Introduction...

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with the details of the Edwards-Marcotte-McEwan scandal (or “scandal,” pseudo-scandal that it is) that has been brewing over the past couple of days. You know, the John Edwards campaign hired two prominent progressive bloggers, Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare’s Sister, Catholic extremist William Donohue called them...

I don’t have too much to add to the whole sordid Ted Haggard affair beyond what I wrote back in November, which included this: The drug use, the closeted homosexuality, the solicitation of prostitution — a life of hypocrisy, of empty moralism, of fear and self-loathing. And then the initial denials and subsequent admissions. And now the confession. It’s such a good story, if a predictable...

I linked to chapter 6 of The Event yesterday, right after Mick LaSalle published it. A week ago, we had a long and passionate debate about The Event, some people liked it, some people didn’t. Anyway, from now on I will link to the new chapter whenever it is published and, the next day, after everybody read the chapter, I thought it would be a good / fun idea to publish another post in order to ask some...

People: Mick LaSalle just e-mailed me that he published the sixth chapter of The Event. I – being addicted to it – read it immediately and… it’s a great chapter. President Lyle B. East is… starting to act more and more “scary”. Some people are seeing him for what he really is: the beast. The one who attacks East most aggressively, however, is not someone people would...

It’s time to rewrite some of the scientific studies: One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is “completely heterosexual.” Haggard also said his sexual contact with men was limited to the former male prostitute who came forward with sexual allegations, the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur...

George W. Bush wins religious liberty award named after Strict Separationist Baptist Preacher.

Thank you Hollyrob for sending me the article from the Jerusalem Post about the old synagogue at Cochin in the South Indian state of Kerala. It revived memories of my visit to the synagogue almost two decades ago. Even if one is not a Jew you would find wonderful vibrations once you are inside. Some sources say that the earliest Jews were those who settled in the Malabar coast (in Kerala) during the times...