24 December 2011
Honoring the Birth of the Second Adam
A merry Christmas to all my fellow Christians, and to my Muslim friends a blessed celebration of the birth of Isa bnu Mariam, prophet of God!! Though Jesus can divide us, at Christmas he unites us! In the gospel of Luke we read, “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, for you have found favor with God! You will…
22 December 2011
The Global Salafi Phenomenon
[This is the last of 4 blog posts on the sociology of religion] So you read the news: in the first round of post-revolutionary elections in Cairo and Alexandria – the only places where secular parties have a chance to do well – the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party raked in 37% of the vote, while the brand new…
15 December 2011
The Bethlehem Call 2011
“The existence of international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns and other forms of non-violent resistance is an established fact. . . . The severity of the Palestinian situation makes comparisons with apartheid in South Africa superfluous and almost irrelevant. The benchmark is international law and not South Africa.” This excerpt from the Second Kairos Bethlehem Conference document, The Bethlehem…
10 December 2011
Whence the Salafis?
As you read the papers these days, you hear that “the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis” are the parties most standing to gain from the elections taking place in Egypt. We’ve covered the Muslim Brotherhood, but who are the Salafis? Salafism is about a new, international and self-absorbed subculture that is completely obsessed with legal norms and rules that are…