Have you ever seen a girl wearing a headscarf walking on campus or in the grocery store and wanted to ask, "Why do you wear that? Are you forced to?" Post 9/11, many Americans have lots of questions about the relationship between Islam and women, but many have no place where they can express their concerns and questions. With this blog post, and a new project I'm beginning, I'm attempting to provide that forum for asking questions and providing some answers.
A sacrificial feast
Written November 2010. Today, Muslims are celebrating Eid al-Adha, the holiest holiday in the Islamic calendar. It is similar to Christians’ Easter celebrations, in that it is the most important holiday of the year, yet the worldwide festivities and preparations are less extensive than those during the month of Ramadan (which is similar to Christmastime …
Modern day prophets
The theme of this year’s Ignatian Family Teach-In is “Prophetic lives: Caminando juntos (Walking together).” This idea is taken from the words of Oscar Romero, the former archbishop of San Salvador who was murdered while saying Mass in 1980. During the brutal civil war, he advocated for the protection of the poor in his country, …
Thoughts for election day: “Restoring Civility”
Since today is election day, I thought it was appropriate to publish this short post. As I seem to always be saying, I hoped to accompany this up with a longer reflection, but this short bit will suffice for now. The following podcast ("Restoring Civility: An Evangelical View") is again from my favorite radio program, On …
Continue reading "Thoughts for election day: “Restoring Civility”"
Muslims preserve Jewish shrine in Iraq
Here's a great 3 minute video from the New York Times about a Jewish shrine in Iraq that is preserved and worshipped in by Muslims. They hope to restore it in order for Jewish pilgrims to visit the crumbling site, which is considered to be the prophet Ezekiel's burial ground. The shrine is beautiful--it's ancient …