(OPINION) Many of us feel stuck. It’s hard to believe that most individuals paying attention to the daily avalanche of disconcerting news are not similarly stuck. Buddhism has a term for this state. It’s called the “bardo” and it’s being referenced repeatedly in Buddhist conversations these days.
Read More(OPINION) Americans have seen how ugly culture wars can become when electoral politics are caught in its talons. Witness the vitriol that dominates the news out of Washington and various state capitals these days. The situation in India — the world’s largest Hindu-majority nation with the third-largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan — is arguably even worse.
Read More(OPINION) The most strictly religious Jews — the mystical-oriented Hasidic followers of historic rabbinic lineages and the “mitnagdim,” Hasidism’s more intellectually focused religious critics — suffered some of the worst losses in the Holocaust. But a new survey says that by 2040, if their current growth rate persists, about a quarter of the world’s Jews will likely be Haredi.
Read More(OPINION) Organized American Judaism — not unlike other American faith traditions — is in the midst of a shakeup. The latest evidence of this was the recent announcement that Reform Judaism’s first rabbinic seminary, in Cincinnati, will soon cease ordinations at the end of the 2026 academic year.
Read More(OPINION) Does giving antisemitism extensive coverage — warranted though it may be — prompt more antisemites to act out publicly? Does publicity embolden and thus spark potential copycat antisemitism?
Read More(OPINION) Religious leaders have long involved themselves in the immigration debate, taking a variety of of pro and con positions. So does religiosity make people more welcoming, or more suspicious, of the stranger? A recent Religion News Service story tries to answer the question as it has unfolded in Europe.
Read More(OPINION) It should be evident to all paying attention that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will proceed as planned. Forget the meager protests against China’s cruel and immoral treatment of its own. The bad guys appear to be on the verge of another power-play victory.
Read More(OPINION) Rifkin explores his Jewish heritage and religion as he grapples with the death of his son. He explores the cultural tie to traditional burial and how his son opted against it — choosing cremation over a Jewish cemetery.
Read More(OPINION) Will the international community — and in particular the United States and other democracy-espousing nations — punk out as it did with the Nazi-run 1936 Berlin Olympics for the winter games in China in 2022? Or will the International community find some righteous backbone and either boycott the games, or make its opposition to Beijing’s policies known in another significant and unmistakable manner?
Read More(OPINION) Religions evolve and accommodate as they migrate around the globe. A contemporary religious travel story is the Westernization of Asian Buddhism. Tricycle, a leading American Buddhist publication, deconstructed the phenomenon in its Spring 2021 issue.
Read More(OPINION) How do you define anti-Semitism? Jews are wrestling with this idea as President Biden handles international relations with Israel. This leaves Jews asking, what constitutes fair political criticism of Israel and what is unfair — or biased — criticism of Israel that bleeds into hateful anti-Semitism?
Read More(OPINION) Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are growing threats in Europe. The EU outlawed certain kosher protocols that also follow halal guidelines — expressing implicit bias towards animals over devout religious people. Though, they may need to prioritize cruelty during the animal’s life over cruelty during the animal’s death.
Read More(OPINION) India’s new contemporary TV drama, “A Suitable Boy,” tells the story of a Muslim man falling in love with a Hindu woman. This love story falls under the conspiracy of “love jihad” that assumes that Muslim men fall for non-Muslim women for the sole purpose of converting them.
Read More(OPINION) Keep an eye out for the pro-Trump medium, The Epoch Times. Known for being further right than Fox News, it denies Biden’s presidential win and is completely anti-Beijing.
Read More(OPINION) An uplifting story from The Washington Post about a young Nigerian boy brought hope during times of uncertainty in many religious communities. Other news sources tried to continue telling the story, but the religious angle seemed underdeveloped.
Read More(OPINION) Despite the international connections of Hong Kong’s religious minorities, especially Christians, the American media has largely ignored new threats from China on the democratic region.
Read More(OPINION) Global concern about the plight of Muslims in China has increased as reports have detailed the government’s cruelty. Not so, however, among Muslim leaders of other countries.
Read More(OPINION) A new book is critical of critiques of Christian Zionism. But it doesn’t address what Christian Zionism is really about - not theology, but culture.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Russian Jehovah's Witnesses and Uighur Muslims in China are persecuted by their governments, in part because they’re seen as insufficiently loyal, and in part because the global community prioritizes good trade relations.
Read More(COMMENTARY) How have generally more traditionalist Africa, Asian and Latin American missionaries fared in the Global North? The recent Economist article hints at problems, but fails to explore them in any depth.
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