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POPSWolfgang Schäuble: "Braucht unsere Gesellschaft Religion?" English translation: Wolfgang Schäuble on the Need for Religion Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble has written a short book describing how faith, correctly understood, protects us from totalitarianism and abuse of power. He also addresses how best to integrate Islam in Germany. ↗ en.Qantara.de - Faith as a Moral Instance
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POPSMohammed Ali Abtahi: Gegen Missbrauch der Religion durch die Politik Die Beweggründe seines nicht ungefährlichen Einsatzes für Toleranz und religiöse Offenheit erklärt Mohammed Abtahi so: "Es ist eine Verpflichtung für die intellektuelle Elite im Iran die religiöse Toleranz heute mehr denn je zu vertreten und zu vermitteln, vor allem gegenüber den jungen Leuten im Land. Ihnen müssen wir zeigen, dass es Gott in jeder Religion gibt, dass Sehnsucht nach Gerechtigkeit in jeder Religion ein zentrales Thema ist und dass alle Religionen Wege zu Gott suchen."
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POPSDer Westen und der Islam - Tausendundein Vorurteil [I] Dies sei der Grund für die ständigen Spannungen zwischen Religionen und Ethnien. Dabei ist der Islam eine Religion des Friedens. Er würdigt die Vielfalt der Schöpfung und der Menschen. Der Andere gilt als Teil des eigenen Selbst. Des Weiteren stelle die Südseite für die Nordseite durch die legale und illegale Einwanderung von Arbeitskräften eine Bedrohung dar. Kopftücher, muslimische Männerkleidung oder Moscheen gefährden, so meint man, die Identität Europas. Der Westen und der Islam - Tausendundein Vorurteil (II) ]
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POPSWhy Jimmy Carter left the Southern Baptist Convention Subservience of women to men is a false argument, dependent upon selection of certain verses of the Bible and the exclusion of many others. Suppressing female leadership is a cultural decision of male leaders, not an accurate reading of Scripture.
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POPSNecla Kelek vs. Tariq Ramadan: Wer hat Angst vor dem europäischen Islam? Tagung mit Jürgen Habermas und Tariq Ramadan: ↗Ohne Muslime kein Europa Die Integration der nach Europa eingewanderten Muslime sei längst kein Projekt mehr, sondern Realität, so Tariq Ramadan. Bei einer Tagung traf der umstrittene Vertreter der europäischen Muslime auf den Philosophen Jürgen Habermas – und es wurde kontrovers über das Verhältnis Europa-Moderne-Islam diskutiert. Buchtipp: Wer hat Angst vor Tariq Ramadan? ↗Epochaler Reformator oder Wolf im Schafspelz? Tariq Ramadan ist wohl einer der schillerndsten muslimischen Intellektuellen Europas. Nina zu Fürstenberg hat den vielfach auch als "Softcore-Islamisten" gescholtenen Ramadan in ihrem Buch unter die Lupen genommen. Katajun Amirpur hat es gelesen.
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POPSOn Stupidity Similar critiques in UK. It may be itself an example of populism - simplifying things overmuch - and certainly the full two articles require careful reading.
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POPSCatholic-Shiite Dialogue - Reasonable Understanding Against the background of these existing contacts between the Vatican and Muslim authorities, one can look forward with anticipation to the first meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, scheduled for early November. The forum was founded following a meeting in the Vatican in March this year, which itself was the result of a letter written in October 2007 by 138 Muslim scholars from 43 countries to the pope and other representatives of the Christian churches. The topic of the forthcoming meeting is to be "Love of God and neighbour." The Vatican-Shiite dialogue is also set to continue: another colloquium is planned for two years time in Tehran. See also: The Vatican and leading Iranian theologians on "Faith and Reason in Christianity and Islam" . Deutsch: Vatikanisch-schiitischer Dialog - Vernünftige Verständigung
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POPSIslam and Secularism Volkhard Krech, professor for religious studies , has come to the conclusion that some religious traditions, such as Judaism and Protestantism, represent "secularization factors." Other faiths, such as Islam and evangelical churches have a tendency to combine a strong sense of both national and religious identity, mixing politics with religion. The Berlin Islamic scholar Gudrun Krämer made clear that a "massive rejection" of secularism prevails in most Muslim countries. In Islamic discourse, secularization is regarded as a "hostile takeover" of Muslim society. Instead of the notion of the separation of religion and state, the idea of "empowerment" is stressed. Islam calls for believers to actively participate in the power structures of the state. As a mixture of nationalism and Islamism, the so-called "national Jihad" is pushing its way into the political arena and has given birth to the notion of the "Islamic welfare state."
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POPSEinstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
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POPSHitchens Vs. Hitchens : Full Video Sequence Added: April 07, 2008 (Less info) Brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens debate the Iraq War and religion at an event organized by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies with support from the Center for Inquiry and the Interfaith Dialogue Association.
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POPSJürgen Heumann: "Islamisches Glaubensfach an Schulen nicht akzeptierbar" Religion wird in diesen Fächern nicht nur affirmativ vermittelt, sondern ebenso kritisch in ihren historischen bzw. gegenwärtigen problematischen bis gewaltsamen und terroristischen Versionen gewichtet. Diese grundsätzlich (auch) kritische Grundhaltung der eigenen wie anderen Religionen gegenüber bezieht sich auch auf das Gottesverständnis, d.h., mit der unterrichtlichen Behandlung der Theodizeeproblematik (wenn es Gott gibt, warum lässt er das Böse zu?) wird Gott selbst als 'fragwürdig' thematisiert und eben nicht als unhinterfragbar vermittelt. Kein Entwurf für einen islamischen Religionsunterricht hat bisher gezeigt, dass er die Theodizeefrage so ernst nimmt, dass er potentiell die Sekpsis von Schülern gegenüber Allah akzeptieren würde bis dahin, die Existenz Allahs zu bestreiten. Gleiches gilt für die Entstehung des Koran bzw. seiner göttlichen Legitimierung.
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POPSAufklärung: christlich? Islam: antiaufklärerisch? Aus: Corrina Gomani und Dursun Tan: Die Rolle des religiösen Diskurses in der Erziehung. Aus dem Inhalt: Die Tragweite kultureller Differenzen „Religion als kulturelles System“ Aufklärung versus Nichtaufklärung? Humanisiert versus Nichthumanisiert? Traditionalistisch versus Modernistisch? Die Geschlechtlichkeit des Menschen Religion als „historisches Gedächtnis“ und Diskursform
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POPSChris Hedges: (I) Don't Believe (in) Atheists The bestselling author of The New Fascists speaks out against religious and secular fundamentalism as he explores the New Atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects. Hedges claims that those who have placed blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and science create idols in their own image — a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists' assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book that must be read to understand the state of the battle about faith. ISBN: 9781416567950 Author: Hedges, Chris Publisher: Free Press
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POPSLegitimacy of invoking Jesus in legislative organs? The public encouragement of religion, no matter how vague or poetic, is troubling to civil libertarians like Jack Van Valkenburgh, head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho. "Anytime the government is promoting a religion it's undermining the freedom of religion in my view," Van Valkenburg said. "And to encourage a particular religion or a particular set of religions is particularly offensive." The 1983 Supreme Court case, Marsh v. Chambers, rested on the fact that within three days of appointing a committee to hire congressional chaplains in 1789, the First Congress approved the Bill of Rights, including the Establishment clause. But in carving out a First Amendment exception for legislative bodies, the justices failed to apply the Lemon test, the method that all courts use to determine church-state violations. It is taught in most high school government classes.
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POPSWill the Clash of Faiths Go on Forever? Religious conflict rages on, despite claims we live in a "secular age" -- two authors explore the clash of beliefs. This article reviews: Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe by Benjamin J. Kaplan God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 by David Levering Lewis
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POPSWhat Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy to go from "there is a fixed truth" to "I have that fixed truth." Words alone are rarely enough to reassure the uncertain. In fact, the more people rely on faith talk to pursue certainty, the more they may actually reinforce both anxiety and uncertainty. It's a small step indeed to move beyond the issue of individual self-control to controlling others through the passage of laws. All too often, the faith-talk view of freedom ends up taking away freedom. In itself, faith in politics poses no great danger to democracy as long as the debates are really about policies -- and religious values are translated into political values, articulated in ways that can be rationally debated by people who don't share them. The challenge is not to get religion out of politics. It's to get the quest for certitude out of politics .