Religion News in Brief (2016/11/15)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Conatus News/Uncommon Ground Media Inc.
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016/11/15
A rainbow in religion
The Guardian reports that there was a slogan on London buses in 2012 to target Christian groups’ comprehension of sexuality as binary rather than a “spectrum of many shades” in terms of moral valence.
Some have viewed this as a binary adversarial perspective about the rightness and wrongness, and degrees of it, for the ethical implications of individual and groups decision about sexual activities.
“The tragedy here is not just the absurdity of trying to purge the world of its crazy variety,” the Guardian said, “but in the pain and hurt it causes those who can’t or won’t force themselves on to our reductionist templates.
Israeli government backs call to block Muslim prayer
Christianity Today reported on the controversial ban on mosques to be able to have a Muslim call to Prayer within Israel, which won support from the government after a measure bolstered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prayers are traditionally called from minarets five times per day, and these have been the “battleground” of the conservative or Right wing of the Israeli political movements.
It has been stated that this is not an attempt to “harm freedom of religion but rather to prevent the harming of people’s sleep.”
Baha’i members say Iran want to ‘crush’ the religion
According to ABC News, the Baha’i International Community has expressed deep concerns about the attempts by Iran to “crush the religious minority” and that this has increased under the Presidency of Hassan Rouhani.
There was a 122-page report with statements that there is a “campaign to incite hatred against Baha’is” such as the spreading of over 20,000 bits of anti-Baha’i propaganda via the Iranian media.
Rouhani was inaugurated in August, 2013. There have been 151 Baha’i arrests in addition to 388 “incidents of economic discrimination” that have included intimidation, threats, and shop closings.
Muslim College Chaplains Extend a Hand Across Religious Divides
The New York Times said that a Muslim chaplain, Fardosa Hassan, helped a woman, Emma Bloom, through a time spiritual doubt through helping her “feeling more settled in her soul.”
She, Hassan, considers doubt as a necessity in terms of belief rather than “its irreversible solvent” because “divine texts can be interpreted by human hands and in modern ways.”
The conversations with Ms. Blom and Ms. Hassan (the Muslim chaplain) took place for close to 2 months before the settling feeling of Ms. Blom’s “soul” began to solidify in their place.
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