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Michael Jackson is Dead, so is Neda [update]

Yesterday, June 25, 2009. Michael Jackson died; God rest his soul. I was not going to blog about his passing. He is an artist, a celebrity, why is his death more important than any other? He was an artistic genius, of that there can be no doubt. What he did for music and dance in pop is unparalleled. However, he was still a human being. He had an impact on my childhood, but I did not know him. In many respects, because of his fame, he was unreal. He was no closer to me than Rumi, whose poetry speaks to…

Law and Cultural Purity

Not all fundamentalism is about violence. Sometimes it’s about using the law. Unfortunately, some of our elected representatives are aiming to use the law to define what it means to be “American” by excluding Muslims. They seek to turn back the clock on American inclusion, forgetting that when you can exclude one group, you can exclude any group. We must accept that we live in a global village. Without that basic premise, we miss many of the political patterns emerging both in the US and around the world. We can react to the “new” in two ways: embrace it or…

PFBC – Beginnings

The Progressive Faith Blog Con started last night, and what a good beginning it was. Thurman Hart of Xpatriated Texan gave us some powerful opening remarks. Go read. We began with a Jewish prayer service, led by the Velveteen Rabbi herself, Rachel Barenblat. It was pleasure to finally get to meet her. The service was full of taqwa – God consciousness. It was not just about the prayer, but about praying to remember God outside of the liturgical setting, to know that God is, and always should be, with us. Download and read her prayer book. We sat down for…